The wait is over! We finally get our Southern Premier League Central campaign up and running on Saturday as we travel to face Tamworth, kick-off 3pm.
While the Robins go into what will be our first ever season at step three, Tamworth haven’t been below this level in the last 25 years and in recent seasons progressed as high as the top level of non-league football, now known as the National League, before then dropping into what is now the National League North and then into the SPL Central in 2018.
Last season, they finished in tenth place, 11 points outside the play-off places.
Ilkeston boss Martin Carruthers says he can’t wait to get the season under way.
He said: “I’m really looking forward to the game. It seems like pre-season has taken forever so we’re really excited.
“We’ve got lots of new additions and are looking to gel the side together but competition for places is really fierce and we’re looking forward to hitting the ground running.
“We had a great start at Stamford last year and we’re hoping to replicate that but Tamworth are one of the favourites for the league and a really good club so we couldn’t really have had a tougher start, but you’ve got to play all of these teams so we’ll go there wanting to be solid and giving a good account of ourselves.
“It’s a new league with a lot of new teams for us so it’s a bit of an unknown, but I’ve had a couple of reports on Tamworth already and we know they’re a decent outfit and who their key players are but we’ve got plenty of key players ourselves.
“Some of the players have had a really good pre-season so we’re quietly confident we can go there and start the season with a bang.
“It’s a long season. We’ve still got one or two out with little niggles – nothing serious but we’ll manage that.
“But it’s great to be in a new league and hopefully it’ll be another successful season.”
Match Details:
Saturday, August 6
Kettlebrook Road, Tamworth, Staffordshire, B77 1AA
15:00 Kick-off
£12 adults, £8 Concessions, £4 16/17 yo ***All tickets must be bought via the Tamworth FC website in advance of the match – CLICK HERE***