Shildon haven’t ruled out an application for promotion to the Evo-Stik League.

During the summer, Shildon revealed that as part of their long term plans for the club – which might mean a move from Dean Street – they would consider promotion to the Evo-Stik League First Division, in which Darlington and Spennymoor currently play.

They’re currently midtable with games in hand on all the other title contenders, and manager Gary Forrest said; “We’re not ruling it out, but there are a lot of things to consider before then. Our prime objective is to win the league first.”

However, before any application can succeed, Shildon’s ground must be up to Evo-Stik standard, and they must finish in a top three position.

One of their options could be to apply, have a ground inspection to establish what work needs to be done, and then withdraw the application if necessary later.

Meanwhile, Forrest believes that Shildon have overcome their FA Cup blues. “I reckon we’ve moved on now from the FA cup, we’ve got the thoughts of what might have been out of our system. Our aim now is to climb up the league – if we win our games in hand, then we’re above everyone apart from Marske. We have some midweek games arranged, so hopefully we can start to close the gap.”

The deadline for promotion applications is November 30th. Bishop Auckland have already declared that they will be applying, while Dunston will be making a decision soon.