Petersfield Town co-manager Pat Suraci is pleased with how his squad has been shaping up in pre-season.

Suraci and Joe Lea took over the reins at Love Lane on May 1 – with former manager Mark Summerhill moving to a new role at the club as head of football – and the pair have been busy bringing in new additions ahead of their first campaign in charge of the Wessex League Division 1 outfit.

Suraci said: “We’ve brought in Jordi Wilson from Andover New Street, centre-back Zak Sharp from Portchester, midfielder Connor Hall from Portchester, Mino Djaura, Marcos Pavlou and Josh Rose.

“Zak and Connor have both dropped a league to join us.

“We’ve also kept a core of the group from last season – Jake Bourton, Cam Smith, Ben Cooper and Kieran Alcock – and used our connections to get some guys in from Gosport.

“We’re still identifying targets and hope to get a left-back and a wide player in this week.”

Suraci is happy with the work he has got into his squad on the training pitch, with the main focus being on gearing up towards the opening game of the season.

“We’ve been getting to know everyone,” he said.

“We have targets we want to hit throughout pre-season, and it’s all towards building everyone up to the first game of the season.

“When there’s no midweek game we’re training three times a week, and the boys have been in three to four times a week most weeks. All the boys have bought into it.

“A lot of people focus on the fitness side of pre-season – which is important – but pre-season is the best time to get tactical information into the players as we don’t have matches coming thick and fast.”

The Rams started pre-season with a 4-0 defeat against Gosport Borough, and Suraci was pleased with the performance against higher-ranked opposition.

“In the first half against Gosport we played well and should have taken one or two of our chances. In the second half we gave the younger lads a run out, which was a good experience for them.

“The team will now build up towards the first game on August 6.”