LOGIC would suggest that moving up a division should present greater challenges.

Better players, bigger clubs paying more to get said better players and team utilising those players to play better football. And then there’s the National League North.

Now yes, we’re only five games in to the new season. We’re not even out of the first month of the new season and yet there is something a little flummoxing about this new division.

After five solid if unspectacular performances from Darlo, we’re unbeaten, winning four and currently sit two points clear at the top of the league.

In previous years, we wouldn’t have the same results.

Only last season, a not so hot start saw us lose two of our first four games as we took time adapteding to a new league and yet this year, we’ve hit the ground running as far as results are concerned with seemingly some spare capacity to improve on performances.

Case in point was Wednesday night’s win over Chorley. Let’s not pull any punches, Chorley were comfortably the best team we have played in our short time in the National League North. Big, powerful and they shifted the ball around well.

In Sefton Gonzales, a striker who I have sung the praises of in previous blogs, and Marcus Carver, they have forwards who will push most defences hard and yet we secured our first clean sheet of the season.

With Chorley having the bulk of possession throughout the game and having a number of chances, it would be easy to say they were unlucky not to get something from the game.

However, I suspect that the clearly lame Peter Jameson played a part in Chorley’s dominance.

With Jameson’s defensive colleagues appearing to be a bit jittery at times because of their keeper’s lack of mobility and problematic kicking, everything was in place for Chorley to take advantage.

That we didn’t fold under the circumstances speaks volumes for where this current group of Darlo players is right now, mentally and their form.

The really positive thing about the win is that there will only be three or four teams that we face this season who will be better than Chorley.

I suspect Chorley will probably just miss out on the top five by the end of the season.

Ironically, normally, you shouldn’t pay attention to league tables so early in the season but I’m fairly confident that the current top five (us, Fylde, Halifax, Salford and Harrogate) will be the top five at the end of the season, albeit the order might change a few times in the meantime.

So, another game down and we now face an Alfreton Town side that has Droylsden from a couple of years ago written all over them.

After five games, the Derbyshire side have scored thirteen and conceded twelve. Goals should be guaranteed.

2011 saw Alfreton win this league ahead of playing us in the Conference. Back then, Town relied on the goals of the combative Paul Clayton and the highly-rated Liam Hearn.

After both players set off for pastures new, they find themselves back at North Street and hoping to return Alfreton back to the National League.

Whilst Alfreton clearly carry a goal threat, it is becoming increasingly difficult to look beyond us. Keep things tight at the back as we have done reasonably well so far this season and there could be a few goals in the offing for us.