ILKLEY Town boss Simon Armstrong believes there should be no cause for concern in Ilkley’s Step 6 debut campaign, despite losing their opening two league fixtures.

Armstrong’s side entered the world of semi-professional football for the first time in their history this season, following a couple of ‘so-nearly’ campaigns.

Known for their eye-catching brand of football in the lower divisions, the ‘Bahtatters’ will want to show their worth in Step 6 and grasp the opportunity with both hands.

Unfortunately for Town, they haven’t’ been able to find their first victory as of yet, losing at home to title favourites Bury 4-2 on the opening weekend and 3-2 away at Ashton Town on Saturday- where Ilkley had to take a Covid-hit squad.

However, despite their opening two league defeats, Armstrong is more than happy with what he has seen so far.

He said: “The first two league performances have without doubt shown me that we can compete at this level.

“I include Bury in this, but I have not seen anything to tell me that we are a million miles away.

“Our management team and the players believe that we are there or there abouts but it’s fine margins for us at the moment.

“Whether it’s making a poor decision on the ball or making a poor decision off the ball, it’s about trying to improve that decision-making process and add consistency in that process. But like I said, it’s only small details that are not going our way and it’s not anything huge and glaringly obvious.

“But we are confident we can rectify these finer details and as confident we can collect enough points.”

Armstrong also believes his side will face easier tasks after facing Bury- a side who were themselves in the EFL only a couple of seasons ago.

He said: "The Bury game was always one of those fixtures, where you are coming up against a title favourite and they've got some players that can play at a much higher level. There was also 500 people there watching so it was always going to be a big challenge for us.

"But I thought we did okay in that game and it was certainly a platform to work from, especially knowing that we will face lighter tasks ahead."

Armstrong added: "We don't want to change the way play- that's for certain.

"The reason for that is that it's the way we believe in. It's an attractive style of football and we also believe it's attractive to players looking in and it's something that they want to be a part of.

"And it's not that we can't play that way-we can, but the difference is that the teams we've played against are a little more organised and sharper at the moment, therefore we need to move the ball a little bit quicker and anticipate rather than react to the situation in front of us."

Ilkley's boss was also quick to emphasise the importance of having experience within himself and his management team at this level.

He said: "It's not the first time for me coaching at this level so my experience should definitely help my players and I've got a great team around me full of experience. We hope to bring that experience to our squad and help them succeed at this level."