Hollands & Blair’s manager reflects on impressive second half of the season as the Southern Counties East Premier Division side finish just behind the play-off places

Hollands & Blair finished just outside the play-offs this season and the manager thanked the club for having faith in his ability to turn it around.

Manager Darren Blackburn was left questioning whether he wanted to carry on after some tough times in the autumn, including a 7-0 drubbing at Larkfield. It would have been easy to walk away and easier still for the club’s hierarchy to try someone else.

He turned it around, however, with some shrewd signings and a lot of hard work as Blair ended up just six points adrift of the top five places in the Southern Counties East Premier Division.

Blackburn admits work and family commitments may mean someone else gets to continue the progress but he’s happy with the platform he’s provided.

He said: “It was good to turn it around and I'm really proud of the players and can't thank the club and the supporters and the board for the continued support, even during that really difficult period that we had in September, October.

“It was nice to repay them with some good moments in the second half of the season.

“I think everyone enjoyed it. I think it was 13 or 14 clean sheets out of 21 games or something like that, four defeats in 20. We beat some of the play-off contenders and those that finished in the play-off places.

“It was just a much more enjoyable place to be around. It took a lot of hard work with support from a lot of people as well, including the youth set-up.

“It's been a good season for the club from under-18s the whole way through. A lot of the youth teams have been successful.”

Blackburn had taken over as manager the previous season, with the club second bottom of the table. They avoided the drop and were going okay the following campaign before a tough run of results,