TADCASTER ALBION'S owners have called for play-offs to be introduced to make the Northern Counties East League premier division more competitive.

Matthew and Kent Gore, who own the Ings Lane-based club through their i2i Sports business, believes the one team promotion policy that exists in their league is "unfair".

Albion racked up more than 100 points last season but only finished third as Brighouse Town topped the table.

But in the league above - the Evo-Stik League first division north - Ossett Town finished second bottom with 29 points, having managed just seven wins all season.

They survived because only one side was relegated from that league last term and, with the strength of the NCEL premier continuing to grow every year, the Gores believe the one-up policy in their division has to change.

Kent Gore said: "It's unfair, really, because teams get to a certain point in the season, realise they are not going to be able to make a challenge for promotion and end up cutting their budgets.

"That skews the results when they are playing all the other teams at the back end of the season."

Matt Gore added: "At Brighouse last year, everyone thought they were going to slip up because they had accumulated all these games to play - and people thought they must lose points - but the teams they were playing had nothing to play for.

"At the beginning of the season those teams had a different squad. If there was a play-off system, then some of these teams would potentially be playing to get into them. There is more to play for.

"At some point, we will get out of this league. Whether it is this year, next year or the year after. We will get out of this league. It just opens up a whole new picture."

"I certainly believe so," he added when asked if the pyramid structure required reviewing. "You can't have someone getting 29 points and staying at that level.

"Every season in our league, at the start, you know there are six or seven teams out of the 20 who have got a really good chance of being promoted. It's not just one or two.

"This year there's probably even eight that could go and win the league. We have to lobby the FA and the Evo-Stik League and the NCEL."