If ever there was a team that didn’t want the 2017/18 football season to end then surely it was Cirencester Town.

A remarkable run of 13 wins and three draws from their final 16 games took them to the brink of the play-offs in the Southern League Division One South – they just missed out on the final spot on goal difference to Didcot Town.

Now everyone connected with the club is hoping they can start the new campaign in the same way they finished the last but manager Charlie Griffin has been in the game long enough to know that that it is not a given by any means even though he has retained all the players from last season’s ultimately pretty successful campaign.

“The boys put in a lot of effort last season but they’ve got to work just as hard, if not harder this time around,” said Griffin.

“You don’t get anywhere without hard work and it all starts again now. Every team in the division is going to want to beat us after the way we finished last season and we have to be at it, we have to show the right attitude.”

This will be Griffin’s second full season in charge and the club’s second at this level following their relegation from the Premier Division.

The aim is obviously to win promotion as soon as possible but if that is to be achieved, Griffin, who was a free-scoring centre-forward at or near the top of the non-League pyramid for many years, is determined to achieve it in the right way.

“We’ve got some good players at the club,” he said. “It took us a while to adapt to our new 4G pitch and to the style of football that I want us to play.

“It took the players a bit of time to gel but I want us to play as much football as we can. I want to try to make it as entertaining as possible, one or two touch football and get it into the box.

“They started showing what they could towards the end of the season.”

They certainly did and post-Christmas they won team of the month on two occasions.

“We were top of the form league for a long time,” added 39-year-old Griffin, who knows that he must manage expectation this season while still producing good performances and results.

“We want to carry on where we left off and push on,” added Griffin. “A lot of people will think we’ve just got to turn up but it’s not like that at all.

“You’ve got to respect other teams and their players. I do and I expect the players to as well.”

Griffin enjoyed great success during his playing career, scoring more than 230 goals and playing for the likes of Swindon Town, Forest Green, Stevenage and Newport County among others along the way.

So when he talks football he clearly knows what he’s on about and he wants to see the same attributes in his players that drove him on to success.

“You’ve got to want it,” he said. “You need a hunger and desire to be a winner. I want winners and obviously after what we did last season the Premier Division is the target.

“We know what we’ve got to do and we’ve got to make sure we prepare right for games.

“We’ve got great facilities, a great pitch and the academy, there’s a good foundation.

“The club are in a really good place at the moment.”

And the good news is that their manager is too.

“I’m enjoying it,” he said. “I just want to get the lads ready and get to where we want to go.”