WARREN Bentley has admitted it was “a difficult decision” to turn down Gosport Borough's advances, but said it didn’t feel like the right time to move to Privett Park.

The Winchester City hotshot, scorer of 21 goals already this season, was subject of a £5,000 bid from Borough last week as Gosport boss Alex Pike sought to increase the firepower of his National League South squad.

But 25-year-old Bentley, who has also had scouts from League Two outfit Luton Town watching him, feels it would be “foolish” to uproot himself right now with Winchester going strong in their first season back in the Southern Division One South & West.

He said: “It’s a difficult decision but, at the moment, I’m really enjoying playing football under (City boss) Paul Masters and with the team we’ve got at Winchester.

“I’m committed to Winchester this season and I’ve not thought about moving away.

“It means I’m doing something good if there’s interest from other clubs and Dave (Malone, director of football Dave) said he would never stand in the way of me going higher if I really wanted to. Dave and Paul (Murray, chairman) have always been transparent with me over the offer from Gosport and they discussed it with me rather than just telling me they’d turned it down.”

Having netted goals galore for Alresford and Winchester at Wessex level, City's little magician feels he is still on a learning curve in his first season in the Southern League.

“While Gosport’s league would be a challenge, I still think I’m being challenged at Winchester and I’m enjoying my football here,” he said. “The season’s only just beginning and I feel this team can go on and achieve something special and I’d like to be part of it. We’ve come on in leaps and bounds and we’re enjoying our football as a group.”

Bentley, a PE teacher Sholing Technical College, hasn’t even thought what he would do if the offer of professional football with the likes of Luton were to materialise.

“The offer would have to come first and I’d have to make the decision then,” he said. “At this stage I can’t say what I’d do, it would depend on the deal. At the moment I’m not even thinking about it because no offer’s come in.”

Gosport boss Pike said: “Warren is on contract until the end of the season and then becomes a free agent, so it makes things a bit of a surprise that the bid was rejected.

“I tried to sign him last summer and maybe that would have been too big a step for him to go from the Wessex League to our level, but I think he can do it. Justin Bennett has shown you can score goals at all levels.”