United rocked by Peters exit

Unlike most of the previous departures, though, Peters' decision has nothing to do with the manager going. He simply wants to pursue other interests outside football.

His timing could not have been worse because he joins a long list of players to exit the Pilot Field in the last couple of weeks. The others are Alan Tutton, Steve Hafner, Charlie Belcher, Peter Taylor, Steve Ringwood, Jon Wallis and Danny Knowles.

Scott Price, a player brought in to help cover for the exodus, turned out for Rye & Iden United in the Sussex Senior Cup on Tuesday night, rather than Hastings.

The loss of Peters, who missed the last month's fixtures with a hamstring injury, is unquestionably the biggest blow of the lot because he was probably the most genuinely talented player at the club and had become something of a fans' favourite since joining with Lovell in the summer of 2003.

Club chairman David Walters admitted he tried to persuade Peters to stay. He said: "He won't be coming back. It's nothing to with football. He is pursuing other interests in his life. He has been thinking about it for some time."

It seems Peters' situation is similar to that of Ringwood who has moved to France for work reasons. "It is a blow," Walters went on. "I did my best to try and change his mind but it was a situation where you couldn't."

Hastings have countered the departures by re-signing talented goalkeeper Chris May and bringing in defender Sam Rents, both on work experience from Brighton & Hove Albion.

Walters has also lined up a couple of loan signings to counter a central defensive crisis for the league trip to Leatherhead on Saturday December 4. Peter Mortley is out through injury and Sean Ray begins a two-match suspension, while Richard Bolton and David Henham are both struggling to shake off knocks. Ray's ban could be even longer because he is facing a second charge for something he said following his sending-off against Newport IoW.

"Almost certainly we will have a couple of extra loan players in for Saturday," said Walters, who will continue to run the team alongside Lovell's former assistant Vince Moorton. "They are Conference South standard and on contract so they are obviously decent players."

The hunt for a new manager continues with 11 applicants putting their names forward for the position by Thursday morning, but Walters is hoping his task will be made much easier by one candidate sticking out from the rest.

"I haven't got an identikit manager in mind but I want the best person," he said. "What I want is someone who recognises that this club at the very least is potentially Conference South standard. This is a plum job and I would hope people would recognise that."