MARK BETTS has moved to rubbish claims that he is no longer manager at Burnham just days after the club recorded its first win this season.

The Blues won 1-0 at 10-man Highmoor Ibis on Monday to end a run of six consecutive defeats and register a first competitive victory since March 25.

Betts did not take charge of his side at Rivermoor due to illness, but his absence sparked rumours that he was no longer in charge at the club.

There were suggestions he had been sacked after the 3-1 defeat at Royal Wootton Bassett on Saturday or that he had resigned following a row with board members.

However, Betts has hit out at those rumours and insists the club is moving in the right direction, though he was unwilling to reveal too much detail at this time.

Speaking to the Observer, the Burnham boss explained: "It's upsetting for my granddaughter who thought I was seriously ill. I had a bit of food poisoning so didn't travel on Monday.

"It's just challenging when you miss one game having been ill and something comes out about you.

"Burnham is a local football club and the people that have been talking about us are clearly not interested in local football. They want to talk about us because they have nothing better to do.

"Maybe the next rumour will be that I've had a row with my wife!"

Betts continued: "I'm giving local players the chance to come in and see what they can do because we don't have bundles of money.

"I do this because I want to and for the love of football - it's an unpaid job.

"It's disappointing when you hear rumours about yourself and any other manager would back me up on that.

"If people want to mention me a lot then I would encourage them to give me a call because I consider myself to be an approachable guy.

"It's not particularly nice and when it affects your family it takes it to a different level."

He added: "The only way is up and there is a meeting at the club next week, so there's a lot going on around the club. But, it can't be leaked out to the press at the moment because the people involved don't want the publicity and I have to respect that.

"There's a lot of stuff going on at the moment and it sounds like exciting times. Hopefully it will be beneficial for the club but at the moment there is no more I can say. It sounds exciting but at the moment I'm just trying hard for the club.

"I'm not one for shouting from the rooftop. I am just plodding on and hopefully come Christmas those people that want to talk about us will mention the points that we have on the board because at the moment I'm too busy working on the football side of things.

"I never said that I would come in and set the world on fire because we can't challenge some other clubs, but all we can do is try to compete."

Commenting on the win at Highmoor, which led to their manager Marcus Richardson resigning, Betts said: "I still picked the side and we had three lads working but I was confident the win was coming, it was only a matter of time.

"It was our first win on Monday and I was inundated with text messages of support after from Slough Town and Cookham Dean after. Hopefully we can kick on now."

Burnham welcome Thame Rangers to The Gore in round one of the Challenge Cup this Saturday (3pm) before Ascot United make the short journey for an Hellenic Premier Division fixture on Tuesday (7.45pm).

Betts said: "I will take training on Thursday and we play Thame on Saturday, which I'm now excited about. Hopefully we can take that into Ascot which is a massive game for us.

"Hopefully we can kick on now and I look forward to Saturday because all the lads are buzzing."

Check out the Observer sports Facebook page. Search: Robert Observer Sport and like, follow and share today.