Toolstation NCEL Premier Division
Emley AFC manager Richard Tracey has set his sights on a top ten finish.
Four straight wins and clean sheets have turned Emley from relegation candidates into top ten hopefuls.
Nine games remain and Emley are only six points behind tenth placed Bottesford Town.
That can be reduced to three as the two sides are due to play each other on Saturday.
“(Top ten) can happen,” Tracey told Non League Yorkshire.
“It is one of those leagues in which on any given day anybody can beat anybody.
“We have seen those sorts of results.
“Knaresborough recently surprised everyone by beating Eccleshill.
“You had Grimsby get beaten by Handsworth several weeks ago.
“That was off the back of us beating Handsworth quite convincingly so the league is wide open.
“If you get on a good run you can shift massively (up the league).
“The top ten has definitely got to be an objective for us moving forward.
“We have nine games left and we want to win as many as we can.
“Our aim is to pull away from Knaresborough, Thackley and Mansfield who we have managed to overtake recently and pull in the likes of Bottesford and Handsworth who are higher up.
“That depends on how much we look at things long-term and if we try and integrate any under 23s in or equally if we get hit by injuries.
“But we will be aspiring to finish as high up the table as possible.”
Tracey is not surprised by the upturn in their fortunes but he was concerned when they were fourth bottom a few weeks ago.
“I’m a glass half empty person (so I was concerned) but I do feel having managed Ossett Albion that we are experienced being around the bottom end of the table,” he said.
“But it is not what we want to be tapping into.
“Keeping motivated and happy when things aren’t going your own way is always a challenge.
“In terms of support from the club we have nothing but support and belief in what we are trying to do.
“I think that stems from the fact the performances were very good and we were seeing improvements.
“We felt this little run was around the corner.
“Performances have been good and we haven’t been a bad team but it was a case of conceding the first goal and it has been a real issue for us.
“Teams have been camped in then.
“Because we have been playing well, teams have sat in and took the lead and said ‘come and break us down’.
“We haven’t been good enough at that.
“In the last four games we have got the first goal and it has allowed us to play with a bit more freedom and makes the other team come out (and attack).
“I think that’s been the key factor for our recent run and turnaround.
“We were looking over our shoulders and looking at results and who’s got to play who.
“For us (the good run) has taken a lot of heat off.
“Now we can start focussing on ‘where could we potentially finish in the league and what do we want to look at for next season’?
“We can start looking at what will make us better next season.”
Regardless of where they finish, Tracey agrees he did not expect Emley’s first campaign in the Premier Division to be a struggle.
“Certainly not with the experience and quality we have got in the squad,” he said.
“We were talking at the start of the season and we had Danny Lowe and James Knowles who have played at the top end of Non League.
“I use them as examples and they have played 13 games between them.
“You take that experience out of what you have got means you are throwing less experience in there.
“(The season) has not panned as we would have hoped and liked.
“We would have liked to have been more competitive from the start of the season but again what we have done is learnt an awful lot about this Division.
“That gives us more ammo to be prepared for next season.”
Without putting a time-scale on the aim, Tracey says Emley’s long-term aim is to reach the Northern Premier League.
Emley are the reformed club for the old Emley who were a force to be reckoned with in the Northern Premier League in 1990s.
“We want to established ourselves as a Premier Division club first and foremost,” he said.
“The long-term or mid-term aim is to start moving Emley towards the Northern Premier League where Emley have had a reputation as a top Non League club.
“We’re trying to start foundations of moving Emley back towards where they were in the past.
“Nobody is ambitious to say in three years’ time we will back knocking at the top end of the Northern Premier League because we’re just not a club that has the resources or a heavy backer.
“We are run sustainably but the model is to get back up the leagues.
“I don’t think you can answer the question (as to when we will make the push) because everyone will want it next season or the season after that.
“The reality is you don’t know what you are up against.
“We could look at this year and say ‘ooh Grimsby, Eccleshill, Garforth are solid sides and done well, we could have been them’.
“Then what if Hallam or North Ferriby come up with their resources or a team suddenly gets a backer.
“In two or three years you might not have the chance because you might be blown out of the water by other clubs and their resources.
“But, in the next three to five years I would assume the board would expect Emley to be knocking on the door (to the NPL).”