Midfielder Lee Evans hailed yesterday’s promotion to the Championship courtesy of the 6-0 walloping of Exeter City as a brilliant day for the club and one which was well deserved.
Evans, 28, was among those watching from the sidelines having picked up a knee injury in February.
But along with the rest of the squad, staff and theor families was involved in the post-match celebrations on the pitch.
"A brilliant feeling, a brilliant day for the football club,” he said. "An amazing day I think everyone deserves and it comes right from the top, from the ownership group down to [CEO] Mark [Ashton] and then through the manager and all the players.
"I think we’ve worked so hard this season to try and achieve something special and, fingers crossed, we can try and make that a little bit sweeter next week and win the title, that’s the plan.”
Reflecting further on the campaign as a whole, he added: "It’s been brilliant, has been amazing and the run we’ve been on for the last 15 games or so has been incredible.
"Conor Chaplin deserves all the plaudits he gets, top goalscorer in the league now after today. On fire!”
While some fans went into the match nervous, the players and management simply appeared to maintain a steely focus.
Newport-born Evans, who has made 23 League One starts this season, scoring three times, says his teammates tried to approach the match like any other, despite knowing its huge significance.
"I know it’s easy to say, but the boys were just treating it as another game,” he said. "I can tell you from watching it, I was nervous, so I can only imagine how the fans felt. It’s not nice when you can’t control anything on the pitch.
"But I had full belief in the boys today that they’d put on a performance, and what a performance it was.”
Has he seen many better first halves? "No, not really! I was looking up at the scoreboard and it was 28 minutes and we were 4-0 up and I was thinking ‘Wow! That’s one way to get promoted!’. They deserve all the credit they get.”
Regarding his own fitness, he added: "I’m alright, I’m getting there, I was edging closer in training, trying to be back for today, but not quite 100 per cent, so it’s probably more of a case of making sure I’m bang at it for pre-season and making sure I have a big season next season, that’s all I can do.”
Not going to be knocking on the manager’s door after a place on the bench at Fleetwood next week?
"Maybe!” the Welshman laughed. "Let’s see how this week goes in training. But it wouldn’t be too fair to the boys who have been so well in this run. If I came on, someone else would have to drop out, so it wouldn’t be fair on them.
"I think for me, I had a fantastic start to the season, first half of the season and I can look back on that with a lot of pride and make sure I do the same again next season, come back and hit the ground running.”
Does he believe this team are capable of making an impression in the Championship next season?
"Definitely,” he insisted. "Momentum’s a massive thing in football. You look at the teams now who are doing well in the Championship, they’ve all had spells down here.
"And I think as long as we work hard, we keep doing what we’re doing and come back to pre-season hungry as ever, we’ll have a great chance.”