‘I can’t see how they could carry on with the season’ - Suraci gives a player’s view

Pat Suraci can see no other alternative but a second successive ‘non-elite’ football season going to ‘waste’.

But the Brazilian-born Gosport Borough midfielder is trying to focus on the 'positives' during a third nationwide lockdown in less than a year.

The 22-year-old, who also heads up Borough's centre of excellence with team-mate and best friend Joe Lea, conceded that the only feasible outcome is to scrap the current Southern League campaign.

Gosport, who play in the Southern League Premier South, have only got through seven of 38 league games this season and would almost certainly need to play up to three times a week in a bid to complete their 2020-21 campaign.

Shaun Gale's side have not had a competitive fixture since an FA Trophy defeat at Dorchester you got to show for it?

‘Luckily I’m young so I’ve got a lot of seasons ahead of me, but it’s never nice to waste these seasons.

‘It’s hard to explain (feeling without football).

‘It hasn’t even been stopstart, it’s just stop now, we haven’t played since October and we’ve only played seven games in the league.

‘It’s been tough, especially after finishing in March last year.

'As a player it has been massively frustrating but I’m just looking at the positives, trying to keep fit, staying healthy, keep training - because it's the only thing you can do at the moment.'

Questions have been raised over how 'non-elite' clubs might get competitive action if allowed to return playing in April, or before, should 2020/21 be