HOT-SHOT Craig Lancastle is sure Thornbury Town can improve on their outstanding last campaign by climbing even higher in the Gloucestershire County League this season.
Thornbury won the County Cup and finished fourth in the league back in May, with 25-year-old striker Lancastle being the goal-scoring catalyst to their year.
But he insists Thornbury Town is not just about his exploits and that they proved this in the last three months of the season while he was injured, winning the cup without him.
However, the club are better with their key striker and showed that last week when Lancastle scored four goals in his side’s 5-2 Gloucestershire Football Association Challenge Cup first round win over Rockleaze Rangers at the Mundy Playing Fields.
Thornbury have won just one of their three league games so far this season and are 13th out of 18 teams in the table although they have not lost in cup competitions, adding Rockleaze’s scalp to that of Frampton United in their opening match of their Les James Cup  defence last month.
Lancastle insists they can rally back in the league which, if that is to be this weekend, means beating current league leaders AEK Boco away from Mundy Playing Fields and inflicting the first league defeat on Boco so far.
Lancastle said: “We won the cup last season and we are looking to push on from there. We have started quite slowly in the league but won both of our cup games.
“I think we will still be there or thereabouts in the league (at the end). Top four was a great achievement last season and we are not too far away from being up there again. Our squad is quite small but if we can get a couple more players, we will be challenging for the title.”
Lancastle was so key to Thornbury last season that he scored 13 goals from 29 appearances before his three-month injury lay-off.
But he insists his team-mates are crucial to his goal-scoring exploits. The striker added: “I get a lot of good service from the team but we have to turn the cup form in the league.”
Although Lancastle would like to notch up another 13 goals, he is keen to surpass his success rate.
“I want to score more goals than last season, that’s my aim,” said the striker.