SILSDEN A.F.C. are confident that their new stand will be up and running for their first home match of the 2020/21 Northern Counties East Premier Division campaign.

In April, the Cobbydalers received £100,000 from the Football Association to help rebuild several dilapidated buildings at its Keighley Road ground.

A new 100-seat stand (similar to the one pictured) hospitality unit, ticket office and standing terracing is all part of the work.

The stand at the north quarter of the stadium is expected to remain even after the new facilities are complete.

With Danny Forrest's men set to begin their league season on September 19, the NCE have made their first two fixtures (Garforth Town and Yorkshire Amateur) away from home.

Chairman Sean Mcnulty believes the work was needed and hopes it can be something that becomes a big part of the club's history.

He said: "It has been put back a couple of weeks, but 90% of it will be done for the kickoff of the season.

"Our stand had woodworm so we knew that had to go. The roof fell in on our ticket office in March so we knew that had to go. The area were the juniors had their teas and coffees wasn’t fit for purpose, so it had to be done.

"It is getting stuff that is renewable to making it permanent. Once it is all built we can then rest and watch the football.

"Apart from the educational suite, which we can do during the season, everything else will be ready for the start of the season.

"When it's our time to depart to pastures new, we are leaving a legacy for other people to follow. Once it is all up and running it will be nice to say that we have done this."

Non-league clubs were greeted with the news that a limited number of 150 fans were allowed back into stadia from last weekend.

Silsden hosted neighbours Bradford (Park Avenue) in their fifth pre-season friendly. Despite losing 2-1, Mcnulty was pleased with the overall running of the operation.

He added: "Without volunteers you can’t progress, we have got a good core. The graft on Friday before the game is something we had to do. We deep cleaned everything trying to get it ready for Saturday due to it being short notice.

"We had a lot of bad press on Facebook saying 'why did you hold a football match?' We are following every guideline possible and doing a bit more.

"That is all we wanted it to be a vocal point for the community. We haven’t got the over-55s back yet because they can't social distance. Our juniors have just started back training.

"150 people doesn’t seem a lot but you have to manage them so it can be quiet tricky. I thought we did it quiet well even without turnstiles.

"I had one guy come down on our behalf to see what we were doing right and wrong. There’s only a few things that we have to iron out and make better for next Saturday."