BEWARE, THE CITY SLICKERS

CRAIG DAVIS’ Winchester City began the play-off campaign as rank outsiders – but they blitzed them in scintillating fashion.

The Citizens followed up their impressive victory at Cirencester Town in the semi-final with a thumping of Bristol Manor Farm by the exact same 4-1 scoreline.

It helped propel the Hampshire club into Step 3 football for the first time in their history and, according to their talented young boss Craig Davis, it’s given them the belief that they can live with life at the higher level.

“To win 4-1, 4-1 is outrageous really,” Davis beamed. “We were deemed outsiders having played away in the first game against one of the best teams in the league but the lads were magnificent.

“Monday’s game couldn’t have gone any better. The boys gained a lot of confidence from the Cirencester game so with a big home crowd behind them, we just let the shackles off them.

Underdog

“It shows what big characters we have in that dressing room. We have a nice blend of experienced and young players and they helped get each other through it.

“Indeed, we had a 17-yearold lad [Henry Brooks] step up by setting up two goals in the semi-final and another in the final. To see that is any manager’s dream as finding little gems like that is what we what we need to do.”

Although this is the highest level Davis has managed, he is well aware of the standards expected from his playing days at Gosport Borough and Salisbury – two of Winchester’s league rivals in Southern League Premier South next season.

The role of underdog, however, is one the former Fleet Town boss is well used to playing – and he relishes the challenge.

“We’ve played against some of the sides at that level, but we’re under no illusions, it’s a very strong division,” Davis added.

“The likes of Gosport, Salisbury, Weston-Super-Mare, Truro, Hayes & Yeading…they are all very big clubs compared to us and it’s a very tough test.

“But we know that, on our day, we are a match for anyone. We were top scorers in the league with 93 goals from 36 games shows that we are doing something right.

“We have a winning mentality in the group and if we can keep that together for next year also then that will stand us in good stead.

“Keeping some of our players might be the difficult part, though. We have already had a lot of clubs sniffing around a number of our players, but they have stayed loyal to us when they could have left to go elsewhere for a lot more money.”

Football fever

City’s coffers, however, may be swelled by the influx in crowds at the Simplyhealth City Ground next season if this year’s increase is anything to go by.

Just over 1,000 turned up to watch the victory over Bristol Manor Farm and Davis believes the locals may have caught the buzz. “Winchester is predominantly a rugby city but it seems they’ve got football fever, so long may that continue,” he added.

“We’ve seen crowds steadily increase over the season and I hope that continues into next season too.

“Yes, we will be underdogs, but I had eight years surviving at Step 4 with Fleet with no budget so I’m used to battling against the odds.

“We won’t be scared, we won’t be afraid, I genuinely think we can give a good account of ourselves.”