Read what Ben Clasper had to say in his programme notes ahead of our National League South clash with Worthing from Tuesday night.

I think my favourite comment about Saturday was one that described is as the most enjoyable match for quite some years and it is hard to disagree. It’s always easier when you are hosting a club like Hungerford who we all love visiting and who have a wonderful group of people running the club, and of course a return to winning ways has a lot to do with it as well, but a lot about that game just felt different.

The Rabble were in terrific voice and the atmosphere on the terraces was a joy to be part of and hearing the singing at the end slowly spreading in both directions beyond the core of Rabble all the way to the banging of the hoardings in Toilets Opposite was a real goosebumps moment.

I know what that meant to Paul Barnes and I’d like to thank you all for the way you have welcomed him and his staff into this club and I hope you all get a chance to meet and chat with him in time. It was also kind of many people to find me and tell me how they thought I got the call right to appoint Paul but really those sentiments need to be directed at Dumebi Dumaka, our new(ish) Director of Football. I was genuinely concerned that the baptism of fire that greeted him in his first board meeting when the question of management came up was terrible timing and could put him off for life so I was impressed when it became clearer with every day and every conversation that I needn’t have worried.

The board quickly agreed that were we to make the change in management Dumebi should take the lead in what needed to happen next not only in terms of a new manager but also in looking afresh at the structures and processes that had left us in the position that even changing a manager seemed like an impossible task. This is only the start of that journey but I am pleased that despite the sadness I feel at losing the ‘Paul Barnes in the interim’ chant I can congratulate Paul on his appointment as first team manager on a permanent basis.

Keeping an interim appointment may look to some like the default position or the easy option but I can promise you that is not the case, especially for us when we had already identified Paul as a candidate to help us in other areas away from the first team management role. We were clear at the outset that we would not rush this decision and so we knew there would be uncertainty and instability that could impact results while we worked through this. Paul’s professionalism and enthusiasm delivered an upturn in results at a very difficult time but more importantly delivered football that the fans enjoyed watching and I firmly believe that there were only two types of games in the interim period, games we won and games we deserved more from. We know from Hungerford, Dartford and Chippenham during that period that we are still struggling to close out games and have conceded goals in the final few minutes in each of those so there is still room for improvement but we are now notching up the sort of win rate that sees you challenging at the top not fighting at the bottom of the table.

Dumebi led a thorough and thoughtful process to identify and evaluate potential appointments and there were some very strong candidates so Paul’s application was subjected to the same criteria against stiff competition. Ultimately once you set aside personalities it came down to six questions that we needed to be confident we could answer if they were asked of us and we applied that to everyone under consideration. Based on how positively our decision was met by club management when they were informed and again with the fans I spoke with on Saturday I am confident that not only was appointing Paul was the right decision but Dumebi is also looking like the signing of the summer and I look forward to seeing his vision develop in all areas of the club.

Tonight, we welcome Worthing which will be a very tough test. At the start of the season they were my tip not only to be the strongest of the promoted sides but also to be threatening the play-off spots and so far that’s exactly what they have shown to be their level. I hope we show again that we can be competitive against the teams at the top and whilst we aren’t going to suddenly start winning every match, in my opinion we are now showing we are capable of it