Crawley Town boss Steve Evans gave his players the plaudits.
This comes after a superb run of results and performances since early December has taken them to within touching distance of the play-off pack - a fantastic achievement given the limited resources and wafer thin squad of players.
Mike Malcolm and Charlie Ademeno got the goals that sent relegation fighting Ebbsfleet United away from The Broadfield Stadium empty handed on Saturday. This was to be an excellent week for the Reds who also recorded a fine victory over Wimbledon last Tuesday evening.
Steve Evans and Paul Raynor has worked the oracle this season as they have had to deal with selling key players and operating on a much reduced team budget compared to that in previous seasons. The Reds management duo and Reds supporters will always wonder what our position in The Blue Square Premier would be this morning had the likes of Jon Paul Pittman, Steve Fletcher, Jamie Cook and Jake Wright all not been sold and part of the talented squad that is here.
The manager wanted to give the credit to his players for the performances and results they have turned in since early December. He said: ''The lads have simply been fantastic, there is no other word to describe what they are achieving. Until Matt Langston joined us on loan last week we had fifteen players in our entire first team squad and two of those are goalkeepers, most teams in the Blue Square Premier have between twenty three to forty, depending on which clubs you look at.
''Recently we have been without Captain Adam Quinn and Eddie Hutchinson, two big players for us but in all fairness the lads have just got on with the job in hand. To be fair they have done that all season as its been one of those years where we have been very unfortunate with injuries to key players and that is why at certain times our bench has been full of kids from the Youth set up.
''Since the beginning of December our performances in spells has been superb, the quality of the passing and movement has been a joy to watch. For us to be competing at the top end of The Conference Premier on our team budget spend demonstrates a great achievement but I do believe there is so much yet to be taken from this season.
''We may fall short of the play-offs come the last day but on a third or even a quarter of the team budget that others have in the Blue Square Premier the lads here will more than earned their wages, they are a great squad of lads and we love working with them. One of our co-owners expected a bottom half fight this season when he set the team budget, he has had the biggest smiles I have seen on his face after our wins this week over Wimbledon and Ebbsfleet United.
''You will always get the minority who will moan regardless of what is achieved, that I am afraid is not just football, it is the world today. This season Crawley Town have beaten the likes of Wrexham, Kettering Town, Cambridge United, Wimbledon, York City and Luton Town, when we did the few have said those opponents were poor. I have news for them, they were not poor, they are all excellent teams but on each occasion we were better, just give my players some credit. Do not get me wrong, the large majority see the quality of football we play and managers and coaches in The Blue Square Premier definitely see it.
''Our next first team match is when Stevenage Borough come to The Broadfield Stadium in two weeks time, that is a huge match for both teams and a big match for Oxford United because Chris Wilder will be hoping we can help them, I think we can but I want it to be for us.
''The lads love coming to work here each day, they do so with a smile also knowing they will work hard. Do I believe we can make the playoffs given a little luck along the way; - Yes I certainly do!''
