Captain Heywood hands Hebburn Town warning ahead of new Northern Premier League season

Hebburn Town captain Aidan Heywood has warned his side there will be ’no easy games’ in the Northern Premier League Premier Division this season.

Some onlookers have claimed the loss of big-spending Macclesfield and Worksop Town following their promotion into the National League North have weakened the division this season. However, with Warrington Town dropping into the Premier Division from step two and ambitious Hednesford Town landing promotion from the NPL West Division, there are still sizeable challenges lying in wait for Daniel Moore’s men.

There were some severe lessons learnt during Hebburn’s first ever campaign in the third tier of the non-league game and Heywood was able to keep a closer eye on opposition during a lengthy spell on the sidelines during last season. That has meant the newly appointed Hornets captain is fully aware of what is required as they look to kick on from what was an underwhelming second half of last season.

Speaking ahead of Friday’s friendly at Northern Premier League East side Newton Aycliffe, Heywood told The Gazette: “I think at this step three level, where you get the best of the semi-professional players who don’t move around, you basically get a division where there isn’t a poor team.

“With having a spell out last season, I could really sit and watch the teams we were facing and I was really impressed with what I saw from across the division because every team we played had genuine quality and provided you with a number of problems. Sometimes you would sit and wonder why some sides were further down the league or hadn’t got the results you’d expect. There are no weak teams.

“You look at the start to the season where we have Hednesford and I’ve only ever heard positive things about Hednesford and then we go to Guiseley and we know it’ll be tough there too. Everyone will be strong and everyone can beat everyone.”

Heywood is hopeful Hebburn can round off a productive pre-season at Aycliffe tonight and take the momentum into the new campaign.

“It’s about getting into good habits and taking those into the season,” he explained. “If you can produce in pre-season games, you can produce when it matters and that’s what we want to take into the season.”

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