IT'S an integral part of the success of Lowestoft Town Football Club, which is regularly remarked upon by the Blues management duo of Micky Chapman and Ady Gallagher and players at Crown Meadow.

IT'S an integral part of the success of Lowestoft Town Football Club, which is regularly remarked upon by the Blues management duo of Micky Chapman and Ady Gallagher and players at Crown Meadow.

Fans of The Trawler Boys are the 'best in our league' and the 'best at our level anyway in the country' - these are just some of the comments, which are lauded upon the fervent following.

And The Journal can today reveal that new statistics prove that Lowestoft are not only the best supported club in the Eastern Counties (at Ridgeons League level) they are right up there with some of the leading non-league sides.

The latest figures, which have ranked every club in the land - both professional and non league - remarkably place Lowestoft as the 142nd best supported side in the country.

These startling statistics, which form part of attendance comparisons for every football club's crowds, have been correlated by the award winning website www.tonykempster.co.uk

Recording all attendances at every level during the 2007/8 season, 1,014 football clubs in England and Wales have been ranked by average home league crowd size.

And for Blues supporter Paul Whitlow (pictured here in a festive Blue Santa's outfit at the recent local derby match on December 27) it's a notable success.

'Lowestoft notably have a far higher average attendance than all other teams in the Eastern Counties League,' he said. 'Their attendances are more comparable to team's two steps above in the National League System.'

And of the 50 leagues in Great Britain, the Eastern Counties Premier Division (Ridgeons League) is also rated in 17th place overall of the leagues sorted by attendance.

This also means that at step five level, this is the best supported league of all.

The Ridgeons League top seven supported clubs are listed below:

Team High Low Avge 07/08 +/-%

Lowestoft Town 1,523 402 606 310 95.5%

Leiston 631 134 214 130 64.8%

Dereham Town 290 138 195 160 22.2%

Needham Market 217 148 177 157 13.1%

Wisbech Town 240 90 162 234 -30.8%

Woodbridge Town 435 74 148 110 34.4%

Kirkley & Pakefield 210 92 142 207 -31.5%

Situated in 360th place overall, K&P's figures don't take into account the small matter of last season's local league derby against Lowestoft (as this would've appeared in the 2006/7 season figures) and there's another bumper Walmer Road rematch to come in April against The Blues - which is likely to improve their numbers.