KIDDERMINSTER Harriers target Trevor Challis has opted for a move down to Conference South with Weymouth.

Boss Stuart Watkiss had been unable to make a solid offer to the 29-year-old left-back due to the uncertainty over budgets with take-over talks on-going at Aggborough.

Experienced defender Challis, released by Shrewsbury, was interested in joining Harriers but has penned a one-year deal at the ambitious south coast club.

Weymouth manager Garry Hill said: "Trevor has years of experience at QPR and Bristol Rovers. That pedigree will be invaluable to us next season."

Watkiss, who returns from holiday this week, has other options but must wait on negotiations between owner Lionel Newton and a consortium involving vice-chairman Barry Norgrove and Neil Savery.

Striker Gary Birch, freed by Harriers this summer, has no such uncertainty after signing a one-year contract at Coca-Cola League Two outfit Lincoln City.

Much was expected of highly-rated Birch, 23, when he signed from Walsall in December but injury and fitness problems meant he failed to live up to that tag with three goals in 14 games.

Meanwhile, Harriers fans worried about next season's Nationwide Conference prospects for their club may be relieved to know only two sides will be relegated next season.

There are plans to extend the division to 24 teams the following season so four teams will go up from the feeder leagues, the Conference North and South.

The re-introduced Conference League Cup has been scrapped again and there will be a transfer window affecting Harriers and Hereford United.

They will be unable to sign players after the end of August apart from during the January window, but can make four short-term and four long-term loan additions in total, playing five in any one match.

n Hereford full-back Simon Travis is expected to miss the first game of pre-season as he recovers from a punctured lung and cracked ribs.

And sources in Cumbria have linked left-back Tom Cowan with a switch to Edgar Street after he quit Carlisle United.

Cowan, 35, who has played more than 500 games for Sheffield United, Huddersfield and other clubs, would fit the bill for Hereford whose left-back Mark Robinson joined Stockport.