High-flying Gorleston are not among the four Thurlow Nunn Eastern Counties League clubs to have applied for promotion to step four of the non-league pyramid.

The Football Association have today confirmed the 68 clubs from step five leagues around the country who made their initial application ahead of the November 30 deadline.

Gorleston are the only remaining team with an unbeaten record in the Thurlow Nunn Premier Division this season and sit in fourth place, having won 11 and drawn four of their 15 league matches so far.

With the Greens also having advanced to the fourth round of the FA Vase they also have at least five games in hand on the top three teams.

The top three – Mildenhall, Stanway Rovers and Newmarket Town – have all applied, as have fifth-placed Felixstowe & Walton United.

Final decisions on promotion are made later in the season, although promotion can often prove complicated, depending on which teams are being relegated from step four at the end of the campaign.

Great Yarmouth Town and Kirkley & Pakefield are sixth and seventh respectively after encouraging first halves of the season but they also have not applied.

Norwich United went up last season having convincingly won the Premier Division title for a second season in succession, deciding against elevation at the first opportunity as the club felt it wasn't ready in 2015.

However the Planters did step up to Ryman League Division One North this season, where they now compete alongside Dereham Town and Wroxham.