AFC Fylde star Steve Williams believes anything but promotion for the Coasters this season will be deemed failure.

The towering defender, who joined from rivals Barrow this summer, is desperate to get a first ever promotion under his belt but he isn’t expecting an easy ride.    

Williams said: “Anything other than promotion this season isn’t good enough for me. Maybe others will see finishing second or reaching the play-off final as a good season, but we’ve already done that and we need to do better this time around.

“For me personally, promotion is the one and only aim. How we achieve that is down to us. I don’t care if it’s play-offs or as champions as long as we go up.

“Ideally we want to win the league early on by a few points like Solihull did last season and to do that we need to be right at it in every game. If we aren’t and we don’t win promotion then I won’t be happy and I don’t think many others will be either to be honest.

“I think pretty much every game will be tough. There may be the odd game when we are flying and full of confidence and we turn someone over but on the whole it’s going to be very difficult.

“We have to make sure we compete in every game – that is the minimum requirement as far as I’m concerned. We showed at the weekend against Tranmere that when you don’t compete then you are in trouble.”

The Coasters get their National League North campaign underway tomorrow at AFC Telford United, but Williams fears he may miss the match through injury.

“It was my hamstring that was causing me trouble on Saturday. We had been through a really hard week leading up to the game and I think I was probably trying to push myself too hard. Maybe I need to be more honest with myself when I’m tired.

“It’s not ideal picking up an injury right before the start of the season but it shouldn’t keep me out for too long.

“It is has been frustrating but physically and mentally I am feeling good. Saturday might come a little too soon but I’m working with Steve the Physio every day to try and get there. We will have to wait and see but it might be a last minute decision.

“Pre-season has been difficult, certainly one of the more testing pre-seasons that I have been through. There was a lot less ball work early on compared with other clubs when the balls are out almost straight away but it has been good for us this way to get fitness level right up.

“The first couple of games weren’t the best but we have had some very good results since. The defeat against Tranmere was almost a good thing for us because it set a benchmark of where we need to be.

“We have learnt some valuable lessons through pre-season but on the whole I think it has been a success.”

Once fit, Williams is expected to partner fellow centre-half Josh Langley in the heart of defence and the former Bradford City man insists it will take time to gel.

“I have played with loads of different centre-halves and every one is different. It just takes time to gel and get to know each other but the longer you play with someone the better the understanding becomes, it’s as simple as that.

“Josh has a great attitude and he is working hard to make this partnership work. You sometimes get to know more about people in defeat but hopefully there won’t be too many of those!”