IT was a great trip back on the coach when we won the Dr Martens League Cup at Crawley Town.

When you look around, there are a lot of players in the side who may be experienced in terms of games, but who haven't had a great deal of success to show for it, such as Carl Heeley, Ian Cottrill and Chris Greenman.

It is nice for them that they can have something to shout about, as well as for the younger players like Jamie Hyde, Steve Lutz and Wesley Joyce, and indeed short of players like Martin Weir and Andy Ellis who've had lots of success in their careers, it probably applies to everybody.

It is nice to do something and be successful, and last Thursday was one of those nights. For everybody connected with the club, you could see the delight at the final whistle and especially when they presented the trophy.

There were a lot of happy, proud people who for once could forget some of the leaner times they have been associated with.

I have had some decent times in this competition. We have attacked it right from the early rounds, and when your other options for silverware disappear, if you still have this to go for, it extends your season. Ours has gone right to the last week.

Wrapped

It wasn't a good performance on the night. We could have wrapped up the tie in the first 20 minutes, and although they had chances, so did we.

We have had a lot of scoring opportunities in the last few games, and short of the home game against Crawley, we haven't taken a high enough percentage of them.

It would have been nice to have won the second leg as well, but it was a two-legged situation and we have come out on top.

We then went to Margate on Saturday and lost 3-0, but I felt the scoreline was very harsh. Danny McDonnell had a rush of blood for the first penalty and the second one was equally harsh against us.

They also had a good goal from a set-piece in the last minute, but it doesn't tell the story in between times.

Without playing well, we have again had opportunities but against a side like Margate you have to take them. Margate have had an excellent number of clean sheets and I bet there are not many times they have had to score two to win a game.

We have had our little blips over the season, and we have had too many of them this season to be up with Margate and Burton.

The season, after last Thursday, has gone from being a good and improved one to a successful one, but there is still work to be done.

We are delighted we have won something but it is a cup competition, not a league, and as we did last year, we have to put a lid on the expectation bottle.

If people think we are being negative, they only have to cast their minds back to the likes of Merthyr, the two Fisher games, Dorchester, Hampton and Hendon. I don't see Margate or Burton slipping up in those sort of games.

We finish the season with trips to Crawley again tomorrow and to Havant and Waterlooville on Saturday, and there is still a chance we could finish third.

The last month of a season always tests people and the way our fixtures have dropped has been really tough.

We are pleased with the response we have had, and are looking to improve what we have for next season.