PR: North Ferriby vs Emley

North Ferriby FC get their 2022/23 NCEL premier division campaign up and running at the Dransfield Stadium this Saturday as they welcome Emley.

The Villagers made the jump up into the Premier Division after defeating Harrogate Railway in the play-off final in April. It has been a productive summer for Chris Bolder both on and off the field. Bolder has brought in Danny Earl, Lewis Stephens, Liam Dickens, and Lewis Hill to help his side compete in the Premier division. During pre-season, Bolder rotated his side to give players valuable minutes ahead of the upcoming campaign. When asked how he feels now pre-season is over and how it’s he feels it’s gone, Bolder said, “Overall we are happy with how pre-season has gone, obviously we would have liked to end it on a win, but we took many things from the final game. The way pre-season has gone has been somewhat disrupted due to consistent availability but the positives of that are that it allowed us to keep the full squad as fit as possible”.

Emley will be a difficult first test for Bolder’s side. Last season they finished ninth, in what was their first season in the premier division after their promotion in 2021. The sides have met before and Emley came away with a 1-0 win when Ferriby visited the Fantastic Media Welfare Ground in 2020, a last-minute winner proving the difference. When asked what he expects from Emley Bolder stated, “Emley are a good side and have a great management team, so we know it is a tough start, but like we have said already, this league is probably the strongest it has been for a while, so all games are going to be tough. They have made some strong signings which will add to their already good squad”.

When asked about his aims for this season, Bolder suggested, “Our goals remain the same as last season in the sense that we want to challenge ourselves to get promoted. We know it is going to be extremely challenging, but we must have that aspiration. We have added well in the off-season, and we have retained the squad that did so well for us last year, so we have great self-belief”.

Report kindly provided by North Ferriby