JASON Harvell insisted Steve Cuss was the man to revive Wimborne Town’s Southern League fortunes after joining the Cuthbury revolution.

The highly-rated goalkeeper last week became one of six new recruits brought in by Magpies manager Cuss.

Harvell, who previously worked alongside his new boss at Poole Town, revealed that the chance to link up with Cuss was a major factor in his decision to swap Bournemouth Poppies for Wimborne.

The ex-Cherries trainee, a former Wessex League winner with Poole Town, enjoyed a productive campaign with Poppies and helped them claim Wessex League Cup glory.

But the chance to ply his trade at step four level proved too good to turn down.

Harvell, who turns 25 on Monday, told the Echo: “It wasn’t an easy decision because I really liked my time at Poppies. But I wanted to play on better surfaces and to test myself at Southern League level.

“It didn’t work out for me in the Southern League with AFC Totton and I wanted to give it another shot.

“Steve is a thinking manager and I like the way he thinks and works.

“I spoke to a couple of other clubs but Steve is the type of person I like to play for.

“I respect him a lot as a coach and as a person and that made my decision, in the sense that I wanted to test myself again at that level and he was the right manager for me.”

Wimborne-based Harvell will be tasked with trying to enhance a defence that conceded 81 goals in 40 league matches last season.

After securing promotion to Division One South and West, Wimborne struggled and managed just 10 wins, a record that led to the resignation of Alex Browne.

Harvell said: “The table doesn’t lie and they struggled a bit last season.

“But Steve’s knowledge and contacts within the AFC Bournemouth set-up could bode quite well, in terms of getting good players to the club, progressing and certainly improving on last season.

“It is too early to think about a potential finishing place because I haven’t seen a lot of the players yet or had much interaction with them.

“I can only hope that Steve will make it quite a professional set-up, that the training and coaching will be good and that we will have a good team spirit. Hopefully, we will at least be mid-table or better.”

Harvell said it had been difficult to leave Poppies, adding: “It was absolutely brilliant and one of the best seasons I have had in football.

“The players were all really great guys and we got on really well. We turned up to have fun but still achieved something at the end of it.”