HAVING gained promotion to the Southern Football League twice before, Matt Cusack is hoping it can be ‘third time lucky’ as he takes the helm at Buckland Athletic.

Dan Hart parted ways with the Newton Abbot-based club in early May after three years in charge as, in the words of Buckland, “On the field, results have fallen short of ambitions and so the decision for a change in direction has been concluded.”

His successor Cusack has a decade of managerial and coaching experience under his belt following spells with Saltash United, Plymouth Parkway and most recently, Helston Athletic, bringing Southern League football to the latter two.

Speaking to the Mid-Devon Advertiser, he talked of how he was “Going to retire at the age of 34 as a player with Saltash United, when the opportunity to manage the team came about.

“I did it, quite honestly, just to give something back and to keep a group of players together and didn’t have the intention to still be doing it 10 years later but when you do these sorts of roles, you tend to get a bug for it,” Cusack continued.

The recently appointed Bucks boss “Grew up in a family of footballers” as his “dad played in and around the South West league-level circuit and [his] grandad played in St Blazey teams in the early 1950s.”

As a player himself, Cusack played as a youngster before transitioning into senior football in Torpoint. “A 17-year journey around the South West Peninsula League”, at step-six, followed suit.

Cusack spoke very highly of his new employers, musing that, “Having been in and around the Southern League with Parkway and Helston, Buckland are already operating at that level off the pitch and now it’s my job, with my coaching staff, to get that right on the pitch.”

Talking of his team and Matt has brought in Dan Harrison as his assistant whilst first-team coach Shane Reavey and physio Paige Burrows, two very popular figures at Homers Heath, will continue with the club.

The boss is “Somebody that likes a project in all honesty” and when Buckland “knocked on his door, it was something that attracted [him] instantly”, labelling the decision to sign on the dotted line as a “no-brainer”.

Cusack describes himself as “Driven, humble and methodical” and he’s “been through a few coaching badges, level two and three, which are the equivalent of the UEFA B-license.” He added, “In recent years, I was on a course for the A-license but Covid put a stop to that unfortunately and so I pivoted post-Covid, doing a master’s degree in high-performance coaching.”

When it comes to the squad at his disposal, the Manchester United-supporting manager has “met a number of the players through phone calls and facetime” and will have met them in the flesh at their presentation evening too.

“The early conversations were around trying to keep personnel and whether they still want to be a part of the journey.

“That’s the stage where we’re at and, in terms of ambitions, I’m going to make no apologies in that we want to get to the Southern level but I’m also fully appreciative that it doesn’t just happen overnight and there’s no magic wand.”

Cusack has “been given three years and it’s a three-year project” so he is “really looking forward to it all”, with the aim being to “compete on every front.”