Automatic Promotion - Fantastic says Turner

Hereford United manager Graham Turner has been looking back at the promotion campaign in an interview by Tony Leighton for the Football League.

"We only had 12 players when we started pre-season," said Turner "but we quickly brought new faces in and by the time the season started we had a reasonable squad.

"We topped it up with loan players and put together a nice blend of experience and youth, some of the younger lads having been discarded by bigger clubs and so they came to us feeling they had something to prove.

"What surprised me was how quickly the squad gelled together. Sometimes when you have so many new faces it takes time to get a real understanding, but that wasn't the case with us this season and we soon had a great spirit and togetherness among the players."

Leighton reminded Turner that in the last few weeks the Bulls had to play most of the other top teams.

"That 15-day spell started with three very difficult games in a week. We had to play Darlington, Peterborough and MK Dons and we knew the pressure was on us because of the form of Stockport and Rochdale.

"But we kept our nerve and came through it, although I was delighted that it didn't go to the last match of the season to get the job completed - now we can go into our final game (at home to Grimsby) and enjoy the day.

"It took us a long time to get back out of the Conference, but two promotions in three years is a tremendous achievement. I have to say I went into this season quietly confident of reaching the Play-Offs, but to end up with automatic promotion - fantastic!"

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