But Johnson is confident his team will be better equipped to come out on top this time around.
“We have to have a level of consistency with the selection,” he said. “We probably had the biggest squad last year due to the lack of availability and commitment and that has to change.
“We need a core that will pay week in and week out and I think we have that, it’s really important.
“We were spoiled by our pro breaking into the Notts first team last year, it was great for him but it hit us.
“We tried to sign players who will be with us all season.
“We need consistency in performance. We had to be really good to win games last year and when we weren’t 100% we couldn’t get results. This is a key question.
“Teams like Kimberley don’t always play their best, but they tend to win and that’s something we have to learn.”
He hopes this will lead to a top six spot for Hucknall at the end of the season. “We had a very good pre-season and three good friendlies which we enjoyed a lot,” added Johnson.
“We want to make a breakthrough. It’s finally ready this year and there’s a group of teams that want to get into the top six.
“We think that’s realistic and we’re looking to do that.”
Johnson also insists his team will have no fear against a Kimberley side who are again expected to come first.
“We are facing the best team in the league on paper, but we will have no fear,” he added.
“We have no illusions about the difficulty, but we beat them in the last game we played, so there’s no reason why we can’t continue in the game while respecting them.
“A win would be great, but it’s not a result we will be judged on and our season won’t be defined by it – but I want us to get off to a good start.”
