Collins wants Skegness Town to be a 'handful' for new UCL Premier North rivals

Nathan Collins believes his newly-promoted Skegness Town side can be a 'handful' for their new United Counties League Premier North rivals.

The newly-created 18-team division has been put together as part of the FA's non-league reshuffle, with the Lilywhites among six Lincolnshire clubs.

"There'll be some good games," Collins said. "For Skegness the club's location means it's a good league for that (derbies), and there are some big clubs that have come over from the Midlands leagues.

"There's some nice grounds, real nice pitches to play on. For us there's no pressure, we will be a handful for anyone at that level as we've already been playing your North Ferribys and other real good sides week in and out (in the Northern Counties East League Division One).

"I'm sure that'll stand us in good stead."

After seeing the 2019-20 campaign made null and void and last season curtailed, it looked like two very positive campaigns would end in heartbreak for Town.

However, they were promoted after finishing in the top three in their division after results from the past two seasons were worked out using points per game.

"I'm delighted with the promotion," Collins added.

"I think we've probably been put in the toughest of the step five leagues. It's going to be a really tough league but it's a nice challenge and nice to be at step five.

"We're looking forward to going to some new grounds and testing ourselves.

"Given the choice, you'd pick the normal way of promotion, but over the two seasons - our level of consistency in a tough league with big teams - I don't think anybody could deny we deserved the promotion."