Just like Scott Fitzgerald and Jay DeMerit before him, it was reasonable of us to think that Ray Lewington may have unearthed another non-League gem when Omari Coleman rocked into town after impressing in pre-season friendlies.

Much haggling was conducted between Watford and Dulwich Hamlet about a 'transfer fee', which just goes to show how lucky we've been dealing with a club like Northwood for whom the satisfaction of seeing one of their charges do well overrides any need for financial remuneration.

We went to the trouble of a tribunal which set the fee at a relatively obscure £2,750 (plus clauses worth more were Coleman to have made the breakthrough).

Unluckily for Omari, who always looked as though he had an eye for goal if, understandably, a little on the naive side with the rest of his game, cruciate ligament injury struck and that was pretty much that.

By the time he'd weathered Christmas and was recovering, there was no way any manager worth his salt - that's Ray Lewington, then - would have thrown a total unknown into what was increasingly looking like a battle to stave off the threat of getting dragged into a relegation battle.

A low-risk gamble, then, typical of the sort that paid off with bells on for a manager always willing to give lower-status prospects a chance to shine.