"To be honest it’s been a bit of rollercoaster. If someone had said to us 6 weeks before the season started, when we had no players, that 11 games in we would be in 4th place we would have snapped their hands off"

A club placed into the Northern League Division 1 after withdrawing from the Northern Premier League in early January 2024. The club had secured enough funds to continue for the 2024/25 season just not enough to complete the 2023/24 season due to the high costs of being in the Northern Premier League. The club also lost their Manager at the same time as Graeme Lee left to take the vacant position at Spennymoor Town.

But the club survived and recruited 18 players with the aim this season just to stabilise in the Northern League.

"Marske United were left with pretty much nothing after how the season ended for them last year. It’s been a tough time assembling a squad of 18 from scratch with a cautious budget. The aim from the chairman and board was to cement ourselves in the league which is still our aim, regardless of our league position now".

The season got off to the best possible start with a 2-1 win at Newcastle Blue Star but they were quickly brought back down again with a reverse scoreline defeat to Crook Town. They then went knocked out of the FA Cup with defeat for the second time in the week to Crook Town. A 6-1 win at Carlisle City was followed up with successive defeats to Birtley Town and West Auckland Town.

"But after a bit of a rocky start we have come into our own and seeing what our young, talented and exciting team are capable of I know we are going to battle in every match and pick up points along the way. Kas and I have stepped up 2 leagues to take on this role, we know we can do the job but we are still also learning how things work at this level from a management point of view. It helps that we are supported by an excellent back room staff"

The side finally settled down by late August when they won five games in a row against Penrith, Blyth Town, Tow Law Town and West Allotment Celtic. The fifth in a row was to end Boro Rangers unbeaten start to the season with an impressive 3-1 win.

The winning run ended last Saturday with defeat at home to Whitley Bay but the side bounced back with a 3-0 win at Northallerton on Tuesday evening.

"Success to us is seeing the squad perform to the standards we know they are capable of, how far that takes us in the league only time will tell. We know that on our day we can compete with anyone and we think this season is going to be an exciting one".

Skelton's local knowledge of Boro Rangers could be useful if his side continues to challenge at the top end of the league but is also aware there are more teams who could be in the mix.

"The first team obviously has to go to our neighbours Redcar Athletic, they have Carl at the helm and some fantastic players so will always be hard to beat. There are probably around 5 or 6 other clubs that will be pushing them for those top spots so we have a number of difficult games ahead of us, we just have to concentrate on ourselves and keep doing what we are doing"

Thank you to The Northern League for letting us use this interview