Peterborough Sports' take great pride in a historic season, plus the players who won awards

Dan Jarvis (orange) in action for Peterborough Sports against Chorley. Photo David Lowndes.

The city side went down 3-1 to play-off bound Chorley at PIMS Park on Saturday which meant a 15th-placed finish for a team who are fighting above their natural weight.

And joint-manager Michael Gash insists pride was the over-riding emotion after a season that yielded a record points total at this level as well as a club-best run in the FA Trophy which ended at the quarter-final stage.

"Of course we were disappointed to lose the last game,” Gash admitted. “We competed well again though, but just lost concentration at a couple of set-pieces.

Peterborough Sports' award winners, from left Dan Lawlor, Peter Crook, Ashton Fox and Dan Jarvis.

"But we told the lads afterwards to reflect on an outstanding season when club history was created twice, with the points total and the FA Trophy run.

"We established ourselves at National League level and, given it was the first full season for myself and (joint manager) Luke Steele, plus (owner) Tim Woodward, we should be proud of what we achieved.

"It was tough at times and we had hurdles to overcome. We didn’t have much of a squad in terms of numbers at the start of the season and we lost key players during the season for a variety of reasons.

"But the togetherness and spirit in the club dragged us through and there is a great deal of satisfaction about the work everyone put in.”

In-form Dan Jarvis scored the consolation goal for Sports against Chorley.

The priority now for Sports is to tie players down for a third National League North campaign. Joint managers Gash and Steele are expected to stay on.

Sports held their annual presentation ceremony straight after the final game of the season.

Jarvis won the supporters player and young player-of-the-year awards, while goalkeeper Peter Crook picked up the player’s player-of-the-year prize.

Posh loanee centre-back Ashton Fox was young player-of-the year with long-serving midfielder Dan Lawlor awarded the managers’ player-of-the-year trophy.

“Dan Jarvis picked up a bad shoulder injury early in the season,” Gash added. “But when he came back he was a different player.

"We spoke to him about the need for greater consistency.

"No player will play well in every game, but if you can get effective performances in six out of every eight matches that’s impressive, and that’s what Dan did.”