Riza returns as Akurang's number two

Former Arsenal star and Cheshunt manager Omer Riza will be back on the touchline in the Ryman League on Saturday as the new assistant manager of Heybridge Swifts.

Riza, pictured, was unveiled on Friday as Cliff Akurang's number two at Scraley Road four months after parting company with the Ambers.

Akurang brought in the 35-year-old former Gunners striker a week after his own appointment as the successor to the departed Keith Wilson and six days after a 1-0 win at Chatham Town in his first game in charge last weekend.

Swifts travel to Ship Lane to take on Thurrock in Ryman North on Saturday after Riza was introduced to the Swifts squad on Thursday night along with coach Gavin Dawes who was named on Friday as the club's new technical director.

A UEFA B badge holder, the experienced coach has worked with Tottenham's Premier League development squad in the past and has known Akurang for the last decade.

Riza netted 18 goals for Cheshunt last season but is expected to be sidelined from playing for another two to three months after injuring his cruciate ligament back in May playing for Arsenal in a charity match.

Akurang, 33, left Maldon & Titpree where'd he been coaching to take his first managerial post after a Non-League career that took in Thurrock, Hitchin Town, Braintree, Chelmsford City, Bishop`s Stortford, Histon and Boreham Wood. In the Football League, the forward played for Barnet and helped Dagenham & Redbridge win promotion from the Football Conference.

Image courtesy of www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk

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