Stowmarket Town boss Rick Andrews admits he is ‘excited’ by the prospect of his team gaining promotion to the Thurlow Nunn Premier Division.

The Division One club sit in second place in the table, eight points behind Coggeshall Town, but with two games in hand. The two sides meet in Essex next Saturday.

With three teams promoted to the Premier, Stowmarket are in a good position and while Andrews is not counting his chickens, he knows his team is in a good position.

“The plan was to try and be in the top three or four with 10 games to go,” Andrews said.

“Promotion was always our aim.

“It’s a good league this season and I’m excited at the thought of us possibly going up. But there is a long way to go, we know that.”

With attendances on the up at Greens Meadow and lots of hard work going on away from the pitch, the club is in as good a position as it has been for a while.

Last week, Andrews signed James Murray from Halstead to add to what is already a high-profile First Division squad that includes former Leiston and Sudbury man Danny Cunningham.

Andrews knows his team are talked about as having one of the biggest budgets in the division – something that doesn’t bother him.

“Oh, I’m aware of all the talk about how we pay this and how we pay that,” he said.

“Rumours flying around.

“In my experience, players who go to sign for other clubs inflate how much they were being paid at their previous club to get a better deal – that’s just the way it is.

“Only me and the chairman know what our budget is and we are happy with that. We are working hard on and off the pitch to make Greens Meadow a better place and we are doing fine right now.”

Stowmarket entertain Team Bury today at Greens Meadow (3pm), followed by that top-of-the-table clash with Coggeshall next Saturday.

It’s a tight division, but Stowmarket, more than any other club, have played many of the better sides in and around them.

“Team Bury have a good coach and will be well drilled, but we will treat the game like any other,” Andrews said.

“The Coggeshall game is what it is, we know it’s coming. But winning or losing that game will decide nothing.”