Season 'as close to perfection as you'll get'

Chris Lakey

It took a few minutes of head scratching, but Paul Lambert knew he was clutching at straws - it's just not that easy to pick out the high and low points of City's season.

The perfect season?

“Near enough,” he said. “I don't think there's any such thing as perfect, but it has been an absolutely incredible turnaround.

“There have been a lot of really high moments and big, big performances, but I've not really had a low moment.

“Probably the Leyton Orient game was a low point because we just never performed on that given day, but it's about the only time I ever really thought we never really deserved anything from a game.

“I can't think of one off the top of my head because we've had this run where the feeling of winning has always been there, even if we've been beaten the week before they have almost always come back and won the next one.

“We were probably a bit anxious when we first came in because we had to get the team up and running - that was probably the hardest point, when we first came in, when we had to get the team up and running and nobody knew what to expect and we didn't know many of the lads, who they were. After watching them at Brentford you think, 'we've got a big job here'.

“As I said at the time, if you can get the fan base on your side then you have a chance, and they have been pivotal to it.

“If we win tomorrow it's 30 wins, which is incredible, and we're 12 points ahead at the minute. You look at the turnaround and it's incredible what they've done.”

The League One trophy is Lambert's first as a manager.

“This is the best it's been for me, as a manager,” he said. “It has been an incredible ride since August time. Some of the performances have been really, really high and the attacking football that they've played - there have been times when we have had to fight for everything and they have been brilliant. Last-minute goals - we've had everything this season that's possible in a football match.”