Diss Town's leading goalscorer Ryan Fuller unable to explain why season unravelled

Leading goalscorer Ryan Fuller is unable to identify exactly why Diss Town fell away during the now expunged 2019/20 Thurlow Nunn League First Division North season.

On Christmas Day, the Tangerines occupied one of the four promotion places and were just five points adrift of table-topping Downham Town.

However, things unravelled thereafter as manager Jon Abbott departed and by the time that sport was shut down in mid-March, Diss had slipped all the way down to 11th and were 15 points outside of the top four.

Injuries and player departures did not help the cause, but Fuller has found it tough to completely explain the reason behind such a dramatic drop.

“We had such a great start. Everyone was loving it and it was such a great place to be,” said the striker.

“It is really tough to say why it went so wrong. We did have players leave like Shadey (David Shade) and players get injured like Tays (Aarron Taylor). They are defenders and it is such a key position. But injuries are part of football.

“We were in such a good place at Christmas but we played some of the top sides, lost those games and it just continued on from there.

“We did not want to say it too loudly, but after the start to the season, promotion was definitely the aim in the dressing room.

“We just could not recover after going on that run. Certain things didn’t help but I don’t know where it all went wrong.

“It is a big shame because for a few months we were flying.”

It was also a mixed campaign for Fuller on a personal level.

While he topped the club’s goalscoring charts with 14, a mixture of injuries, illness and suspension led to some frustration.

“It was a really strange season for me,” added the centre-forward.

“I started off well but then I got injured and ill. By the time I had come back we were struggling for goals as a team.

“Then I was sent off in Jon’s last game, and with all of the games called off because of the weather, I haven’t actually played since the start of February.

“Fourteen goals is a decent total but I missed quite a bit of the season as well.

“I could have scored more and that is a bit frustrating, but it wasn’t too bad.”