PRE-MATCH snacks of bananas, sweets and biscuits have been credited with helping a football side's success this season.

The treats have proved Harrogate Town's secret weapon as they plotted the downfall of rivals to finish top of the Unibond League First Division.

The treats will be repeated next season when they play in the Unibond Premier League following their runaway promotion triumph in a season where they also won the West Riding County Cup.

The idea of giving players a pre-match energy boost came from player-coach and former Leeds United player Neil Aspin, who was inspired by former United star Gordon Strachan's banana diet.

Harrogate's dietary boost soon extended to wine gums and Jaffa cakes.

Club secretary Brian Russell said: "Lots of people have heard about England's warm-up for the World Cup being boosted by eating Jaffa cakes which are being shipped out to Japan.

"But we can now tell the world that Harrogate Town's players love for Jaffa cakes came first," he said.

"They're all laid out for the players in the dressing room and if we're a bit late putting them out, they want to know what's happened to their treats.

"They have become part of the pre-match ritual and will certainly be continued next season."

Team spirit has improved so much that wives and girlfriends have been left behind while the players and manager John Reed are on holiday together. The team is in Tenerife to wind down after the club's most hectic and successful season in their 83-year history.