Champions are ready to rock

Officials at the Causeway Ground were planning for a return to the EVO-STIK League Southern's South & West Division - the division they won in April - before the FA ruled that the champions had to take promotion to the top flight.

Cinderford chairman Stuart Tait said: “We had an emergency meeting the evening of the appeal decision and it was unanimously decided that we would take promotion and not resign from the league.

"We wanted to take promotion. The night we won the league will go down in our history – the intention was to get stuck in and, seven weeks on, it still is.

"The club is looking forward to playing in the Southern Premier and it’s full steam ahead. It’s the highest level the club has played at and we can’t wait to get smiles back on faces.

"The reaction has been wonderful. So much fundraising is going on and even the youth teams are doing everything that they can to support the first team. It’s not an ideal situation we’re excited about playing at Step 3."

Joint bosses Allan Gough and Chris Burns are putting a squad together to challenge again next term and Tait added: "They are good managers. We’re going to give it our best shot."