PICKERING TOWN chairman Wayne Taylor is confident that the club can avoid a second successive relegation, despite his side having made a poor start to the current campaign.

The Pikes currently sit in a perilous 19th place in the Ebac Northern League division one at the halfway stage, having accrued just 14 points from their 20 matches so far this season.

Stockton-based Thornaby are the only side below them, sitting four points further back after having received a three-point deduction for fielding an ineligible player in their loss against Guisborough Town on the campaign’s opening weekend.

But Taylor feels that the September appointment of former Scarborough Athletic boss Rudy Funk, who has achieved seven promotions during his managerial career, has brought a renewed optimism to Pickering.

“We’re being positive, and I’m confident that we’re going to avoid another relegation this season,” he admitted.

“Following our relegation from the Northern Premier League we had an exodus of players - a lot of them were based further west, from places such as Sheffield and Leeds, and it was a tough ask for them to travel up to the north east for every game alongside their jobs.

“But Rudy’s come in and done well. He’s signed seven players over the last week who are all based in the north east, so the games are right on their doorstep.

“Building a new team is hard, but sometimes a club has to go backwards to move forwards, and I’m confident we’re doing that.”

The Pikes are hoping that their new signings make an immediate impact against table-toppers Bishop Aukland on Saturday, with the club set to return to action for the first time since their 6-2 thrashing at Carlisle City on December 3.

With their Mill Lane ground out of action for most of that time Pickering have struggled to train during that spell, though Taylor believes that his side can return to form, despite the tougher challenges that the Northern League brings.

“Training’s been really hard,” he explained. “Saturday will be the first time that most of the squad has played together.

“The first team hasn’t played for six weeks now, and we’ve not been able to train on the grass pitch due to the weather.

“We’d usually train on the 3G pitches at the local schools, but they’ve been shut over Christmas which has made it extremely hard for us.

“You’ve got to have a team of men to play competitively in the Northern League – teams are a lot more physical, and you don’t get as much given as you did when we were in the Northern Premier League last season.

“All of the new signings have played football in the north east for many years and know the league inside out, which will help us.

“Other than playing them in the FA Vase, we’ve never really played these sides before this season, but with the team that Rudy’s putting together, we’re going to stay up.”