FOLLAND Sports boss Danny Bowers has conceded defeat in his efforts to keep teenage striker Jamie Betteridge at the club.

The 17-year-old hitman is heading to league rivals Brockenhurst, who are guests of the Hamble club tomorrow in the Sydenhams Premier Division.

Brock lodged a notice of approach for Betteridge last week and Bowers did all he could to persuade the youngster – scorer of 12 Wessex goals last season – to stay.

But he said: “Jamie lives in the New Forest, he goes to Brockenhurst College and his mum was having to drive him over the Hamble for football.

“Jamie loved it at Follands, but he wasn’t getting paid to play for us and this season his opportunities have been a bit limited.

“He’d be the first to admit he’s not found form yet this season, but he’s only just turned 17 and everyone forgets he’s such a young lad.

“It was no good flogging him to death and all we were doing was trying to look after him and give him a bit of confidence.

“Jamie was a bit of a gem for us, but I really do wish him all the best. I think he can go a long way in football.

“I’ve got a lot of time for Brockenhurst and their manager Pat McManus and they have got themselves a quality footballer.”

With the likes of Ashley Jarvis, Mike Turvey and Ryan Long on Follands’ books, regular frontline starts were hard to come by for Betteridge.

“We had seven centre-forwards at the start of the season,” said Bowers.

“We lost Alex Easton and now we’ve lost Jamie, but it was always going to be one of those situations where we couldn’t keep them all happy. It’s not as if we were paying them £50 a week.”

Unlike Bowers, Brock boss McManus has not had a wealth of out-and-out strikers at his disposal – albeit that the Badgers are nicely poised fourth in the table with 27 league goals scored in 12 games.

Former Winchester City marksman Daryll Phillips has weighed in with eight of those, but McManus said: “Daryll’s the only recognised No 9 we’ve got. With the rest, it’s putting square pegs in round holes.

“But it’s Jamie Betteridge’s natural position and I think he’ll score goals in our team.”

Follands are again without suspended midfielder Jake Long tomorrow. Brock expect to welcome back Danny Cox, Jacques Bernard and Tom Pigford, but Will Tickle (ankle) remains injured and Martyn Randall is unavailable.