Despair turns to delight for Staffordshire in T20 Cup: Page 33

WORKING with a chairman that backed him last season during the difficult times was a massive help for Josh Brehaut.

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The Leek Town boss had led the club to Step 3, only to falter in the opening months of last season.

But Brehaut and the players turned the situation around and safely negotiated the last four months to stay at the level thanks to a tremendous run of results.

And the manager is grateful for the support he received from Jon Eeles who has gone on record to say he would have stuck with Brehaut even if the club had been relegated.

"It can only help having that kind of working relationship we have," said Brehaut.

"That trust between us and that we've built. When we were going through that really difficult spell last year, that nine-game winless run that we went on, you can over analyse things, you question yourself, and to know that I wasn't having to second guess what Jon was thinking too much was obviously a real help to me.

"It really allowed me to remain focused on what we needed to focus on, which was stopping the slide.

"Thankfully that faith was repaid because of how we performed in the second half of the season.