FOLLOWING a remarkable treble winning campaign last time out, Yorkshire Amateur League side Route One Rovers are showing no signs of stopping.

The team from Bradford are cruising at the top of the YAL's Supreme Division, having gone unbeaten in their opening 14 league fixtures with 12 victories and only two draws to their name.

The club have assembled a first class squad together and their dominance in the amateur divisions has prompted those at board level to apply for semi-professional status.

A move from step seven to step six has been in the pipeline for over a year, however the club have since acted upon their "dream" following the first team's tremendous form, and applied for their Step Six status in December,

Reflecting on the club's application for semi-professional football, manager Sohail Abbas believed it was an opportunity that the club couldn't pass on.

He said: "This club has great ambition. The players, the coaches and the managers can have that ambition, but you need the backing of the club to be able to achieve your goals.

Fair play to everyone at the club because we wouldn't have been able to dream of Step Six football without everyone showing that support around the club.

"We have been backed brilliantly from the get-go and we've been able to bring in some fantastic players to create a squad as good as it is at the minute. We lost a couple of players in the summer to semi-professional teams, however we managed to replace them. You can never rest on your laurels in this sport because you end up falling behind. The club made sure we improved and replaced the talent we lost, so that's been a massive help to us. The strength in our squad, not just in the starting 11, is what you need to be successful and we believe that this team can now make the step up to Step Six."

Abbas added: "These kind of opportunities don't come around too often. You don't often have a team in Step Seven good enough to make the step up to semi pro football. So, when that opportunity is presented to you, you have to take it. Scenarios and times change, and we don't know what level this team will be at in lets say 12 months time.

"We've got a young squad full of young and hungry players, and these lads fully deserve the opportunity to play semi-professional football. Day-to-day it feels like we are heading in the right direction, so lets see what the decision will be."

Abbas confirmed that the final call for Route One's future will be made following a lengthy process.

He said: "It's about the waiting game now for us. We've met all the criteria in submitting our application to the leagues and the FA, but the final decision will rest with them. I believe it's a lengthy process. However, we feel that we put the best possible case forward and we now hope that it gets excepted.

"It would be a massive achievement for the community, the players, the club and staff. It would also be brilliant for Bradford as a city to have another semi-professional club representing them."

Route One don't have a fixture this weekend, but they return to action next Saturday when they host Calverley United (2:00 pm).