Naturally, I’m disappointed not to go through on penalties, but I couldn’t be prouder of our performance yesterday. We set clear objectives after last Saturday, worked hard and smart all week, and the lads carried them out almost perfectly. We kept a very good clean sheet away from home and scored a perfectly good goal, wrongly ruled out with just five minutes to play.

I know some supporters feel frustrated, and of course everyone is entitled to their opinion. But I’d ask people to take a step back and reflect. If you can’t be proud of the lads after that performance, then maybe we’re losing sight of how far we’ve come and the challenges we continue to face. It’s vital we remain humble, grounded, and emotionally wise, because in football we are entitled to nothing.

The result means we are now unbeaten in four away matches, conceding only two goals. To put that into context, last season we were well beaten at Bedworth with a much more experienced side. Yesterday, seven of our starting XI were 21 or under, with another five under-21s on the bench. In my opinion, Darlaston Town’s future is brighter today than at any time in the last 151 years - you just have to be wise enough to see it.

I’m not going to pick out individuals, because from Callum to Luca and everyone in between, every single player and staff member did what was asked of them — and I’d take that every single day of the week.

We now head into a two-week break before an exciting run of 10 games in 33 days, starting at home to Vauxhall on September 20th.

We’ll be training throughout the next two weeks, and supporters are always welcome to come down and watch.

UTD