FUTURE’S ON TRACK FOR RAIL ROADERS

SHILDON player-manager Daniel Moore believes the club are heading into a “bright new era”.

The Ebac Northern League Division One club have had a busy summer on and off the park, with Moore adding a sprinkling of youthful additions to his squad while chairman David Dent has forged strong relations with League One Sunderland.

The clear target is promotion with former Spennymoor Town star Moore keen to lead the club up the Non-League pyramid.

He said: “This is a bright new era for everyone at Shildon. We have adjusted our budget to make ourselves more sustainable and there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes.

“We want to develop young players for ourselves and to get some of them into the professional game. But, first and foremost, we want to get promotion.

“There is no reason why we can’t flourish in the Evo-Stik League and even be more ambitious and target a place in the National League North.

“You look at clubs like Curzon Ashton. They had a young squad and they have gone from strength to strength as they’ve moved up the pyramid.

“We can do the same. We have a young squad and I think the average age is down about ten years on when I joined the club.

“We can kick on and play in a certain style, this club can go far.”

Moore has another target in mind for his Railwaymen squad.

It is 15 years since they reached the first round proper of the FA Cup and they remain the last Northern League club to achieve that feat.

They reached the fourth qualifying round last year before going down to Guiseley and have already been handed a bye to the Preliminary Round after Team Northumbria dropped out.

Now Moore believes they can go one better this time round. “Why can’t we do it?” he added. “Last season, we ensured that we saw the opposition in action ahead of the game. That really worked for us and we had a great run.

“We were goalless against Guiseley for a long spell and showed we can do well in the FA Cup. There is no reason why we can’t do it again.”