Petersfield Town bosses Pat Suraci and Joe Lea quit for ‘no brainer’ return to Gosport Borough

The two former Privett Park regulars have been appointed joint head coaches by chairman Iain McInnes.

McInnes acted quickly to replace Mark Molesley, whose five-month stint at the club ended with a mutual parting of the ways after Boro had avoided Southern League Premier South relegation.

Thanks to winning three of their last four matches, Boro finished 10 points and two places above the four-team relegation area.

There were few celebrations, though. For a club with ambitions of one day returning to the National League South - where they operated from 2013/14 to 2016/17 inclusive - 17th place was a massive disappointment.

And Suraci and Lea were obvious candidates, after leading Petersfield Town to promotion to the Wessex League Cup final via the play-offs, to bring the smiles back to Boro.

In addition, the Rams also reached the Wessex League Cup final.

The return of Suraci and Lea is part of a major change of policy that will hopefully strengthen the club’s community feel.

Suraci has lived in Gosport for most of his life and has been heading up the club’s centre of excellence, which contains under-18s and under-23 teams as well as a link-up programme with St Vincent’s College. Lea was also heavily involved in the centre until last year.

Steve Hook - whose dad Mark is a former Boro chairman - and James Bracking return to Privett Park as analyst and goalkeeping coach respectively.

Bracking was formerly goalkeeping coach at Boro under Shaun Gale, who was sacked as manager last November as the club were dragged into a relegation battle following a run of one point in 10 games.

Mark Summerhill - who was director of football at Petersfield with Suraci and Lea after being the Rams boss for six seasons - is also coming over, though he hasn’t been handed an official title yet.

Discussions with Suraci and Lea had been ongoing for several weeks, with an agreement reached last week prior to Petersfield’s 4-2 League Cup final loss to Baffins Milton Rovers.

‘We know the club, we know the fans, we played with a lot of the players here,’ Suraci told The News.

‘We want the fans to feel connected, we want a local, youthful team they can relate to.

‘With my work in the academy, I know as much as anyone what’s happening below first team level.

‘Last season was disappointing, but there’s a platform to improve on and that’s what we will be trying to do.

‘The chairman (McInnes) came to see a lot of our games (at Petersfield). As well as the results, it was more the performances, the style of play, that excited him. That’s what he wants to see.

‘The budget will be a lot lower than previous managers had.

‘We want to be sustainable, using younger players who can stabilise the club.

‘Fans want to see players from the local area who they know playing for the team.

‘But Joe and I are not naive, we know we will need to be competitive. The best players we have will play.’

Summing up the duo’s return to Gosport, Suraci said: ‘A no brainer? From our perspective, I think so. It was too good an opportunity to turn down.

‘We’d had discussions with the chairman, who was also in discussions with Mark Molesley.

‘We didn’t want to do anything disrespectful to Petersfield, as they have given us a lot.’

New managers, especially at non-league level, are generally keen to try and sign players they have worked with before.

And though the jump from Division 1 of the Wessex League to the Southern League Premier South is a big jump - three tiers of the English pyramid - some of the Rams’ top performers will be offered a pre-season chance to impress at Privett Park.

They could include striker Archie Greenough, who scored 22 goals in 2022/23 while on a dual registration from AFC Portchester, and Alex Barsa.

Barsa was at Gosport for a while under Gale in 2021/22, and finished the season just gone with 18 league and cup goals for Petersfield from a wide attacking role.

Young centre half Finn Walsh-Smith - who played first team football under Gale last season before joining Petersfield after Christmas - will almost certainly be handed a fresh chance to impress in the seventh tier.

Midfielder Paul Agbeseyi - 38 starts for Petersfield under Suraci and Lea - and defender Nathan Primus are two others.

Agbeseyi was signed by Gale in the summer of 2021, but never made an impact in his season at Privett Park, while Primus featured under Gale in Gosport’s pre-season friendly against a Pompey XI last summer.

‘Shaun Gale did a great job steadying the ship,’ said Suraci. ‘It was tough for Mark Molesley coming in mid-season, but he did what he could do.

‘We’ve got the whole summer to prepare and plan and we’ll be working many hours before next season starts.’