BOSS HAS SHO-WN THE WAY, SAYS DAN

SHOLING goal-den boy Dan Mason has attributed the club’s promotion to the man who has built the club “from the ground up” – long-serving manager Dave Diaper.

The Boatmen reached Step 3 by winning last Monday’s Southern Premier League Division One South play-off 2-0 against Hamworthy United in front of a club-record attendance of 1,289 at the Imperial Homes Stadium.

After a mammoth 24 years and a 1,198 matches in charge, Diaper will finally be able to take charge of his beloved Sholing in the Southern Premier Division South next season with many of his star players also loyal to the Boatmen.

Indeed, star striker Mason, who has scored 26 times in a 53-goal partnership with Lee Wort this term, has made 526 appearances for the Hampshire club.

“Words can’t describe Dave’s impact,” he said. “He’s built the club, the squad, the ground, the infrastructure, the youth set-up.

“I used to come along here as a kid and Sholing is such a different place and that’s all down to Dave.”

Mason believes it is the ‘family feel’ the Boatmen have which means players stick around so long in an ever-changing football world.

Elder brother Byron has also played 685 times for the club, while teammates Marvin McLean (785 appearances), Wort (515) and Dan Miller (442), lead a list of many others in the squad who are well past the 100 mark.

“That camaraderie and bond stems from the manager,” added Mason, who has spent 12 years with the Southampton club, scoring over 260 goals in the process.

“Winning promotion means a lot when you’ve been at a club for as long as we have. It’s a family feel here.

“When you come in here, you feel a part of it, you put a shift in and everyone pulls in the right direction.”

And nothing about the step-up will daunt Mason, who said: “Teams will be just as wary of us as we are of them. It will be new for us in that we have to be more professional now.”