WE finished our season on Saturday with a solid 1-0 win over in-form Bridgwater Town to boost our chances of taking a well deserved top five spot.

Dawlish can catch us, but face a tough task facing both Taunton and Bideford in four days. With three games in hand they are only five points behind us, but will have to go some to achieve the total. If they do, although it will be a disappointment, nobody could argue with it.

Considering it was the end of the season, our game was a very enjoyable affair and Bridgwater certainly came up in form and their supporters were very vocal, both supporting their team and especially in our clubhouse afterwards.

I wondered what they would have been like if they had won the game. Dave Hunt, who has deputised for Paul Thompson, kept his third successive clean sheet with an immaculate handling display. Our defence certainly restricted Bridgwater to long shots and it was a good way to end the season.

Taunton kept up their strong finish with an emphatic 4-1 win at Paulton in what was a potential banana skin. The Somerset side have certainly got the bit between their teeth and it would certainly be a major surprise to me if they slipped up now.

Bideford gained a point at Melksham and just need three points to take the title. They certainly will be worthy winners after scoring over a century of goals and producing some very good entertaining stuff throughout the whole campaign.

Congratulations also to Frome Town and Bath City Reserves in gaining promotion to the Premier Division. They have been the two outstanding teams throughout the whole season and I'm very confident both sides will more than hold their own next season.

Frome are obviously a very good outfit also winning through to the Les Phillips Cup final yet to be played against Bideford. This might give an indication of how they might fare next year. Bath too, under the Lee Burns captaincy, are a good footballing side and will acquit themselves well next year.

Bath's first team produced a Houdini act to escape relegation from the Dr Martens Premier. I'm very pleased for manager Alan Pridham who has come under fire from a lot of quarters. With a big budget cut I would be very surprised if his brief from his chairman wasn't to just keep us up this season. This might not be what a supporter wants to hear but it is reality.

Tommy Saunders and Nobby Bush will be delighted at Bath staying up. It gives them a big derby to look forward to.

Swindon Supermarine also performed miracles to stay up after looking doomed six weeks ago. It was vital they stayed up as it is certainly easier to maintain your position than to get relegated and have to start all over again.

One of the downsides of being fairly successful is that your players are going to be approached.

Already at this early stage two of my players have been spoken to and made offers. Not technically correct, but a fact of life I'm afraid.

So before I even start I must persuade these two that we have a bright future and hopefully they will be part of it.

I want to strengthen the squad as I firmly believe with two or three good additions and with a bit of luck we could possibly mount a challenge.

The league will be very competitive indeed with Bideford, Brislington and Team Bath the favourites. Ourselves Dawlish, Paulton, Backwell will feel they have a chance. Odd Down, Bridgwater are two sides who have made a great finish to the season.

Melksham are always going to be a tough side and Frome and Bath Reserves come into the equation.

So as you can see, there is possibly a dozen sides who will feel they can beat anybody and I honestly believe next season's championship will be a really close affair.