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Last Updated: Wednesday, 31 October 2007, 14:36 GMT
Histon still living the dream
By Pete Oliver

Histon
Histon's remarkable rise through the ranks of non-league football is a success story that shows no sign of ending.

Seven years ago, the modest Cambridgeshire club was a member of the Eastern League Premier Division.

But the 1999-2000 season was also the time Histon appointed Steve Fallon as manager and with him still at the helm, the Stutes are now just one more promotion away from the Football League.

"We might have talked about it but I don't think we genuinely believed that seven or eight years down the line we would be at the top level of non-league," Fallon told BBC Sport.

"It's not something you would have put a lot of money on. We are enjoying every minute of it. But we are not complacent and we want to push on."

It is that kind of attitude that has seen Histon rocket up the non-league pyramid since Fallon first led them into the Southern League with three promotions in the last four years now making them a Blue Square Premier team.

"We do the best we can each year and if we are good enough to go up then we deal with it," said Fallon.

"10 or 15-year plans don't work. If you are good enough you go up and then you deal with it.

"I don't understand people who say you are not ready to go up. You are better off having at least one year in the league above. You can't pick and choose when you make it."

We've earned the right to be where we are

Steve Fallon

Even by his own admission, Fallon's team was ready to take stock this time around, having joined the likes of Torquay, Exeter, Oxford, Halifax, York and Cambridge United, where Fallon previously played over 400 games to become an Abbey Stadium legend.

"I know everybody says it, but the biggest aim was to make sure we got another year, to make sure we survived and learn from it," he added.

"We didn't have the best start and we didn't win for the first four games. But since then our form has been very good and we have this ability not to lose games.

"It's something we've had over the years that we have not always played at our best but we have hung in there and got results.

They are all good players and deserved a go at this level

Steve Fallon

"It's been a great start and we are very pleased with it, particularly as we have not had the best of home records. We have gone away and picked up results and hopefully we have started to turn the corner at home."

As a result, survival looks almost certain and looking upwards is again the option for a squad in which every player bar one has another job, like the manager who combines his football with teaching.

Steve Fallon
Fallon is not complacent about Histon's success

"We are not too tough taskmasters. If we train three times a week and they make two out of three we are happy with that, as long as they are doing it on the pitch on a Saturday or Tuesday night," he said.

Fallon, who is assisted by former Preston and Cambridge boss John Beck, brought in just five new players over the summer, mainly from lower leagues, and kept faith with a squad that has developed a winning mentality.

And in Adie Cambridge, record appearance maker Jamie Barker and striker Neil Kennedy - who has taken more of a back seat since scoring his 300th goal for the club last season - he has a trio of players who have climbed every division with the club.

Ten or 15-year plans don't work

Steve Fallon

"They are all good players and deserved a go at this level but they have probably surprised themselves a little bit," said Fallon.

"Adie Cambridge should really have played at a higher level but he has been loyal to this club and now having got this far with his hometown club is the best thing going."

Fallon acknowledges that his side still faces a long, hard season but with more than a third of it gone they are currently just a couple of places outside the play-off zone.

As unthinkable as it may seem, a place in the Football League is therefore a potential prize for the village team.

We are not complacent and we want to push on

Steve Fallon

And typically, Fallon is unfazed by the prospect.

He added: "I'm not saying we are going to do this or that but you can't just dismiss it as luck or a flash in the pan. We have earned the right to be where we are.

"We have played some of the big teams and we are not up with them. But we are not far off. It's not impossible.

"It's still a long way off, although in theory we are only four points away. If we are good enough to be successful then I'm sure we would be ready off the pitch.

"And if we were good enough on the pitch we would give it a go. It's a really big step in a lot of ways, although I don't think there's that big a difference playing-wise.

"There are a lot of lads playing in this league who could play higher, as they have shown at Peterborough. But it's something you don't know until you try it."

SEE ALSO
Droylsden 0-1 Histon
20 Oct 07 |  Non League
Histon 2-1 Kidderminster
14 Oct 07 |  Non League
Crawley 1-0 Histon
09 Oct 07 |  Non League
Histon will get better - Fallon
08 Oct 07 |  Histon
York 1-4 Histon
06 Oct 07 |  Non League
Histon in the big time
01 Jun 07 |  Non League


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