BOWERS & Pitsea manager Rob Small says his side will have to deal with the expectation of being one of the Essex Senior League’s title favourites next season.

Bowers are celebrating a historic season in which they broke record after record, not just as Bowers & Pitsea which was formed in 2004, but Bowers United before that.

To put it in perspective: Last season Bowers finished in 13th place, ending up with 45 points having scored 70 goals and conceded 45 points.

This season, Bowers came in second, reaching 92 points, scoring a grand total of 134 goals while only conceding 25.

They are the fourth highest scorers in the country for step five football, and have the fourth best defence nationally in step five as well.

The club also set records for the longest unbeaten run (27), most clean sheets (24) and most games won (29). And all in Rob Small’s first season in charge.

And it isn’t over yet, with an Essex Senior League Cup final to look forward to against Clapton next month.

“It has been quite a season, said the 30-year-old former Southminster St Leonards boss, inset. “A lot of records have fallen but that is down to the players and their efforts. With respect, this club has hardly been a force in previous years so for us to do what we have done is astronomical.

“I am fortunate as our chairman (Barry Hubbard) told me this team was playing without pressure when I joined at the start of the season and the team has flourished under that.”

Bowers have won by four goals or more 18 times this season as they racked up win after win in the Essex Senior League, also enjoying a number of fine cup runs in the early season, reaching the first round of the FA Vase.

But Small says he is not as surprised as others may be at his side’s success.

“It really isn’t a shock to me,” he insisted. “I always had the confidence in the team and it is a credit to them that we scored so many goals and kept so many clean sheets. Lewis Manor and Rob Whitnell have scored 72 of our goals but so many others have contributed. We haven’t rested on our laurels and we smelt blood after we scored a few goals. And the defence has grown because of that, as they knew we were always going to score so they were playing with less pressure. It is a beautiful mix.0”

Small mentioned former club Concord Rangers as a model to follow, who have gone from the Essex Senior League to the Conference South in the last eight seasons.

And he said he is already looking forward to next season.

“We will be a candidate for promotion next season but the players have earned that. I am very confident I will be able to keep this group together next year and I am already excited about it.”