RYMAN PREMIER: 14th

FROM relegation candidates to play-off hopefuls – Concord’s league campaign certainly wasn’t boring.

The Beachboys had high hopes coming into the season that they could improve on last year’s eighth-place finish in the Ryman Premier league.

And they had good cause for optimism.

The departures of left-sided duo Gary Ogilvie and Danny Glozier aside, they retained the majority of their squad including prolific striker Tony Stokes, and made some quality additions.

But it all got off to a horrible start with their first league win not coming until October at relegated Horsham.

It left everyone at the club – and not least joint managers Danny Cowley and Danny Scopes – soul searching. And they found the answers they were looking for with a sensational run of results from winter time which saw them move within three points of the play-offs by early April.

It also meant they had wiped out a 19-point gap between them and Canvey as they briefly over-took their fierce rivals.

So it was not without a good dose of irony that Canvey came to the Aspect Arena and claimed a battling 2-0 win which was the first of five-straight defeats and the end of Concord’s season.

The season’s review has already prompted a major change with the decision of Scopes to stand down as joint manager and leave Cowley in sole charge of team affairs.

Cowley has repeatedly said this season’s trials and tribulations have taught him more about his side than the previous five seasons of unprecedented success. And he’ll be looking to use those lessons to make Concord a force to be reckoned with again next season.