THERE is a buzz around St George's Lane at present and long may it continue.

Although Monday's win against Moor Green put us top the season's first real marker comes after 10 games when you can sit down and gauge your progress.

Hopefully we will have Marc Burrow and Stewart Hadley back in the fold soon and we will concentrate on getting them fit rather than bringing in more signings.

It has been a good start to the season based on a solid defence where we have not conceded goals and also, unlike last season, not had to score four goals just to win a game.

At this stage last year we were shipping goals for fun and also silly goals which was knocking the stuffing out of us and giving the opposition encouragement.

This time round we've looked a lot better defensively and also looked capable of scoring goals.

Darren Middleton has led from the front in that respect and is showing signs he has got over the injury that hampered him last year.

Sometimes, as a player, manager and club, you have to come through bad times to appreciate the good times and that is certainly the case with Worcester.

Last year was horrendous by any standards and of course at the end of the season everybody wants to see sweeping changes with new players brought it quickly but it doesn't work like that.

I'm pleased how the team is shaping but I always prea-ched patience and that's what it took. We acted positively to bring in Pat Lyons and David Foy but at that stage we had four irons in the fire that were burning quite brightly.

We didn't get those, and there were some interesting names that I'm not going to divulge, but when those failed we resisted the temptation to go rushing in and bring anyone in just for the sake of it.

We had known about Michael Blackwood before the end of last season and I'm glad we waited to bring him in, though he has been restricted by a toe injury to some degree but is a very exciting player.

Keeping all the players happy is a difficult job because they all want to play but at times like these the team has picked itself.

The strength of what they have done is reflected by looking at the people not getting a game, the likes of Allan Davies and Leon Jackson.

Saturday sees yet another long trip to Folkestone and four-hour journeys do take something out of the players. It was certainly like that at Welling but the lads still ground at a result which was very encouraging.

We've had a run of trips but, Dover apart, we've got a large part of the travelling, against tough opposition, out of the way early on.

The weekend's trip to the coast gives us a chance to avenge last year's game where we had enough opportunities but failed to convert them.

Interestingly I usually swap information on other sides with Folkestone's manager Neil Cugley but of course not this time round.

However, after their result at Newport we know we are going to be in for another rough ride but hopefully we will be ready for it.