No fear: Brighouse Town manager Paul Quinn says his team have to be excited about playing in the Evo Stik Division North
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Brighouse Town will play with no fear during their historic season in the Evo Stik Division One North.
That’s the view of their manager Paul Quinn, who will lead his side out in the Evo Stik next month – four months after leading them to the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division title.
Brighouse will be rubbing shoulders with the likes of Darlington 1883 – a team who six years ago were in the Football League when Brighouse had just been promoted out of the West Riding County Amateur League.
Brighouse’s rise has been meteoric and Quinn said: “I’ve said to the lads that if you’re not excited about this season then you shouldn’t be at the club because there is a buzz around the place.
“We can’t wait to be going up against the big guns.
“There is no way we’re going to overawed by any of them because we have come up against big sides already in the last two years.
“We’re looking forward to the challenges ahead. No-one is going to come here and have an easy game and we’re not going to go anywhere and roll over.
“Don’t get me wrong, there’s going to be a lot of learning to do, but we’re going to give the best possible account we can of ourselves.
“It’s unbelievable to be playing Darlington, Scarborough, even Farsley who have been in the Conference and are a well-established Non League club.
“We are in our infancy really in terms of Non League football and it is a fantastic experience for everyone at the club and we have to embrace and make sure we make the best of the opportunity.
“There’s no pressure on us. The pressure is on Darlington, Spennymoor, the Farsleys. They are the clubs who are expected to do well.
“There’s going to be nothing expected of us which is fantastic and we can go play with no pressure.”
Quinn is not setting any target, but insists that his side will not be going up just to make the numbers up.
“There’s no way I’m going up to this league to mess about,” he said.
“The priority is to be competitive. Where that will leave us in the league, I don’t know.
“I’m not foolish so I’m not going to predict a certain position where we’ll finish.
“We have to go and be competitive and if competitive means finishing in the top half of the table or below or above, we’ll find out as the season progresses.
“The first six to eight games are going to be important and we’ll see where we’re at.”
Star striker Tom Matthews has re-signed for Brighouse Town
Quinn has lost just one of title-winning squad – Sam Hewitt to Bradford (Park Avenue) – after keeping his promise to give them a chance at Evo Stik football.
So far goalkeeper Jacob Giles, James Hurtley, Adam Field, Tyrone Gay, Ernest Boafo and star striker Tom Matthews are confirmed to be returning.
All six appeared in the 3-2 win over Garforth Town on Tuesday and will probably be involved tonight against a Huddersfield Town X1.
Quinn added: “We’ll found out how well we have adjusted to that (promotion) when the season gets going.
“We’re happy with what we have done off-the-field and who we have been able to bring in.
“We have retained a large majority of the squad with the exception of Sam Hewitt who has gone to Bradford (Park Avenue).
“We’re looking in good shape and obviously now we want to make good ground in terms of fitness and organisation in the next week or so. Then we’ll look to shape the squad and fine it a little bit.”