Steve Lovell has been appointed as the new manager of Hastings United.

The former Wales international was unveiled last night by the club's committee and beat 11 other applicants for the job.

Lovell has been coaching the under-17s at Gillingham and works for the Nationwide League club's Football in the Community programme.

He is expected to be offered the same playing budget that caused former boss George Wakeling to resign two weeks ago.

He comes to the Pilot Field with a wealth of experience having played professionally for Crystal Palace, Millwall, Stockport, Bournemouth, Swansea and Gillingham as well as winning six caps for Wales.

He had non-League experience at Sittingbourne and played for Hastings during the 1993-1994 season.

Despite not living locally, Lovell has recently been connected to the area through his son Mark, who scored seven goals in seven games for St Leonards last season.

Lovell said: "I am really excited about it and can't wait to get my teeth into building a team which is going to do well.

"No manager can guarantee success but what I can promise is that every player will give the supporters 100 per cent. That is a key to success and if I can build a team that has that, then we can do well."