I have never lost on the opening day of the season, so it was nice to keep that run going.

It was a typical first game in that it was a nervy affair and it probably helped that we were the away side and therefore under less pressure.

It was a solid, workmanlike performance without being in anyway fluent. We created just about enough to win, got in and out and did the job, and there were two neat finishes from Browner (Carl Brown).

We had to make some adjustments at the back. Lee Stevens is away in America on work commitments and misses the next two games as well. Then, on Friday night, Lyndon Tompkins’ wife went into labour. So we had a new centre-back partnership in Neil Griffiths (from Cinderford) and Chris Thompson.

Neil has always been on our radar, negotiations just seemed to stall over pay. He has only trained with us once.

When he first came, Neil said he couldn’t play for a fortnight because he thought he had broken his big toe. We had it X-rayed and there were no breaks so he decided to play.

Neil is one of those aggressive winners – the sort we lacked last year. Like most leaders, he is an infectious character.

Jamie Reid was suspended for the game but even with him Neil would have been captain. Jamie came to me after training on Thursday and asked to be relieved of the captaincy as he thought the burden was affecting his game.

Obviously, I was pleased to keep a clean sheet. Chris Thompson missed a lot of pre-season with injury but settled in nicely alongside Neil. He can read the game well from there and his pace is a help. And I thought young Chris Williams looked decent in front of the back four.

Reidy and Lyndon are back for Bishops Cleeve game on Tuesday night, though Scott Griffin has to see out the final match of his suspension.