Football returns as Skegness Town prepare for first friendly

​The Lilywhites will host March Town at the Vertigo Stadium with a 3pm start, as they prepare for the new United Counties League Premier North campaign.

And manager Chris Rawlinson says his players are raring to go.

He said: “It has been a busy summer so far but we held or first training session on Monday night and I was really pleased.

"Between us and the reserves we had over 40 lads train and the standard amongst the first team squad was really high. The lads have come back in great shape and we just need to get them sharp over the next few weeks.

"Looking back to the summer, I was pleased that Gary King stepped up to a player/assistant manager role and between him and Matt Easton they have done a wonderful job in getting things sorted for pre-season.

“We have managed to retain what was already a competitive squad and add a bit more experience to it so I feel we are in a really good place to have a proper crack at the play-offs which are in place this year in our league.

"We have some really tough pre-season games coming up against the main teams from a higher level but hopefully if we manage to hold our own it will stand us in good stead for the league campaign when it start.

"All in all we are in a good place at the moment, we need to continue to work hard and hopefully we can give all our supporters something to cheer this season.”

Skegness will host Belper Town on Saturday, July 8 (1pm), Cleethorpes Town on July 11, Grimsby Borough on July 15 and Matlock Town on July 22.

The new-look UCL Premier North season will then get started a week later with a different allocation of promotions and relegations.

Starting this season, the two step five divisions in the league, Premier North and Premier South, will each promote two clubs, one as champions and one via a four-team play-off. This replaces the previous inter-step play-off system.

For this season only, there will be only one club relegated from each of the two divisions.

There will only be 18 clubs in the UCL Premier North this season, meaning a reduced 34 matches in total for clubs to negotiate.