“A bit of spice!” Elliott looking forward to Boston United’s opening fixtures and festive derby treble

Elliott’s side host Chester on the opening day of the campaign on August 3, before travelling to Alfreton Town and Spennymoor Town in their next two games.

“It’s a difficult start,” admitted the Boston boss.

“But it’s a really strong league this season and we were never likely to have an easy start.

“But I’m excited that we’re at home in both our first and last games, that’s great news for everyone at the club.

“Chester are full-time, so that’s certainly going to be tough, while the trip to Alfreton is a fairly easy one for the players to travel to midweek.”

Matches against Chester and Alfreton will have extra spice as George Green has signed from the Blues, while Luke Shiels and Tom Platt arrives from the Reds with Ryan Qualter moving in the opposite direction.

“We’ve signed players from each other this summer, so that should give the game a bit of spice,” Elliott added.

“Spennymoor are probably one of the favourites to win it this season, but there are a lot of big teams such at York and Darlington so nothing’s going to be easy.”

With King’s Lynn Town and Kettering Town having both won promotion last year, Elliott is looking forward to a festive period packed with derby games.

“We’ve got three derbies over Christmas which is nice for the fans because they missed out a bit last year.

“Obviously it’s great to have King’s Lynn home and away on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, it’s definitely something to look forward to.”

The final game of the campaign sees the Pilgrims host Hereford in what, depending on whether they reach the play-offs, could be the last-ever competitive game at York Street and Elliott hopes they will finish the campaign in front of a big crowd.

“Hereford are a big club, so it should be a good occasion, we’ll see how the play-off situation goes but it could be a vital game.”