MAIDENHEAD United chairman Peter Griffin admits that winning the National League South title is still sinking in.

Maidenhead secured the crown with a 3-0 victory at Margate on the final day of the season thanks to a Harry Pritchard double and one from record goalscorer Dave Tarpey.

Griffin explained he felt calm and relaxed despite the 2-1 defeat to second-placed Ebbsfleet United in the penultimate game, and hailed Magpies’ display at Margate.

Reliving the emotions, he told the Observer: “The Margate game sums up the season for me. There was absolute focus from the team from the first whistle to the last.

“There were fantastic moments when we won hard games but the overall thing is the way we’ve ground out results week-in-week-out. We’ve lost four games all season but always came back and won.

“Ebbsfleet won 21 out of their 24 games from New Year’s Day onwards and yet we still stayed ahead of them, and I don’t think you could imagine that we would have done that.

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PHOTO: Maidenhead United fans appluade their team during the open-top bus parade on Saturday.

“So the overall season was the moment for me really. It was just incredible and is still sinking in now.”

Looking back on the Margate win, Griffin commented: “Funnily enough after we lost at home to Ebbsfleet I got remarkably calm. I don’t know whether or not that was just me accepting our fate but I became a lot more relaxed and really enjoyed the day out.

“I didn’t enjoy the Ebbsfleet game, not because we didn’t win, but the whole build up to it was so much I just thought it was getting out of hand really.

“For me it was too tense, whereas at Margate I was relaxed at the seaside and had a great day. It was an absolute joy of a day out.

“I was saying on the way down that our last couple of away games had been tough, but we were business-like right from the first minute.

“The only time I was tense was when we were 1-0 up at half-time, but we re-doubled the efforts in the second half and got the second and third in quick succession and then it was party time.”

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PHOTO: Maidenhead United fans appluade their team during the open-top bus parade on Saturday.

He added: “It was quite funny because, with about 30 minutes to go, everyone was patting me on the back, shaking hands and hugging each.

“Usually I’m very superstitious, don’t say thank you until it’s done, but we were 3-0 up and knew it was over.

“By the time the whistle went I was trying to get over the barrier quickly and get my son onto the pitch. There was not a wave of relief because we had a three-goal lead and knew that was enough.”

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