BROMSGROVE Rovers have had a successful season, make no mistake about it.

Whatever people may think of the side's recent decline in form, one fact remains, the club has finished third in the Dr Martens Western at their first attempt. The league table doesn't lie.

Yes, promotion was the aim and it's disappointing to let it slip but 21 other clubs also had high hopes of going up and success is no guarantee.

Cast your mind back to August. If someone had said Bromsgrove Rovers would finish third, you'd have laughed at them.

Now, that's reality and yet discontent echoes around the Victoria Ground. Why? Ok, the majority of the success came before Christmas, but success is success.

Let he who has never blasphemed on the terraces, cast the first stone.

Following a 1-1 draw at Racing Club Warwick to kick things off, one of only 18 points Warwick got all season, Rovers went from strength to strength.

They didn't lose a league game until the 2-1 home defeat against Merthyr Tydfil in October - 12 matches into the season. Leading up to that Rovers went through an incredible spell, hitting 23 goals in six games.

After that, the team lost only two games before Christmas and fans would have been forgiven for thinking promotion to the Dr Martens Premier was on the cards.

But not even the world's best can maintain the sort of form Rovers were showing for a whole season and a bad run was due. And once the team lost to rivals Redditch in January, results seemed hard to come by.

The tragic death of striker Ashley Read a month later devastated all connected with the Victoria Ground club and many more who weren't. The flowers and tributes on the ground's gates, coupled with the hundreds of mourners at his funeral, says it all.

Although the season run-in saw sporadic results and form, Rovers were always in touch with the leaders, never going below fifth, and were not mathematically out of a top two finish until April.

The season also saw some top individual performances. Richard Burgess scored 16 goals, making him the club' s leading marksman. Jams Dyson managed 14 strikes during his two spells.

Steve Frost was arguably the team's most-improved player, winning eight Advertiser/Messenger man of the match awards, that after starting the season on loan.

Among the other stars were Steve Pope, named player of the season by the fans and Matt Lowe but third place was a team effort.

So, a season of contrasting memories, but third place was surely a dream this time last year?