Birch wants Reds to stay on their perch

By Megan Grey

HAPPY: Lee Bircham

LEE Bircham hailed his Leighton Town champions, but warns they mustn’t look back now they’ve landed the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division title.

Boss Bircham says that after being promoted to Step 4, the Reds will be looking to stay there and push on.

Title glory came on Thursday night after they beat Biggleswade United 2-1 to guarantee top spot.

Bircham’s side suffered just three losses all season inside 90 minutes, including cups, and the former Hemel Hempstead Town boss couldn’t be happier.

He told the club’s YouTube channel: “I’m delighted for everyone – most delighted for the boys. It doesn’t matter what one of the 18,19,20 players that we have used, they have been fantastic.

“You won’t get a harder group of workers than them – unbelievable ability, but they work hard. The whole season has been great, nothing short of what we deserve.

“It hasn’t come easy though. People look and think we have won most weeks but we had a couple of bloody noses. Every time we’ve done that we’ve responded.

“We’ve changed personnel, which you have to, but luckily every lad we’ve brought in has been good and probably better than what went out. As a group, they’ve been phenomenal.”

Leighton were relegated from the Southern League in 2016 and Bircham wants to make sure they don’t return to Step 5 in the future.

“A lot of people are really delighted that this football club is going up,” he added. “This football club can not make the mistake of going down to Step 5. It is far too big. Hopefully, we can stay there now and push on after that.

“For now, we can just enjoy a fantastic season, I’ve loved every minute of it.”