CHORLEY chairman Ken Wright is in no rush to appoint a new manager following the resignation of Mark Patterson.

Patterson's assistant Jim McBride has taken temporary charge of the team and he has steered the side to a home win and an away draw over the Easter period.

The two clean sheets, against leaders Hyde and sixth-place Bamber Bridge saw Chorley pick up four points and leaves them with an outside chance of finishing in the top 13 of the UniBond First Division.

Player-manager Mark Patterson, quit hours after last week's 4-0 hammering at Stocksbridge.

McBride, a former Rossendale United manager, was appointed assistant to Patterson in October and has made no secret of his ambition to be manager at Chorley.

He has twice before applied for the job and told The Citizen he hoped to make it "third time lucky."

The Magpies have three matches in which to stake what has become a slim claim for a Premier Division place - at home to Leek Town on Saturday, away to bottom club Kendal Town on Tuesday and at home to the improved Ossett Town in their final match on Saturday week.

If Chorley pull it off McBride may convince the Chorley board to give him the job full-time but chairman Ken Wright insists the post will attract plenty of applicants.

He said: "We'll be making an appointment as soon as the season ends in order to give the new manager plenty of time to prepare for next season.

"The vacancy is sure to attract some high quality applicants so we will not be rushed into appointing a new man."

Wright also defended the club's decision to appoint Patterson, following the dismissal of Mark Molyneaux, even though he only lasted five months at the helm.

"I was disappointed it did not work out for Mark Patterson. He came with high class credentials and had managed successfully before keeping Leigh RMI in the Nationwide Conference last season and came with good references from the chairmen of both Leigh and his previous club Scarborough.

"No one was more disappointed than me that Mark decide to go but we are in the results business and it was clearly not working out for him."