Newly-appointed Hackney Wick manager Tony Levoli is looking forward to his new challenge and using the potential of the area the club play in.

The former Brentwood Town and Woodford Town boss is keen to get started after taking a few months away from the sport.

Levoli will take the reigns for his first match in charge away to mid-table Sporting Bengal United at the Mile End Stadium on Saturday (3pm).

“I’m very much looking forward to it and I can’t wait to get into it and try to improve things at Hackney,” he said.

The experienced manager revealed the reasons behind taking the job and his aim of fulfilling the potential of players in the Hackney region.

“I think it was a combination of things, one being it’s a good little story Bobby who set-up the club and what he has done to start it up and the reason behind it, that was one of my main reasons to take the job.

“I have been managing for over 10 years, but it’s a bit ironic one of the first players I managed comes from Hackney, and we had a chat a while back and were saying about the amount of players that come from Hackney that don’t fulfil their potential.

“I thought about that as well and felt there was something there.”

Levoli admits he will assess the squad in the coming weeks to see what works needs to be done to pull them away from the relegation zone.

“I watched the team play on Friday night as they lost 3-2 to Tower Hamlets and then we had a training session on Monday night.

“There is some good players there and they didn’t perform too badly on Friday, so there is potential there.

“I have got to have a good look at the squad and bring players in when I see fit.

“The thing is being mid-season it’s not the ideal time to be doing that, but at the same time we might need an injection of a few to try improving the results.”

The new boss expects a tough first game in charge of the club.

“They’re capable of beating any team on their day so we must be prepared for a tough game.”