That’s the ambition at Darlington, where they will strive to finish higher than last season with a squad smaller than that which ended in 11th.
Darlington were eight points short of the play-offs last season, but against the backdrop of almost being relegated 12 months earlier, a top-half position represented progress under Steve Watson as he built on the house of sand left behind by his predecessor.
All of Josh Gowling’s signings were removed a year ago – five Alun Armstrong arrivals remain – but fundamentally the Darlington squad now reflects the recruitment of Watson and his assistant Terry Mitchell.
There have been five additions since the end of last season, creating a strong-looking team. They have been Alfie Myers-Smith, Josh Scott, Will McGowan (season-long loan), Tom Allan and Aidan Rutledge. Plus there’s been the unusual goodbye/hello that saw Peter Jameson join Gateshead as player/coach and immediately rejoin Darlington on loan.
The goalkeeper was Quakers’ Players’ Player of the Year last season, a campaign in which Watson used 34 players. Only once in the past six seasons have Darlington used more… when that man Gowling was in town.
Having focused on quality, not quantity, Watson expects to use a smaller number, so versatility and fitness are essential.
“We couldn’t get many in this summer because of where we are budget wise,” he said, “but I think the key to it all is they all have to be available as often as possible, and that’s where we struggled last season with injuries, certainly first half of the season.
“We could have had a 20-man squad and diluted the ability and just had more bodies. Or you can do what we’ve done and try to be bold with cutting the squad down to probably being 17 or 18 and maybe try to do a little bit in the loans market.
“The key is keeping them fit.”
That’s easier said than done.
Pre-season went well, with six wins out of seven encouraging the sense of optimism which all supporters are familiar with at this time of year.
But for last Saturday’s final friendly – a 3-2 defeat to Gateshead – Quakers could name only four unproven teenagers on the bench as Tom Platt, Kallum Griffiths, Matty Cornish and Myers-Smith were all injured.
Platt has missed most of pre-season with a plantar fasciitis – a foot problem – so Elliot Forbes is most likely to fill the void in the centre of midfield.
Watson said: “The key is being versatile. So, for instance, Ben Hedley has played right-back, left-back and centre-midfield.
“Josh Scott’s played left-back and right-midfield, and Kallum Griffiths has played centre-midfield. Scotty Barrow can play left-back and in the centre, Tom Allan can play anywhere across the top line.
“It’s important that if we are going to go with a slightly smaller squad that people are comfortable in different positions.
“Defensively we’ve got good numbers. We’ve got three top drawer centre-halves who can rotate. We’ve got a right back who can play in different positions comfortably, which is Ben. We’ve got Griff, who can play right-back and in the centre, and Josh Scott can play down the left.
“So if we’re going to go into the loans market it’ll be to give us options to go forward.”
Making a couple of loan additions appears important to bolster numbers, especially now that five substitutions are permitted in National League North from a bench of seven.
Of the 19 players given a squad number, two have been promoted from the under-23s squad – Will Maddison and Matthiew Kirokiro – and another is reserve goalkeeper Liam McGrath.
Nonetheless, while the squad is small, Watson is pleased with his new signings.
“From the very first training session I thought there was a real sharpness,” said Watson. “I think we’ve recruited well. It’s lads from the area that fit in really well to the group, first and foremost, and we’ve added a bit of quality.
“Getting Will McGowan was huge. So was getting Pete back, and getting Aidan over the line.”
Rutledge joins from Gateshead, but last season was on loan at Spennymoor Town where his strike rate was around one in three.
He is likely to start the season in his favoured position on the left of a front three.
“Looking at the North-East are there many better prospects than him and Jack Maskell? So it’s good to have them both signed on,” says Watson.
“When we look at all the stats there are only two or three we had a chance of getting with ratios that good – one in three – and Aidan is one of those.
“We’ve lost targets we wanted to full-time teams and we’ve lost targets to teams who pay more. But Aidan really wanted to come and we were always hopeful of getting Will back. We’re really happy with Aidan signing a two-year deal because I think he’ll only get better.”
Getting better… that’s got to be the aim for Darlington.
Watson added: “Managers will usually play things down. I’m pretty honest about it: we’d gone from 16th to 11th last season and if we progress the same way we’ll be around the play-offs, so that’s got to be the aim.
“A golfer can get down from a 24 handicap to ten pretty quickly, but getting from ten to five is really difficult and getting from five to scratch is very hard.
“The closer we get, the harder it will be, but we’re hoping that we can continue the progression.”
