Hemsworth travel to Rossington Main tomorrow for their inaugural Northern Counties East League fixture having been admitted to Division One this season after spending the last 13 years in the West Riding County Amateur set-up.

It's the culmination of years of hard work for Hemsworth, who brought their facilities in line with NCE requirements thanks to funding from the Football Foundation.

Crapper said: "This is a new era for the club, it's a big challenge for everyone involved and we can't wait for it to start really.

"This has been our aim for the last four or five years but we had to bring the ground and facilities up to standard. We were fortunate enough to get new buildings through Football Foundation grants and that kick-started our bid to get into the Counties.

"We have always had the pitch, we've always had the players, it was just the facilities – but we have got that now."

Hemsworth have built new state-of-the-art facilities including dressing rooms, officials rooms and function rooms, as well as improving car parking.

The club have also fully enclosed their Wakefield Road ground in Fitzwilliam, Pontefract, and floodlights will be installed before the club's first home midweek game.

And Crapper is confident Hemsworth will not disgrace themselves on the pitch, either, in their new surroundings.

He said: "We had our best season last year for a long time. We finished fourth in the West Riding Premier Division and reached two cup semi-finals. We went five months unbeaten at one stage, which is good at any level, and were top of the league for a while.

"We are aiming to stamp our authority on the NCE League. Without being bullish, we are quietly confident we can hold our own.

"We are not going into the league thinking we are going to win it, but we are confident we can compete and everyone is looking forward to the challenge. Personally, I think we will do okay. I'll settle for Europe – top six."

Brighouse Town, who also step up from the West Riding County Amateur League, kick-off at Teversal tomorrow, while relegated Glasshoughton begin the task of winning back their Premier Division status at Staveley.

Eccleshill, Selby and Nostell all have home starts in the top-flight, hosting Mickleover, Parkgate and Arnold respectively. Bridlington go to east coast rivals Hall Road, Thackley are at Brodsworth and Liversedge travel to Dinnington.

Ends