Stafford Rangers have been warned that appearances can be deceiving when looking at the Blue Square North table because of the ‘split’ in the division.

That is the view of striker Ben Mills, playing his first season in the league after stepping up from the UniBond League Division One and Leek in the summer.

The 20-year-old has found his feet in recent games with four goals in his last four games, taking his tally to six for the season.

But the young forward has also seen the gulf that exists between the big hitters and the mere mortals this season, with Rangers having already took on all of the top six with just a point to show for it.

A 3-3 draw at Eastwood, from 3-1 up, was the best they could muster and quality told in the other five games – a 7-1 mauling at Droylsden the worst example.

But below that it appears there is little to tell between the clubs, with 13 points from seventh to the relegation places.

Mills warns that, despite Rangers sitting in the relative safety of 13th but still just three points from danger, nothing can be taken for granted at this stage.

He said: “The table can be deceiving at the minute, a lot of the teams still haven’t played each other so it could be January and February before things really start shaping up. On the face of it, it looks like Gloucester are struggling but they do still have games in hand.

“What I am finding in this league is that it seems to be split in to two tiers, the world beaters and the teams of our ilk who are likely to fill out the second half of the table. The top eight teams you can see are really going for it, but there is not much to call between the rest of us.

“There is a real jump up, not from league to league but actually within the division.”