Simon Leslie: Eastbourne Borough season’s been a whirlwind – now we press on to next step towards Football League

Firstly, I want to thank everyone for the brilliant support. And that includes sports editor Steve Bone and the Eastbourne Herald for allowing me to have a regular column and Kevin Anderson for helping me and supporting the club in his media work.

So to memory lane. When I arrived in Eastbourne a year ago, Danny [Bloor] was manager and I helped with some funding to help him push for a play-off place.

Sadly it didn’t work out, and it was actually at Braintree that the wheels fell off, so it was really evident how far we’d come when the team, with hundreds of loyal fans watching, beat the play-off contenders last Saturday.

We appointed Mark Beard and off we went to sunny Wales for pre-season, full of optimism for a great season, and it started well with a home win over Hampton & Richmond.

After that we seemed to go through months of challenge after challenge, our injury numbers were the highest of any league. Confidence waned and results failed to materialise. The fans got frustrated, social media exploded, and the injuries got worse.

Mark worked harder and harder, we had Tim Grover and Travis Fox give us pep talks and things improved for a while. But motivation is like a warm bath: it doesn’t last forever. The tea bag stayed in the cup longer than we did.

How much more could I take, I would ask myself as the confidence seemed to drain out the team. At the same time the women’s team started to win and they never stopped.

We hobbled through to Christmas, adding more and more players to the squad, but we barely could fill a bench. The double defeat to Worthing over Christmas and New Year were the final straw in Mark's reign: we had no luck, everyone’s confidence had gone and the fans were telling me we were doomed.

We sold Fletch [Holman] to Wolves and Shiloh [Remy] to Dagenham, the fans moaned, but it was the right move for both players. It was the first time a player had gone from National League South to the Premier League, another first for this fast moving club.

At no point did we lose belief in this group. I was introduced to Adam [Murray] just after the New Year and suggested we start at our next home game. He insisted he start straight away and came and led the team to Torquay - it was the first time we’d met in person. Somehow, we managed a draw with a Decarrey Sheriff equaliser.

Had the rot stopped? No, not yet: the next six games gave us little to cheer, just one win, and the doom-mongers got louder. I was clueless and didn’t know what I was doing.

Along came big Moussa [Diarra] and our defence started to solidify. Brad [Barry] and [Alex] Finney returned and we stopped letting in goals. Harrison [Foulkes] took over the keeper's jersey and equalled a five-match clean sheet record.

Bad luck struck again: Finney's season was finished on a wet evening in Gloucester. Brad, Pierce [Bird] and Sam Beard got red cards, our defence was frail again. We’d signed Siya Ligendza, Alfie Bendle, Jake Hutchinson, Matt Green and Finn Ballard McBride – so no one can accuse me of not investing in the club.

Suddenly we were making progress. Then the clouds darkened again while I was in Ghana when York City called, wanting to buy Leone Gravata. When it rains it pours (though not in Ghana, it was so hot as I pranced round the pool, wondering what could we do).

Alan Williams and I made calls and we were presented with this kid called Yahya Bamba. Rapid fast, hasn’t scored many goals, they said, but could help us.

He turned up next morning, with us owing to a huge thanks to Neil Smith at Cray. No one could keep up with him, he promised me five goals.

What transpired was nothing short of a gift from God. Eleven games, one defeat, seven goals from Yahya, four from Moussa and even Alfie and Imran [Uche] got in on the act.

Let’s not forget the wonder goal from David Sesay and a viral monster from Pierce Bird! Our social following got better and better: now we are a League Two team in terms of followers.

Siya and Matt got goals too. We scored, we kept the ball out the net. We played so many games over a short period and we became resilient. It started on my wedding anniversary in early March and never stopped.

In a few paragraphs, I have described what feels like a lifetime, I have done more steps round more pitches than ever before. I am grateful to every fan, every sponsor, every player, every coach and the whole Borough team.

There is no time to rest, we are getting players signed for next season to strengthen our squad. The fanbase have been fantastic, and I, like them, cannot wait for the new season.

We need more sponsors, partners and volunteers and want to have the biggest crowds in the league next season.

Please come and have a pint and a meal at the Sports Bar and Grill - and if you are passing the coffee and cakes at Spooner’s are delicious!

Thank you, Eastbourne, with other sports potentially leaving town, with some other big sporting events under threat, we need a league club here to get people excited.

See you for pre-season when, among other games, Hashtag United are coming to play our men’s and women's on the same day.

Don’t miss that, as well as Wimbledon, the Euros and more at Priory Lane.