WORCESTER City have made an incredible start to the 2023/24 season and the feeling amongst fans and the wider non-league community is that the sky is the limit.
After 14 matches in the Hellenic League Premier, 12 wins has Chris Cornes' men three points clear of second-placed Corsham with two games in hand. They are into the second round of the Isuzu FA Vase and Wiseman Lighting Floodlit Cup and will also get their Worcestershire Senior Cup campaign underway next week.
They are firing on all cylinders and are closing in on a 46-year-old record, set back in the 1976/77 campaign, of 12 straight league victories.
Being a club of City's size, they are very much in the spotlight, but Cornes knows how quickly things can change.
"All we speak about is the start and end of the month and winning as many games as we can, not looking too far ahead," he said.
"Hopefully we can chalk off another win this Saturday (Vs Mangotsfield at Claines Lane) but we won’t look any further than that.
"Will things change in a month or two if we carry this current form on? Maybe. But at the minute, no one is getting carried away, we keep taking each game as it comes.
"There is no chatter amongst the lads about winning leagues or cups. It’s probably in the back of their heads but I think as a coaching group we are doing well to contain that.
"But we are doing really well, so it would be stupid if the players weren’t having those thoughts about titles and cups in the back of their heads but football can change very quickly so we have to stay grounded."
When new majority shareholder Simon Lancaster took over the club back in May, City's supporters hoped that this season would begin a new era for the football club.
And following a summer overhaul of players, Cornes' side have gone from strength to strength and now morale is high both on and off the pitch, with supporters daring to dream of promotions and trophies.
Cornes admits that is all a long way off at this stage, but after the start they have made, he can sense something special is happening with this current group of players.
"Looking in from the outside the changing room; fans, the board members, people in the wider public, neutrals, people around the country in non-league, they will look at us and see the start we have made and think yes, the sky probably is the limit," the boss added.
"We have such a good squad and everyone is so together and the dressing room is probably one of the best I've been in both in my playing career and managerial career; that’s a huge credit to us and what we have built as a group.
"Then with the fans behind us as well, they have been brilliant so its all going so well at the moment but we know how quickly it can change.
"You are in football to win and of course we want to win everything possible. We have the league, the cups, the Vase, which is a chance for non-league footballers to play at Wembley.
"But for me, promotion is the focus, that is what we want to do so we can get City back to where they should be.
"We are working hard to get back to that point. Ideally, we can win a few cups and, with this bunch of players and management team, we can together leave a legacy behind for the club so people can look back at this season and remember it.
"But we have to keep taking it game by game. There will maybe be a point in a few months time where we can start talking about silverware, but we are nowhere near that just yet."
City will be hoping to go within one win of matching the longest winning run in the club's history when Mangotsfield come to town on Saturday (3pm kick-off).
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