DAVE Malone says there will inevitably be a down side to Winchester City’s unexpected promotion to the Evo-Stik Southern League.

City’s director of football fully expects that not every player will be in a position to move up from the Wessex ranks to the Evo-Stik Division One South & West.

“We’re over the moon to be going up, but it’s not all positive.

“Things will happen that are hard to deal with,” he warned.

“It’s late in the day to get promoted and there are bound to be some players who either won’t or can’t do the travelling and all the rest of it.

“Paul Masters (manager) is enthused about promotion and it’s good news for a lot of the team because we do have players good enough to play at a higher level.

“But until we speak one-to-one with every player, there’s always that doubt (over who will stay).

“Mind you, it works both ways. I’ve already had a call from a player who’s interested in joining us because we’re playing higher and I dare say we’ll be looking at one or two players now that we hadn’t considered before.”

“Geographically the South & West Division is a pain," Malone added.  "But we’ve got a good fan base and we’ll organise coaches with the fans.

“We’ll be fine. I’m convinced we’ll do alright, but we’re not taking anyone or anything for granted.”

Southern League football will offer a fresh challenge to master marksman Warren Bentley who, after banging in goals galore for Alresford Town, again topped the Sydenhams scoring charts with 56 league and cup strikes for City last term.