SHAUN Teale has become Northwich Victoria's third managerial casualty of the season.

The former Villa star, who had been in charge of Vics since early December, resigned following his side's 1-0 win over Telford United.

After the match, only Vic's fourth league win of the season, Teale approached Chairman Dave Stone to ask about his future.

Teale told the Guardian: "I went into the boardroom after the match and put my cards on the table.

"I spoke to Dave Stone and he told me if I was after a decision there and then, then the decision was no.

"So I said there was no point in me going to Gravesend and Northfleet on Saturday."

He added: "It's disappointing because I really wanted the job.

"But you can only do so much with what you've got and Dave Stone said when we took over that he wanted us to find a striker to score regular goals.

"I suppose we haven't done that. Most of the good strikers are tied up on deals, let's face it they don't grow on trees and we couldn't find one so I suppose we failed."

Teale, who was appointed as a caretaker manager following the sacking of Alvin McDonald in December, has been popular with the players and fans and to some extent has improved the side that had become the whipping boys of the Nationwide Conference.

Since taking over the reins Teale has overseen 21 competitive games, winning three, drawing five and losing 13.

While not a great return in terms of points Teale did improve the standard of football and the effort put in by the players, meaning that many of the 13 defeats were by a narrow margin, with only Chester and Shrewsbury outclassing Vics.

Gregor Rioch will take charge of first team duties for the final game of the season with the club then stepping up the hunt for a new manager.