THESE are heady days at Stowmarket Town.

The Greens Meadow club have enjoyed plenty of changes off the pitch in recent seasons, and now they are enjoying success on it.

Top of the Ridgeons League First Division, Steve Jay has assembled a competent and competitive squad to challenge at this level. And although the ‘P’ (promotion) word is not being banded about just yet, it is clear Jay’s team have set out their stall.

“To say we are delighted with the way we have started would be true,” Jay said.

“We were a little bit disappointed to only draw with the new side in the league Cambridge University Press, but before that game I may have taken a point against a good side we knew little about.

“Since then, we have done well.

“I look no further than the next game and I set my goals out at the start of the campaign. That was for a mid-table finish, if we do better than that, great.

“I’m very proud of the way the team has gelled. I only retained about four players from last season, so the fact with so many new faces, we are playing the way we are is credit to them.”

Stowmarket’s revival, along with fellow Suffolk side Ipswich Wanderers, is a boost for non-league fans in east and mid-Suffolk areas.

This weekend both sides, along with others, start off their FA Vase campaigns, Ipswich Wanderers travel to Irchester Utd on Sunday, while Stowmarket are at Brantham Athletic tomorrow.

“It would be nice to get in a bit of revenue with a Vase run,” Jay admits.

“Brantham play the ball around well and Tony Hall knows how to play the game the right way. It should be a good game.”

A bit of extra revenue would go down well at Stowmarket Town, with their players paid on a points basis, no basic wages at Greens Meadow.

That incentive appears to be having the desired effect.

It’s a case now of can they make the most of their excellent start to the campaign?

STOWMARKET TOWN

NEXT FIVE LEAGUE FIXTURES

Sat, Sep 11, Saffron Walden (a)

Sat., Sep 18 Long Melford (h)

Sat., Oct 2 Gorleston (a)

Sat., Oct 16 Whitton (h)

Sat., Oct 23 March (a)