CHRISTCHURCH boss Ollie Cherrett insisted there would be no room for sentiment as he plots to raid Verwood Town for the services of star striker Joe Wood.

New Potters manager Gavin Reeves, who finished last season coaching under Cherrett at Priory, said he was confident of retaining the 19-goal hitman ahead of his first campaign in charge.

But Wood has been training with the Hurn Bridge outfit for the past week and rattled home a hat-trick as Christchurch kicked off their pre-season programme with a 4-0 win at Wareham Rangers on Saturday.

And Cherrett, who managed Wood at Merley, is confident of landing his number-one summer target.

“There were areas we highlighted for improvement and our need for a target man was one of the big ones,” said Cherrett.

“Joe has been training with us over the past week, played on Saturday and showed his quality. We will be having conversations with him over the next couple of days.

“Based on what we know and what we have seen, we think he can enjoy his football with us. We create chances and play the way he wants to play so he could be that striker we need.

“Luke Stone did extremely well for us last season and scored a lot of goals but we will need more than one striker to get us to where we want to be.”

On swooping for his old mate’s main man, Cherrett added: “Gav went with our blessing and I hope he does really well but when it comes to looking after your own team, you cannot be sentimental.

“I wish Verwood all the best but my main priority is Christchurch. I expect Gav to talk to players I might want to sign and vice versa.

“From there, it is down to those players to decide where they feel comfortable.”

Experienced duo Mark Claremont and Andy Mason also featured at Wareham with Cherrett hopeful of securing both ahead of the new campaign.