Chorley boss Jansen hopes to build on a year of real progress

2017 was a year of ecstasy and agony for Chorley.

But boss Matt Jansen hopes 2018 can be the year that his Magpies finally end a 27-year absence from the top tier of non-league.

The last year has seen more improvements from the Magpies, with an extra-time defeat to Halifax in May in the National League play-off final.

They did go on to make history and end one hoodoo, as a Nick Haughton hat-trick at Boston saw the Magpies reach the first round of the FA Cup for the first time in 27 years.

Then a battling performance ended in late agony as League One side Fleetwood Town’s smash-and-grab

denied Jansen’s side a place in the second round proper.

And the manager wants more improvements both on and off the pitch. He said: “We’ve got the new 1883 Lounge, meals, entertainment and a new stand coming in. Slowly but surely it is coming along.

“Financially it costs money but the club, every year I have been here it has grown, Ideally you’d want it to grow as quickly as Salford has grown but that cannot be the case. Every year it has improved on and off the field and long may that continue.”

Jansen summed up his thoughts on 2017 and is now looking to go one step further, He said: “There were highs and lows in 2017 really. Fantastic getting to the final of the play-offs but then disappointing not to get to win it in extra time.

“This season, although a slow start, we have picked ourselves up again and did really well to get into the FA Cup first round proper and narrowly missed out on progressing – another up and down.

“Now we are just outside the play-offs, with games in hand and we are looking to bounce back to those play-off positions.”