WEST Riding County Amateur League outfit Campion are hoping to make the step up onto the non-League ladder in time for the start of next season.

There have been negotiations behind the scenes for some time in readiness to join the Northern Counties East League set-up and they could be Division One rivals of Eccleshill United next term.

Campion boss James Bicknell is taking nothing for granted and believes there is still a long way to go but he and the club are very hopeful.

"We've applied to go into the NCE League and they've been up to the ground and told us what we need to do to get the sufficient grading," said Bicknell.

"We've got our fingers crossed and a lot of the work has been done already. At the ground, the AA Van Hire Stadium at Scotchman Road, the building we've got is only ten years old and it cost £1million.

"We need to install floodlights and we've been told by the ground grading committee that we have to have the rest of the work done by the end of March.

"But there's a timescale to have the lights in and that's September. We aim to beat that by some way because we're looking at May to have them up and running."

The club have worked hard to generate enough funds to make the step up and they are still hard at it with more plans to raise funds.

They also have Dominic Matteo helping to raise their profile and hope to secure a match against the Bantams for a pre-season friendly.