PETERSFIELD Town manager Ian Saunders has left the club and moved to Winchester City.

Saunders and his assistant manager Jason Hampson have moved to Winchester City after the managerial position became available there.

Petersfield Town chairman Graeme Moir said: “Obviously we are disappointed to lose Ian and Jason to Winchester but we wish them well there.

“Ian will always have a place in our club’s history for the back to back promotions and league titles won in the Wessex League.

“We have enjoyed some great seasons under Ian at the club and on behalf of everyone involved at Petersfield and the supporters I would like to thank him for the considerable work he has done for the club.”

The club is expected to make an announcement shortly about the future, but Moir believes Petersfield has a good structure of coaching staff and a fine squad of players in place to move forward with.

He added: “The season starts a week on Saturday and our preparations remain the same, we play Folland Sports on Friday night and we are at Worthing next Tuesday.

“We have an excellent squad of players at the club and our aims remain unchanged, we are looking to push forward and we are aiming to make the step up to step three football and we believe we have the people at the club to push for promotion.

“As far as we are concerned it’s business as usual, we have plans already in place for the season coming up and we will continue to push forward with those.

"As we have always done in good times and bad, we stick together as a club and that is what has helped us make the achievements we have in the past and what we can achieve going forward.”