We had nerves – but belief too: Burgess Hill Town boss reflects on Isthmian survival

​The Hillians secured another season in the Isthmian south east with a 0-0 draw at home to Beckenham.

As if the nerves of the match weren’t enough, they faced an anxious ten-minute wait after they’d finished to confirm VCD hadn’t won – if they had, Hill would have been handed a relegation play-off.

Taylor said everyone at the club had pulled together to ensure survival – and now it was important to make sure there was no such close shave again.

He told us: “There were a lot of nerves on the day but I had belief that we had the players to get us through.

"We’d worked hard at training on a plan for the game and the players executed it. It would have been nice to end with a win but a draw was enough and it was great to see the scenes at the end.”

Dean Sammut, brought in as No2 by Taylor after he took over following the brief reign of Matt Longhurst in March, said: “It’s absolutely massive for the club.

"I didn’t know much about the club coming into this job but I’ve fallen in love with it.

"The last three games we’ve had 800, 600 and another 600 turn up and that shows huge, huge potential.

"We had a team who worked for the badge on the shirt, for the supoorters and for the club and that’s all we asked of them. We wanted them to bleed green and black and they certainly did that.”

Hillians season ticket holder Phil Dennett said: “The crowd of just over 600 was fantastic support for a struggling team. The real drama came after the final whistle, when almost the whole crowd stood and waited for the result of East Grinstead v VCD.

"When the VCD draw was confirmed and Burgess Hill were safe there was tremendous applause and the players hugged each other and ran over to the railway end near the Ashley Carr stand to celebrate with the crowd.

“You’d have thought Hillians had won the FA Cup rather than scraped away from possible relegation.”

Taylor and his players will now wait to see who is in the club’s plans for 2023-24.