HINTON'S player-of-the-year believes Bartestree should have won the Herefordshire Premier League before moving on.

The Hereford Times reported last week that the village club have applied to join Division Three of the Midland Football League in order to progress.

However, Rod Haslam, who was part of a Hinton side who were crowned champions this season, thinks the league will suffer as a result.

"I'm of the belief that you've got to win something before you go up," he said.

"They've got great foundations that can kick on, but I worry that there's not enough players locally who want to travel and it's not sustainable for me.

"And from a selfish point of view, I want it to be as strong as it can be in the Hereford Premier and that includes a Bartestree team.

"We've got some players who've dropped down from the West Midlands League who didn't want to travel.

"They just want to play local football and turn up an hour before a game, do the warm-up, play the game and have a few beers afterwards.

"They don't want the extra two or three hours' travelling.

"It is a shame but you can understand why clubs do it because the top four or five teams are good, but below that they're not as much of a challenge as maybe they should be."

The Herefordshire Football Association took over the running of the County League this season and Haslam says that, even though the standard is better than it was two years ago, more improvements are needed.

"I was a bit disappointed they only had one cup because a lot of teams weren't playing for anything after October," said Haslam.

"Players never want to play a cup game in midweek at the end of the season because of work and, if you win the cup, you want to have a couple of drinks afterwards and not to get up the next day for work.

"They should be played on a Saturday because you'd get more people watching and the players would enjoy it more."

Haslam said he was delighted to pick up both the manager's and players' player of the year awards, but admits it will be difficult for Hinton to retain their title next season.

"It was a really good season, so to top it off with a couple of awards is really pleasing, especially the players' award because players vote for you," said Haslam.

"We've got a really strong defence and we always have a defensive midfielder that can protect us.

"I think we kept 12 clean sheets in 24 games.

"But even though our attacking players didn't score as many goals as some players in the league, they chipped in with some important goals.

"Mike Marsden scored a lot of goals that won goals, so did Elliot Body and Luke Semple.

"I think we're probably the most experienced side, but we've got a lot of youngsters that come in and want to learn from us.

"It's not that we're better, it's just that we've been there and know how to win games.

"We've definitely got enough young players coming through, it's just whether we gel and if other teams get better next year.

"Even though we won by quite a few points, it wasn't easy so it will be challenge.

"I was really impressed by Westfields Reserves, they gave us our two hardest games, and Wellington Reserves could do anything and Tenbury are always strong.

"I guess Tenbury Town will be ok because they've won their league quite comfortably and some of the Kington players have played for their first team, so I imagine they should be fairly strong.

"So hopefully we will have seven or eight sides that can all win it, which will be good for the league."