Following a mixed start to pre-season, Lincoln United today found out the fixtures for their return to step 4 of non-league football.
After Tuesday’s narrow loss to step 3 side Spalding United, Scott Hellewell said: “I’m quite pleased, I’ve taken a lot of positives out of tonight and I thought we defended really well.”
The First Month:
Despite hoping for a home fixture on the opening day, the boss instead found out that his side will have to travel to Heaton Stannington Whites on the opening day.
The North-Eastern side have competed in step four since the 2011-12 season, reaching the play-offs twice – in both the 2021-22 season and the 2023-24 season, however could only reach 12th place last season.
Following on from that, the Whites will play two home games throughout August against Derbyshire side Matlock Town, before welcoming West Yorkshire side Pontefract Collieries.
Alongside that, they will also travel to Huddersfield based side Emley AFC alongside the first Lincolnshire derby against Grimsby Borough to complete the month.
The newly Promoted teams:
With four teams facing the drop from the Northern Premier League East Division One this season, the Whites will find competition from four other newly promoted teams, all hoping to survive relegation.
The first of the sides moving up to step 4 is Blyth Town who the Whites face in their final game of September before traveling to the north-east in January.
Town achieved promotion to step four by winning the Northern football League Division one play-offs last season.
They will be joined by Redcar Athletic who won the same league last term. The Whites will travel to the North Yorkshire side in their final game of October before welcoming them to Ashby Avenue in March.
Joining the two North-Eastern sides are the NCEL Premier Division sides, Silsden AFC and Hallam FC. Hallam FC can boast the oldest football ground in the world and were promoted through the play-offs after narrowly beating Thackley AFC and Beverley Town respectively.
The Countrymen won the final against Beverly on penalties and only managed to pick up three points against Thackley AFC during the regular season.
The final team to make the step up after Bourne Town were placed into the Midlands Division is Silsden AFC. Silsden won the NCEL Premier division last season by nine points ahead of Hallam FC losing just four times, one of which came against Hallam FC in a 5-1 loss at the start of March.
The run-in:
In the final month of the season, the Whites will travel to the previously mentioned Pontefract Collieries, before welcoming Hallam FC.
The Whites then face a difficult final three as they travel to Dunston DTS, who finished third last time out before losing out in the play-off final.
To finish the campaign, United will welcome East Yorkshire side North Ferriby who face their second consecutive season in the division.
Finally, they will travel to Ashington AFC, who finished 16th last term, losing just two of their last five.