PETERSFIELD Town face a week of tough cup matches as the hunt for their third manager of the season gets under way.

Andy Neal stood down from the first team manager’s role at the end of last week in an amicable agreement between himself and club officials.

Now the club are looking for their third boss this season – Ian Saunders left the club for Winchester City a week before the Southern League campaign got under way.

The search has begun against a backdrop of a busy schedule of matches which sees the Rams playing at weekends and midweeks most weeks at the moment.

Director of Football Gary Lines took over first team matters for the trip to Bedford Town at the weekend, assisted by coach Shane Brayson and goalkeeper coach Tom Best. First team head coach Paul Marsh was unable to be at the match due to illness.

Petersfield put in a strong first half performance and went in at the break level at 1-1 but they fell away in the second half due to what they felt was a controversial refereeing decision and some defensive mistakes on their way to a 4-1 defeat.

The Rams take a break from league matters tonight (Tuesday) when they host Basingstoke Town in the first round of the Southern League Cup at Love Lane.

They will be hoping their run of good luck against north Hampshire sides this season continues after their only competitive win of the campaign so far came against Farnborough in August.

Basingstoke play in the Southern League’s Premier Division after being relegated from National League South at the end of last season.

After a mixed start to the campaign Basingstoke find themselves in 17th place in the Premier Division table.

The good news for the Rams is they almost have a full squad of players to choose from going into tonight’s game. Only Ryan Woodford is likely to be missing as he completes the last of a three game suspension.

Petersfield are conducting a thorough search to find the right person to lift the club away from the bottom end of the Division 1 Central table.

Any enquiries about the first team manager position should be directed to Gary Lines via e-mail at: [email protected]