Promotion is reward for all the hard work at club

Earlier this season, they were awarded the FA Charter Standard Community Club status, one of only five clubs in the county. That was in recognition to the work the club has done over the past five years off the pitch.

On it, Sports need only look a few miles up the road to see what Brackley Town Saints have achieved since their promotion. Saints’ young side took a few seasons to make the adjustment but have finished third this time.

Meadows said: “It’s the end of a journey we started five years ago to get to where we are now and a reward for everyone connected with the club, from the teams, to those who helped get the ground up to this grading. It’s only right that this club has a higher profile and being in the premier division will give us that.

“I’m proud of what the team has achieved and their success goes hand in hand with what we’re doing off the field. It takes some character to bounce back from 12 months ago when we got it wrong to putting it right.

“The hard work starts now but the structure is in place for the first team to benefit from the success of our player pathway development programme. It’s something which other clubs around here are now starting to look at.

“A development team and a first team will need to compliment each other if we are to succeed in the premier division, so I hope players in Banbury will consider Easington Sports as a viable option.

“Brackley Town Saints have shown that you can do well with the same squad when you go up, you don’t need to go out and sign players.”