MAKING the move from junior football to Scottish football's senior pyramid is an appealing and exciting prospect for Crossgates Primrose.

That's the view of manager Alan Campbell, who admits that the prospect of facing different teams, and having the future possibility of playing in one of world football's oldest competitions, made moving to the East of Scotland League attractive.

And he believes that the success of West Fife neighbours Kelty Hearts, who have won promotion to the Lowland League after making the move 12 months ago, has inspired a number of clubs to trod the same path.

Crossgates, along with Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts, Hill of Beath Hawthorn, Blackburn United, Bonnyrigg Rose, Camelon Juniors, Dalkeith Thistle, Dunipace, Easthouses Lily, Edinburgh United, Haddington Athletic, Musselburgh Athletic and Tranent Juniors, had an application to join the East of Scotland League accepted last month.

It means that the Humbug Park side will now have the chance to work towards attaining a Scottish Football Association licence, which provides automatic entry to the Scottish Cup, and to compete for the opportunity to progress towards the SPFL.

It's a far cry from the autumn of 2015 when Primrose, the club where Scotland great Jim Baxter first honed his talents, announced they were closing their doors due to a lack of committee members and resources.

They were placed in abeyance by the Scottish Junior Football Association (SJFA) in the hope they could return, which they did for the 2016-17 campaign, with a new committee spearheaded by chairman Frazer Martin.

Campbell, who was appointed as manager last summer, said: "The juniors have been really good to Crossgates over the years, especially when the club was in abeyance and were welcomed back in, but times are changing.

"The committee are ambitious and this has been something that has been bubbling away since February. Sometimes with these things, maybe half would go for it but some of the older supporters are maybe not sure, but it was unanimously voted through.

"It can help us in terms of being more professional. We'll have a full fixture list so we'll know who we're playing each week, which will help in terms of selling hospitality, and we could play games under floodlights, which we can't do in the juniors.

"It gives us the opportunity to work towards an SFA licence, which is a great thing to aspire to, and we'll have the chance to go to new places.

"Kelty have showed the way and excelled. To come up against teams like Hill of Beath, Bonnyrigg and university teams is exciting."

Campbell said that his players are also enthusiastic about the club's future direction, and continued: "We're quite a tight bunch, from the committee to the players and management, and we were told about it a couple of months ago.

"The players are all at a good age – most of them are in their mid-20s apart from one or two – so they'll have a chance to grow into it, and there's an opportunity to look at getting an under-20s team set up.

"Crossgates is a growing village; from the one I grew up in, it's doubled in size, so hopefully we can capture some of them."