Don't be fooled by the smiles beaming on Links Ave - Tauranga City United are under no illusions that the chance to mix it up with the big boys is going to be a challenge.

This weekend is the start of the Northern League Division One competition - a fierce landscape of skilful attack and resolute defences with the odd wonder goal thrown in for good measure.

Tauranga City United players Raymond How, Nathan Farey and Sam Nahna prepare for their Northern League Division One debut. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

And nestled among the majority of Auckland-based sides is Tauranga City United, buoyed by a stellar 2014 season that saw them clinch the Northern Regional Football League Division Two title.

Coach Duncan Lowry, ahead of their opening-day clash with Hibiscus Coast, believes his side is well placed to make the step up – although they won't have it all their own way.

'It's going to be tough and it's not going to be easy this year,” he says. 'There are some teams that have been there a while.”

Lowry was instrumental in guiding the Blues to promotion after comprehensively winning last year's Division Two title, and he isn't ruling out a push for another step up the footballing ladder.

'How good would it be if we get promotion, because we would have Hamilton Wanderers, Melville and ourselves [from Waikato-BOP]?” asks Duncan.

'How good would it be for the BOP soccer region if we've got three teams in the top Premier Division in the area?

'Our plan, when we sat down two years ago, was to get into Division Two as quickly as possible. It was a three-year plan and we are a year ahead of ourselves so nothing has really changed. We'll just move the goalposts and try and gain promotion this year.

'At the end of the day, if we finish third from the bottom we'll have succeeded because we've gone up a league and not got relegated. Deep down, that's what I want.”

Big losses for Lowry is centre-half Sam O'Regan – captain of the 2014 side, who has moved to Wairarapa Bush – and Mark van der Salm, who went to the Netherlands for his OE.

Brighton-born O'Regan was one of the league's most accomplished defenders and was an influential figure alongside Jeral Hughes in Tauranga's charge to the NRFL Division Two title.

Hughes, also originally from Brighton and a former youth player with Crystal Palace, has been retained and will be earmarked as the side's chief playmaker after scoring 17 goals last season.

Tauranga City United's first home match at Links Ave, Mount Maunganui is on Good Friday at 2.30pm against North Shore United.