AFTER securing promotion to the Cheshire League Premier Division, Daten are planning to send out a message to their Warrington neighbours next season.

The Atoms secured the League One title with a 0-0 draw at Lostock Gralam on Monday night, ensuring they would be one of five teams promoted to the top flight.

They will now join neighbours Eagle Sports, Greenalls PSO and Rylands in the Premier Division next season, although the latter’s application to join the North West Counties League could still yet be approved.

Manager Paul Anderson says their first target for next year is to finish as Warrington’s highest-placed Cheshire League side and also attract players that would historically sign for their neighbours.

“I’m incredibly proud. It is a fantastic effort,” he told the Guardian.

“Two years ago we were bottom of League One and consolidated last year.

“We were aiming to be in and around the top four this year, but to win it is more than we ever imagined.

“There’s four teams as well as us from our league that will go into the Premier Division, so there’s already a group of teams we know we can beat.

“That said, we think we have enough to at least stay up.

“You only have to look at the Guardian Cup game we played against Billinge, who are up near the top of the Premier Division.

“They scraped past us thanks to a really poor refereeing decision that helped them win 2-1.

“That gives us confidence that we can compete at that level. The players we have are capable of doing it.

“Our ambition is to be the best Warrington team in that league.

“We want to attract the players in and around Warrington that would normally go and play for Rylands, Eagle or Greenalls.

“We brought Ryan Duffy in who, in my opinion, was Rylands’ best player last year and Mike Sullivan who scored 22 goals for us before getting injured, so we’ve shown we’re already capable of doing it.”

The Culcheth-based club have lost just three of their 28 league games all season and reached the quarter-finals of the Guardian Cup before being knocked out by eventual winners Billinge.

Anderson says the addition of players with higher-level experience has been critical to their success.

“We brought in three or four players who played in the Premier Division last year,” he said.

“That sort of experience played a crucial role and allowed us to give it a real go.

“We were lucky enough to get Andy Potter and Christian Lawlor in, who have both played at North West Counties level and above.

“We had a goalkeeper in Andy Hewitt who has played at a higher level as well.

“When all of those players come together, in addition to what we already had, we started to think we had something special.”

The club applied to join the North West Counties League in the hope of taking advantage of the league’s restructure for next season.

Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful, but the Atoms boss thinks they are now in a better position to take that next step further down the line.

“We’re in a better place than we were 12 months ago,” he said.

“The chairman is a good guy and has big plans to make the club better and take it to the next level.

“We couldn’t get into the North West Counties because we weren’t in the Premier Division and I understand that.

“The fact we are in there now, and we know what we have to do to take that next step, makes life a little easier.”