STEVE WHITE COLUMN: CONFIDENCE is the key to winning football matches, and I cannot knock team spirit at the moment.

Over the past few weeks the players have showed an air of confidence. They are looking forward to every game and can't wait to get stuck into the next opposition.

Ronnie Needham and myself told the players to expect a lot of different challenges over the next few months and Saturday was a prime example.

We went to Stamford expecting a tricky contest and they gave us just that. The conditions were not the best, the playing surface was difficult and it was incredibly windy.

It was a long trip up there and it was great to see a few of the fans drive up to watch us play.

At half-time we were a goal down and we could see the determination in the players. It was very pleasing to see when they dug in and overcame those obstacles.

It is still a close affair at the top and there are at least three or four teams that could make a title push.

But if one of those teams have aspirations to win the league then they have to put a run of results together very soon.

Bedford, Halesowen and Histon could all have a big say come the end of the season.

I have been studying the fixture list and we all have tough games against each other so someone is going to drop points soon.

We are not bothered about how other sides are getting on, we are just worried about our own performances and will just concentrate on what is happening at our club.

I take great pleasure in telling you that we have won the club of the month award for January.

The league changed the award from the manager of the month to recognise the efforts of the whole team and not just the man in the dugout.

It is the second time this season that we have won this award and it shows how much progress we have made. It is recognition of the hard work put in by of everybody involved behind the scenes at our football club.

We have done extremely well to be where we are but I must emphasis that we have won nothing yet.

We are still in three competitions and could win all three or even none of them.

It is great for the club to win an award like this but we have to be realistic and keep focused.

We face another stiff challenge on Saturday when Kings Lynn come to Hardenhuish Park.

They were bottom of the league when we last faced them at The Walks but they are a different team now.

That was former West Ham defender Tommy Taylor's first game in charge and since then Lynn have come a long way and are pushing for a play off place.

Kings Lynn will be a tough test for our boys but we will have them prepared for the challenge.

We have another important league game on Tuesday when we face Bath at their place.

It is a local derby and will be a very interesting match. I'm sure there will be a big crowd there and it will be another tough game.

It helps the game is close as long trips in midweek are not easy. I am looking forward to an exciting game and I hope to see a lot of you at Twerton Park.

To finish I would like to wish striker Martin Paul all the best at Bath City.

Unfortunately you will not be able to see him in action on Tuesday as part of the transfer deal was that he did not feature in any of the games against us.

I feel the deal benefits all three parties involved.

I would like to reiterate that Martin has left the club on great terms and there are no problems between us. The move was purely financial and I did not want to lose the player. He was sold to keep the budget in line with what we set out at the beginning of the season.