Paul Britton has hailed the characters in his unbeaten Yate Town side.

Yate are top of the Evo-Stik Division One South with five wins and two draws.

Britton's team's exploits may have come as a surprise but he says not too much was changed in preparation for the season.

"We've done nothing different compared to last season," said Britton. "We recruited well in the summer and we've got more leaders as we signed players who were captain's at their previous clubs."

"We're delighted though because you never know what's going to happen before a season. We struggled last year so it's been great so far."

Yate finished 14th last season. Britton admitted he wants his side to push on but would also be content with achieving the targets they set out at the beginning of the season.

"Initially the target was to be as high as we can in the top ten and we've got hunger in the squad to do that," explained Britton.

"We'd definitely have taken this at the start of the season, especially after playing against Thatcham Town who won the FA Vase last season. We want to be in the shake up but it's still so early in the season."

Yate turn their attentions to the FA Trophy on Saturday when they take on Blackfield & Langley, who are second and level on points with them in the league and Britton is determined for a positive run in the competition.

"We always want to do well in the FA competitions," he said. "We gave a good account of ourselves against Salisbury City in the FA Vase and just fell short. It's the top two in the league so it should be a good game.

"The crowds have risen and we've got players who have a desire to play for Yate.We trained without the ball this week as we didn't have a game last weekend so it was important to get running and everyone's attitude was spot on, no one moaned."

A big part of the Bluebells' success has been Forest Green's on loan keeper Lewis Thomas and Britton was full of praise for his keeper.

"Lewis has been excellent for us," he commented. "We thought about getting a permanent keeper but he's done so well. We hope we're helping him as much as he's helping us.

"We'd like to keep him beyond this month. I'm regularly in touch with Forest Green's goalkeeping coach Pat Mountain and he's been brilliant. We'd love to keep him but if Forest Green feel he needs to play at a higher level then that's their decision."