LIVERSEDGE boss Jonathan Rimmington feels that his club and their two local rivals in the Toolstation Northern Counties East League top tier face a huge task if they are to kick on and gain promotion.

Brighouse Town were NCEL counterparts a few years back but they climbed the non-league ladder quickly and are now in the Evo-Stik Division One North. However, they are finding it difficult in that higher division.

Rimmington said: “I think us three clubs, ourselves Albion Sports and Thackley, are doing well to hold our own against some of the clubs in our league.

“Every year you get either one club on the up with a big budget or a well-established club that has come down from the Evo-Stik that bounces straight back. That makes this division one of the hardest to get out of as everything has to be perfect to get promoted.

“There are no play offs in the (NCEL) Premier Division – even Division One has play offs and two automatic promotion places. That’s even worse for our division because it means even if a team finishes third bottom, they’re still going down. We’ve all got ambition, but we’re up against it because we don’t have the money that many of the top sides have.

“Thackley came close to winning it last season and I was hoping they would because it would have shown these clubs that you can’t just win things by chucking money at it.

“I know money makes the world go around but at our level it should be more of a level playing field. We would all like a massive chunk of corporate finance coming into the club each month but there aren’t enough benefactors to go round.

“We are where we are and Thackley proved last season that clubs like us can challenge and that gives us a big lift. I think that we’re top-eight clubs and I’m sure all of us will be thereabouts but to break through that ceiling – that’s a big ask.”