5 MAY 2008

It has been just over a week now since our win at Folkestone and for me that day was one of mixed emotions. I was elated at the final whistle and relieved but it was tinged with sadness for Folkestone as they are a great club and Neil Cugley is a friend of mine.

I always felt confident during the match that we were going to get the win that we required even though we could not get the second goal. Over the years we have tended to pull results out of the fire when we have really needed to. However, we were hanging on at the end and I was wincing as they put us under pressure but when they missed the chance in stoppage time I knew we were going to stay up.

Last week it was confirmed that Chris Smalling has joined Middlesbrough. I am not surprised that he has signed for a Premiership team as I knew from the first time that I saw him play that he was something special. I am absolutely delighted for Chris, he is a fantastic kid and his attitude is first class. I think that Chris was probably man of the match in the majority of the games he played for us this season and we wish him well in his future career.

Nathan Paul was my player of the season this year. However, if I was judging who player of the season was based on the last ten games then I would have to give it to Aaron Lacy. Aaron did things on the pitch recently that I did not think he was capable of doing and he has totally turned around my opinion of him. I am delighted for Aaron as he is loyal and he never misses training. It remains to be seen whether or not Aaron was playing above himself in the last few fixtures of the season but if he carries on performing like he has been doing then he will have a great chance of being in the team next season.

At the moment we are busy talking to lots of players who will vastly improve our squad. With regards to players leaving, Mark Saunders has returned to the west country and Craig Roser is retiring in order to spend more time with his family. Craig has been a great servant for the club and leaves with our best wishes and although Mark was not with us for long, he had a big impact on the team and we thank him for the short time he spent with us.