Victory over a play-off chasing side was not only the perfect way to finish their Southern League campaign but it was also deserved according to Colney Heath manager Ant Burns.

Goals for Alex Solomon, Larry Balogun and Guerin Nimi gave the Magpies a 3-2 win over North Leigh, ending the Oxfordshire side's hopes of the play-offs.

And while it was not enough to prevent relegation back down to step five and probably the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division, it does show that the lessons of the season are being learned.

Burns said: "It was a real positive finish to the season. We never gave up, even when we were relegated, and we wanted to finish strong.

"We’ve done that.

"The boys did exactly what we asked of them. The intensity was there and we asked them to get a bit of a nasty streak inside of them.

"They are all young lads but they have to learn to play at this level and play against proper step four players and they proved that.

"They played when they had to play, they cleared it when they needed to clear it and we did the basics and the horrible stuff well.

"And finally we showed a bit of quality in front of goal and been clinical.

"It’s brilliant and I’m grinning from ear to ear. The only thing that sours it is the injury to Peter Mokwenye [a nasty-looking head injury]. That takes the shine of it a little bit."

And whatever comes next for the village side, Burns believes they will be better and stronger for the experience.

He said: "It’s been a steep learning curve for me, I’m a first-time manager, and a learning curve for the club as well, in terms of what is required from us and how other clubs do things.

"But there are no regrets whatsoever.

"We now know what is required at this level and hopefully we can keep a lot of the lads together.

"A lot changes in football but we are all buzzing.

"They will keep that going into the summer and hopefully we can get all the lads down for next year and kick-start the season back in the Spartan."