Loyalty pays off for Gill as Darlaston Town living their dream
Darlaston Town boss Dean Gill could not hide his pride as his band of brothers clocked up a second promotion in three seasons.
Gill's men made it two promotions in the manager's third full season in charge with Saturday's 3-1 Midland Premier play-off final at Lichfield City.
Many of the boss' Darlo squad have been part of Gill's journey from managing at Wednesfield further down the pyramid nine years ago, as well as spells at Wolverhampton Casuals and Bilston Town, and two of the long-serving players were on target as Darlaston won in front of a crowd of 1,110 to seal a place in step four of the non-league system.
"I've had about nine of them for six years or more and then people like Lewis, my son, has played for me for 17 years. This side started in 2006 at under-6s," Gill said.
"Kieran Cook scored the first goal and played for me at six years old. Alex Forshaw, my captain, has been with me nine years. Josh Jones came to Wednesfield for me and has been with me since. He scored the second goal. They've all never wavered with loyalty. The list goes on.
"The spirit is why we won, no mistake. The hard yards over the years. Lichfield hadn't lost at home, so for us to turn up with less resources and to win on their patch, that's because of who we are. How we dug it out the last 10 minutes God only knows. They were fantastic and chucked everything at us.
"But we've put our time in, I've got nine lads who've played 80 seasons together between them. I am so proud because we've grafted. No-one's given us a leg up. We've got promoted twice together and deserved it."
Goals from Cook and Jones had Darlaston 2-0 up inside half hour. The home Citizens reduced the deficit shortly into the second half and a tight second period played out until Kieron Miller's clinching third in the 95th minute.
"The vast majority of the day was like an out-of-body experience, the pressure was unreal," Gill added. "Even now it's like 'oh wow'.
"Lichfield were unbeaten at home, but we know what they are and they are very good at what they do – but they only do what they do.
"We obviously had a plan. It was nothing overly complex or clever. That is predominantly what we've done this year and last year, to catch up with teams with more resources and experience. We have to be more astute.
"We knew it would be tight and it was. They were excellent on the day but we were there to win.
"We're now in the same level as Stafford Rangers, Chasetown, Corby, Coleshill, Sutton Coldfield, Walsall Wood, the league above Hednesford Town. Lots of these players have been with me from step seven, not lads we've pulled together with money.
"We've grafted for our dreams. It's amazing, they are good men, lots of them could've moved on, so credit to them."
