Needham Market boss Kevin Horlock looking for more than just survival on National League North debut ahead of opener at Curzon Ashton

Needham Market may now be a very small fish in a very big pond after promotion to the Vanarama National League North, but ahead of their season opener manager Kevin Horlock believes they can strive for more than just survival in 2024/25.

The Marketmen ensured they will embark on a historical season at Step 2 after wrapping up the Pitching In Southern League Premier Central title with three games to spare last term.

And after adding four new faces to his squad as three departed, ahead of the increase in level and travelling, Horlock is confident that remaining in the division should only be at the bottom of their ambitions.

“I want more than that, I’ll always want more than that,” he said.

“Look, I know it’s a different club with different pools of players that they can call upon but Tamworth have come out of our division last year and got promoted again so anything is possible in football, I’ve seen it before.

“No-one gave us a chance of winning the league we’ve just won so yes, people will say survival, I want a bit more than that.

“I would love to surprise a few, I’d love to be in and around it if we could be and who knows?”

The Keiran Morphew-captained side will be flying the flag as Suffolk’s highest-ranked non-league team this season against the likes of bigs names such as Scunthorpe United and phoenix clubs Chester and Hereford.

But despite their resources dwarfing their competitors, Horlock is very much looking to try and stick with the attacking style that got them into the division.

“We’re certainly not going into the season thinking we’re going to batten down the hatches and try and not concede and just try and survive,” he said, “we’re going to try and win games of football.”

Needham will open the campaign up in Greater Manchester on Saturday (3pm), at a Curzon Ashton outfit who finished seventh last term, with a quartet of new additions in their ranks.

Central midfielder Ben Hunter is stepping up from AFC Sudbury while the other three all have professional backgrounds with versatile attacking midfielder Harley Curtis having been released from National League champions Chesterfield while back-up goalkeeper Danny Cullum arrives from Ipswich Town.

Full-back Cameron Jessup had started out with Needham’s academy before spells at Crystal Palace and Sunderland before forging his non-league career with FC Clacton and Brightlingsea Regent.

Byron Lawrence, Reece Harris and Hugh Cullum have all sought out new challenges this summer.

Needham ended their pre-season campaign with a 2-2 draw at AFC Sudbury on Saturday, which saw Marcus Garnham make a double save from a late penalty after they had been pegged back from Luke Ingram and Jamie McGrath’s early finishes.

The club are set to reveal their new kits, which will celebrate 20 years of sponsorship by the Windscreen Company, tonight.