Winchester City have revived their interest in BAT frontman Richard Gregory.

The FA Vase winners have invited the 19-year-old Hedge End lad for pre-season training after failing to woo him to the Denplan City Ground last season.

The news comes as no surprise to BAT boss Andy Leader, who admitted: "Richard is the only senior player not to have re-signed for us next season and I knew Winchester would come back in for him. If someone is scoring goals regularly, people will sit up and take notice.

"He's been in our first team since he was 17 and become part of the fixtures and fittings.

"He scored 21 goals the season before last and 27 last season, which is a good ratio at a club that's not renowned for big scorers."

Winchester have already added to their frontline armoury by signing former Wimborne and Newport striker Stuart Cannie from Bashley. One of Leader's chief concerns is how big a slice of the action Gregory would get if he were to move to the Wessex League/Cup double winners.

He said: "When Winchester came in for him last season, we persuaded Richard it was in his best interests to stay and learn his trade with us, but he didn't want to renew his contract.

"The question now is will he learn more playing with better players? My argument is that he will only learn more if he is playing regularly.

"We've got no ties on the lad and I know he's ambitious to play higher - and rightly so.

"I fully understand that other clubs want him and, regrettable as it would be if he left us, he would go with my blessing because I want him to do well."

But Leader added: "Richard's not the type of lad who'll just leave without talking to us first. He's got BAT at heart and, until I hear otherwise, I'm expecting him back for pre-season."

Leader, meanwhile, is staggered by the lack of response to the vacant youth team manager's post at Southern Gardens.

He said: "I'm surprised and disappointed that no one wants to join an up-and-coming Wessex club with some of the best facilities in the league.

"Youth is our lifeline and we can't afford not to run it.

"We're back in training on Tuesday nights and I'm happy to have a chat with anyone interested."

Leader can be contacted on 07980 729916.