STAND-IN Winchester City boss Mick Catlin hopes to land a job in his own right over the summer.

The former Gosport Borough No2 finishes his three-game stint filling in for absent Citizens manager Ian Saunders at home to third-placed Evesham on Saturday.

Asked if he would be sticking around when Saunders returns from Army duty, Catlin - described by ex-Gosport skipper Sam Pearce as "the glue that held Borough together" - said: “Ideally I’d like to get a manager’s job somewhere.

“I’ve had so many offers to be an assistant, helping managers get players in etc., but that’s their job.

“I’ve done the No2 role, although I was more like a joint manager with Alex (Pike) at Gosport.

“We’ll see what comes up, but it’s not always that easy. I really like the Conference South but there are not that many clubs around locally at that level.

“If I got a job now it’s more than likely going to be with a side struggling to stay up.

“It may take a bit longer to find something. I’ll see what’s around in the summer.”

If there’s one thing this week’s experience with Winchester has taught Catlin, it’s that Southern One South & West travelling is more arduous than the National League (Conference) South.

He got home at 1am after Tuesday’s helter-skelter 3-3 draw at Mangotsfield United.

“It’ll be nice to get a home game tomorrow. I’d forgotten how far the travelling in the South & West is!” he said.

“Since they brought in the Central Division, everything’s been pushed further west. When Gosport were in it, it was a bit more centralised.

"Conference South travelling isn't too bad. Apart from Truro and Margate, it's only an hour or so."

While a point at Mangotsfield was not to be sniffed at, Catlin felt City deserved more.

“We looked quite comfortable at 1-0 (Stuart Green), but then a penalty was given against Robbie Matthews which we didn’t feel was justified and a 35-yard shot wormed its way into the bottom corner for 2-1 at half-time," he said.

“We’ve come out, scored (Craig Feeney) and gone ahead (Andy Jenkinson), but they made a couple of good substitutions and equalised with a cracking half-volley that we could do nothing about.

“Taz Roberts got sent off and we’ve hung on for a point.

“I felt we did enough to win it, but we could have defended a lot better.”

Left-back Danny King didn’t play, having broken his hand in the 2-0 defeat at North Leigh last weekend.

Defender Jamie Ford should be back tomorrow after midweek work commitments and midfielder Danny Smith will hopefully get over a tight hamstring.

"Evesham's another tough game, but I'd like to hand the reins back to Ian with a win," smiled Catlin.