Derby County Women will always remember the 2023/24 season as the one they got their hands on some long-awaited silverware.
After exiting the FA Women's Cup at the Fourth Round stage to Women's Super League side Leicester City, the target was set in place to ensure the team went all the way in the FA Women's National League Plate.
And that's exactly what they did as they went on to win the competition at the end of April with a 3-0 victory over Cambridge United.
Looking back on that special day as well as the season as a whole, Ewes manager Sam Griffiths spoke to RamsTV to give a real honest assessment of the campaign.
"It's been a rollercoaster," she said.
"There have been some highs and there have been some lows, but we can't get away from the fact that overall we are disappointed with our league finish. The overarching feeling is probably that we are a little bit disappointed in the league position."
The Ewes ultimately finished seventh in the FA Women's National League Northern Premier Division, three places down on the 2022/23 season.
However, Griffiths added that the disappointment of slipping down the division slightly this year won't take away from the real pride they all felt when they lifted that National League Plate.
"It was a really important competition for us," she said.
"When we lost the League Cup Determining Round game to go into the Plate, we had to look at that and it gave us a bit of a focus for the rest of the season as a competition we had to go and win.
"The girls did really well with it because there were some sticky moments along that journey, we played some good teams. To go and win it was really nice because a lot of the girls hadn't played in a Final before so to experience that and the celebrations was really important to us."
The determination to grow and improve as a club meant that whilst that silverware was key, Griffiths couldn't help feeling that the side still should have performed better throughout their league campaign.
"We've not had a consistent season," she explained.
"We've had some of our best games against some of the top teams. You can't get away from the fact that we beat Forest away and drew with them at home this year and we beat Burnley on the last day of the season.
"We've probably let ourselves down quite regularly against teams we should be have been beating. Inconsistency is probably the best word this year."
The 2023/24 season may have only just drawn to a close but the Ewes' manager believes the lessons learned will only benefit the club moving forward and admits plans are already in place for an 'exciting' 2024/25 campaign.
"It's really exciting," Griffiths said, when asked about next season.
"The players are on downtime at the minute but we're expecting an exciting season next year.
"I think we'll be in a good place, ready to go again and ready to compete."
