JOINT Campion boss James Bicknell has urged his side not to get too ahead of themselves after their fine start to life in the NCEL Premier Division.

The Bradford side cruised to the Division One title last time out and have started this campaign in the same manner that they finished last season.

In their opening two Premier Division fixtures Campion have blown away Frickley Athletic and Bottesford Town, beating their opponents 3-0 and 6-2 respectively. This follows on from their outstanding pre-season where they won all six of their friendly fixtures.

Speaking ahead of his side’s FA Cup tie at Wythenshawe Athletic in the Extra Preliminary Round today, Bicknell refused to allude to Campion’s fast start as a call for optimism.

He said: “To be honest, we are taking it just one game at a time and not getting ahead of ourselves.

“It’s a very tough league where you’ve probably got 12 teams who can all compete at the top. We’ve got bigger challenges ahead, that’s for sure.

“It has been a very good start; it’s always a positive when you win your first two games of the season.

“We have such a tight-knit group and I think it helped that we kept 95% of last year’s team, who are all playing with confidence.

“We’ve also brought in a sensible number of players and added two players who played in this division last season, so we are feeling good and confident about the season.”

Including the club’s pre-season fixtures, Campion are now on a run of eight consecutive victories; something that Bicknell believes can’t be overlooked.

He said: “Momentum in football is massive and it’s something that you can’t coach. This group has momentum and we feel confident when going into every game. We’ll try to continue in this vein of form and if it does then the feeling with the group will only continue to grow.”

Discussing new arrivals, Bicknell said: “We think we’ve got a good enough squad to compete in this division, but we are always on the lookout for ways to improve. If anybody outstanding becomes available then we’ll look at that, but at the moment we are very pleased with who we’ve got.

Bicknell has been without his right-hand man in joint manager Lee Ashforth in the first two weeks of the season, but he admitted that the pair are never that far away.

He said: “It’s been absolutely brilliant (without Ashforth); I don’t get no earache,” Joked Bicknell

“I’ve spoken to him nearly everyday whilst he’s been away, which has been positive for us and the group. He’s currently in America; I’ve been in Dubai, so we’ve been juggling time zones inline with calling each other.

“Me and Lee have a great relationship and work extremely well together, as we both do with our coach Ronnie Reason. Ronnie is absolutely fantastic with what he does; his analysis of the game is second to none and we are lucky to have him on board.”

Looking ahead to today's FA Cup tie at Wythenshawe Amateur, Bicknell said: “I went to watch them on Tuesday against a team called Cheadle Town and they were really, really good.

“They won their division (NWCFL First Division South) last season quite convincingly and they’ve now started with an opening two victories in the Premier Division. They are looking really strong at the minute.

“They’re solid at the back, great on the ball in midfield and they can attack you with speed up top. So, we are expecting a very tough game.

“We are both in a similar scenario regarding our achievements last season and how we’ve both started in higher divisions this season. So, we are going there knowing that we’ll have to be at the top of our game if we want to go through.”