Maltby Main have confirmed the departure of manager Louis Axcell with immediate effect in a statement released on Saturday night.

The announcement came just hours after the Miners' 0-0 home draw with Handsworth that leaves them tenth in the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division.

Axcell had been in charge since October 2019, first taking over temporarily before being handed the role on a permanent basis the following March, and had just guided the club to their first Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup Final since 1978.

Chairman David Watts said: "[Louis] has been in charge for over fifty league games despite the curtailed seasons and steered the club through the stop-starts of the pandemic which we will be forever grateful.

"It has been a very difficult decision to make and not one made in haste.

"An accumulation of some poor performances and results at home over the past few months have led to this decision and a change would be best at this time to try and build on what the club want to achieve in the future.

"These very hard decisions sometimes need making in football and we wish Louis the very best for the future.

"He will always, like all past managers, coaches and players be welcomed at the club, as we pride ourselves on this friendship with past people.

"I have worked closely with Louis since July and we’ve got on great.

"Never a cross word said in that time and it’s sad when I have to do something like this.

"As a chairman, it lands with me to tell him and that isn’t easy to do. I would challenge any football club senior who has done this and says it’s easy to do.

"Louis has taken the club to the Senior Cup Final and he will always be known as the one who did.

"So, making a decision like this may seem strange, but we must look beyond this and at the run of home results and poor league performances which have always been the number one focus of the club."

Assistant manager John Stancliffe will take charge in an interim role until the end of the season with his first game away at Thackley next Saturday.