IT was as the players left the pitch that I realised it had been quite a season.

Twelve months earlier I had stood in the same spot as I did this past Saturday, by the players' tunnel, ready to applaud the boys off after victory in the final home game of last season, over Kirkley and Pakefield.

On that occasion, we had been waiting for another score to come through to assure us that we were safe from relegation for another year.

This time, however, we were waiting for another score to come through to tell us that we had finished the season in the top 10.

Our 4-0 win over Gorleston, coupled with Brantham Athletic’s defeat at home to Saffron Walden, meant we leapfrogged the Suffolk club to end the campaign in the top half of the Thurlow Nunn League premier division table - a record finish for us as FC Clacton.

It’s been an incredible turnaround and all credit must go to David (Coyle) and the boys for their achievement.

It gave us one more thing to celebrate later that evening, at the club’s senior section awards ceremony.

And it was an awards evening that was very much dominated by the man-of-the-moment, Aaron Condon, who pretty much swept the board for the first team awards, walking away with no less than five trophies, as well as a separate award to commemorate his 200 appearances for the club.

The achievements of the reserves and the under-18s were also recognised and though it’s only job half done for the under-21s, with the final of their league cup competition still to come, to win the under-21 league title in their inaugural season is pretty impressive going.

But I end by paying tribute to our overall clubman of the year, Mr Hospitality himself, Bryan Piero, who works tirelessly for the club all year round with only the smallest of occasional grumbles!

I know how much he loves seeing his name in print, so there you go mate and Matt, make sure you get a few extra copies of the paper printed this week!

Come on you Seasiders!