PAUL Hilton says should Radcliffe FC win promotion this season it will just be the start.

The club chairman believes the team's lofty position in Evo-Stik West is exactly where those who have been running the club for the last three years expect them to be.

Last Saturday's 1-0 home victory over one of their promotion rivals, Runcorn Linnets, attracted the biggest crowd of the season of 516.

That is around double the figure Radcliffe have been consistently attracting for every home game this season, which in turn is around double what they were getting through the turnstiles last season when they were fighting it out near the foot of the table.

Those figures are tangible evidence of the progress the club has made this season, which Hilton says is the result of a lot of hard work in making the club stronger and better in a multitude of different areas over the last 36 months or so.

With only one team winning automatic promotion from Evo-Stik West and the runners-up going into a play-off against the second-placed side from another league at the same level on the football pyramid, this Saturday's clash at leaders Atherton Collieries represents their biggest game of the season so far this season.

But regardless of whether they go up this season, Hilton says the ambition will continue to burn brightly.

"We are ambitious for the club," he said.

"We will be looking to go up again next year and the year after because we want to take Radcliffe as high up the leagues as we can."

Read the full interview on page 67.