WEYMOUTH Reserves’ manager Bradley Asagba was left “baffled” by claims that his side’s promotion may “devalue” Sydenhams One next season.

The Terras’ second side had their quest to make the step up fully ratified at the league’s AGM, with the league constitution passed by 26 votes to 20.

One of the big talking points of the evening, however, was the promotion of Weymouth Reserves to the next level after finishing third in the Dorset Premier League last season.

Club representatives, notably from Hythe & Dibden, Blackfield & Langley and Laverstock & Ford, vehemently argued that Asagba’s men featuring in Wessex One would devalue the competition in a lively debate conducted without prospective member clubs in the room.

Furthermore, those existing clubs opposed to reserve teams entering the Wessex League, pointed out that it went totally against the rule book.

Speaking to The (Dorset) Echo, Asagba, who was not at last month's meeting, said: “Obviously I have seen across the board a few quotes from people there, so I guess you have to take those quotes as what was said.

“I am a bit baffled by it, to be completely honest.

“You see quotes attributed to the idea that we would ‘devalue’ the league. Whether that’s because they think we are a poor side and we are not going to be competitive, or in terms of our set-up and facilities, or in terms of our name, I am not too sure.

"Everybody is entitled to their opinion – they have made their opinion quite clear in what they think about us but it is up to us to get on with it.

“What other people think or whether other people think we bring any value or not, or whether they like us or not, is, to be quite frank, quite irrelevant to me and irrelevant to everybody else.

"The constitution is what it is and everybody just has to get on with it, to be honest.”

He added: “I guess within that set-up there are a lot of clubs that have been there for quite a long time and a lot of clubs that feel they are very much established at that level.

“Maybe they think that a team that finished third in the Dorset Premier League are not necessarily going to bring too much to the table.

“Whatever their case or issue, it is up to us to prove with our performances on the pitch at least that we are competitive enough and we are not going to bring the overall standard down."