County give it their all

Super County soared to an unprecedented height with a 2-1 victory at Braintree that saw them hit 103 points, becoming the first side to do so in an English football season which contains 42 league fixtures.

Early goals from defenders Jamie Collins and Paul Cochlin ensured another fine win for the Exiles despite Brad Quinton’s second-half penalty that resulted in a red card for Cochlin.

This was a blood, sweat and tears contest, quite literally. The blood belonged to Craig Reid, who was substituted in the first half with a nasty cut to the head. The sweat most certainly belonged to County, who wrung out one final big effort, with the tears definitely defining the afternoon for the hosts.

Football is a cruel game and the Exiles’ ecstasy was entwined with despair for Braintree, dropping out of the playoff places with Woking capitalising on their slip-up.

However, Holdsworth was delighted that his side ended their own campaign on a high, and was finally ready to relax and lavish praise on his heroes.

“Each and every player in this squad can look at themselves in a mirror and say that they’ve done themselves proud, they’ve been true heroes all season,” he said.

“I am very proud of the boys, they’ve given me all they’ve had, they listen and take on board what we’re saying.

“I thought we showed a lot of our qualities on Saturday. We scored two excellent set-piece goals and we controlled the game in the first half for large periods.

“And then after the sending off, which I thought was very harsh, we showed tremendous character.”

Holdsworth is keen for his charges to reflect on the magnitude of their achievement.

“We’ve reached all our goals this season, that’s all anyone can ever ask of the boys,” he said.

“We wanted to win the league and the manner we’ve done it in is simply incredible. They’ve made everyone associated with the club extremely proud and we are already looking forward to next season.”