NO MATTER where Fairford Town finish come the end of the season, Gareth Davies knows his team have come on leaps and bounds from this time last year.

Having finished a point off the bottom of the Division One West table at the end of 2014-15, Davies’ side now find themselves at the summit, nine points clear of Hook Norton in second.

The Cinder Lane boss has put their turnaround down to the efforts of his players and hopes they can get their rewards come the end of the season.

“Last year was horrific,” said Davies. “This year, I don’t think anybody expected us to be where we are.

“We have always said that the squad of players we have are very good players. I just think they need to believe in themselves a little bit more.

“The league table doesn’t lie, so I wouldn’t say it is a false position. We are there because we have won X amount of games and we have 36 points.

“I would hope that we would still be there or thereabouts come the end of the season. I know there are still a lot of games of football to be played, but the players deserve it for the hard work they have put in so far.

“From last year, it is a massive achievement to be where they are now.

“We have gone from second-from-bottom to the top of the league and it is down to the players’ hard work.

“The lads that are injured or suspended are still coming on a Saturday and taking part in the warm-ups and everyone is committed to the cause.”

Fairford have nine games remaining in their season and start with a trip to the Meadowbank Stadium to face Shortwood United Reserves.

Despite not knowing what team they may be facing, Davies is keen to keep their points tally ticking over for the remainder of the campaign.

“We have been there the last two or three years and every time we have been there, the first team haven’t had a game, so we have had a mixed sort of team we have played against,” he added.

“This weekend I know the first team are away. It doesn’t matter who you play; we will go there and we will try and get more points on the board.

“It doesn’t matter how we win or what we do, we just need to keep picking up the points."

Meanwhile, Shrivenham head to Carterton, knowing a point could be enough to lift them off the foot of the table.