New year, new challenges for the Poachers

The Poachers will look back on the past 12 months fondly as a new-year surge saw Gary Edgley’s side put together an eight-game unbeaten run to pull themselves clear of the UCLPremier Division relegation battle.

Strong summer recruitment saw seasoned campaigners such as Alex Beck, Lee Beeson and Stacy Cartwright join exciting youngsters at the DWB Stadium, as well as a few club veterans.

An impressive FA Cup run followed, the Poachers eventually going out to Leek Town in the second qualifying round.

Edgley’s side may be playing catch-up in the league because of their cup successes - they are also into the final four of the Lincs Senior Trophy - but he is hoping for progression next year.

“At the start of the season I said we wanted a top-1o finish and, if you look at the games we’ve got in hand, that’s still a realistic target,” he said.

“We’ve got a good squad but we’ve also had a lot of injuries .

“I genuinely believe there’s still a lot more to come from these boys.

“That’s what we want for the rest of this season, to build on what we’ve done, get into that top 10 and see where we can go from there.”