DORCHESTER Sports manager Ashley James described as a “massive blow” a triple player exit this month.

Experienced duo Kyle Critchell and Jamie Beasley have gone but remain on dual registration forms, while centre-back Caleb Tennant has re-joined Portland United Reserves permanently.

Of the three, only Beasley has made a step up in standard by agreeing a deal with Wessex League Premier leaders Bemerton Heath Harlequins.

Critchell has dropped one division to join Dorset Senior League side Portland Town, while Tennant’s switch is a sidestep within the Jewson Dorset Premier League.

READ MORE: Dorchester Sports 5-1 Poole Borough - match report

Despite losing the triple act, Sports beat Poole Borough 5-1 on Saturday and sit fourth in the league.

Speaking to Echosport, James admitted he had been banking on a full season of service from the trio.

“It’s a massive blow,” he confessed. “(Critchell and Beasley) are still on dual registration forms so they could still play for us but at the moment they won’t be.

“You never know what might happen during the season. To lose three players in the space of a week is difficult, especially when you bank on them to be with you all season.

“We’ve got to rearrange the squad a bit now which is something we didn’t want to do.

“I didn’t want to lose them. They’ve decided it’s not for them and you’ve got to respect their voices.

“We’ve got to find two or three players who want to be a part of it and fight in all three competitions.

“There’s not a lot we can do about it. We’ve got to dust ourselves off and we’ve got a really good setup now with the reserves and under-18s.

“It’s unfortunate for Saturday I couldn’t sign any of them on. They’ve got to be signed on by 12 o’clock on the Friday, so it is a bit my fault.

“This week we’ll be getting some under-18s signed on and hopefully they can help out in the next few weeks while we bring in a few more.

“They’ve won three out of three, the under-18s, so it’s really pleasing watching them play. There’s some real talent in that team so we’ll be calling on them.”

While promotion from within is an option for James, he stressed the need to “dig deep” into his contacts book for new signings.

He added: “It’s left us very thin. I could only name 12 players on Saturday and our goalkeeper Ash Green had to come on for ten minutes.

“It was a massive effort from the lads that were there Saturday, but the last three weeks have been a nightmare.

“Our next game is on Wednesday night against Sherborne in the cup, so it gave us ten days to try and get one or two in.

“I’ll be working hard to do that. I’ve got a long contacts list but I’m going to have to dig deep I think.

“We needed to get Saturday out of the way, my focus was on getting a good win and we managed to do that.”