BRETT Pitman’s arrival at Dorset club Shaftesbury is “fantastic” news for football in the county, Portland United boss Kyle Critchell insists.

Pitman, 35, has traded Shaftesbury’s fellow Wessex League Premier Division side AFC Portchester for a move to Cockrams.

The deal is understood to have topped what some Step 3 clubs were prepared to pay for the ex-Bournemouth, Bristol City, Portsmouth, Ipswich and Swindon Town striker.

Step 5 club Shaftesbury have put together an impressive catalogue of summer signings, recruiting heavily from the likes of Wimborne Town, Poole Town and Hamworthy.

READ MORE: Brett Pitman joins Shaftesbury after AFC Portchester exit

Some critics have dismissed Pitman’s switch as money motivated.

But Critchell, whose Blues side will twice come across Pitman in Dorset derbies with the Rockies, is all in favour of the signing.

“I think it’s fantastic,” he told Echosport.

“You’ve got an ex-Championship player. I know Brett personally and who wouldn’t want to play football for that type of money?

“You can’t criticise Brett for doing that. Shaftesbury have signed a player that’s going to score a lot of goals for them.

“Every team has their own way of doing things and their own model. That can’t be criticised, it’s going to help them achieve what they hope to achieve during the season.

“From Portland’s perspective, it’s going to be a really difficult game when we play them.

“Ultimately, the game is about 11 versus 11, so we’ll do our best to fight and compete against teams that have better resources.

“It’s every team’s priority and they’ve decided that Brett is the way they want to go forward.

“I think that’s brilliant for Dorset football.”