SCOTT FENWICK has spent the last seven months living the dream. But he couldn’t quite comprehend just how difficult that fantasy would turn out.

Signed from Dunston in October, he scored on his debut and then saw the manager who plucked him from the Northern League sacked after a matter of days, had to win over a new boss, spent six weeks out injured and then scored the goal that set Hartlepool United on the path to League Two safety.

Emotional? Just a bit.

“My first season as a pro has had everything,’’ he reflected. “It has been the most stressful period of time I have had in football, no question.

“It was a massive bonus to come here and score goals but there was the reality of coming in when the mood was down.

“That has gone now, and it didn’t even feel like we were in a relegation battle at the end.

“It almost felt like a promotion. It was unbelievable, we are in League Two and staying here.’’

Fenwick’s whole hearted outlook and attitude on the pitch has endeared him to the Victoria Park faithful, who have suffered a miserable season and celebrated survival with the enthusiasm and joy of a promotion-winning side.

For Fenwick, staying up meant everything. After waiting so long for a chance, he wasn’t going to allow his professional career last a matter of weeks and drop back out of the Football League.

He admitted: “I didn’t want it to be a five minute spell.

“When you think back to how far I have come compared to when I first came here and now being safe, it is just crazy.

“The last few days of the season, ahead of Carlisle, was the first time I could properly relax since I came here.

“People think moving up to pro level that it was great but I didn’t want it to last five minutes and then drop back down into non-league.

“We had to get safety, that was the most important thing.

“And a huge weight had been lifted and I could finally relax, but that wasn’t until the final week of the season we could do that.

“The future of the club and the whole town, people didn’t realise how important that one win was.

“I had a game in the Conference with Gateshead and some of the lads in the dressing room wouldn’t have been unable to understand how big the drop is.’’

Fenwick has seamlessly made the transition from part-time player to professional footballer. While some have tried and failed, Fenwick’s confidence and determination mean he will make a success of his opportunity.

The 25-year-old from Gateshead believes there’s others in the area who could make the move up. He formed an end of season partnership with Jordan Hugill, a Middlesbrough-born striker on loan from Preston who has played for a rack of clubs at the same Northern League standard.

“I have said before that people do not realise the standard of players in the Northern League,’’ he admitted.

“North Shields reached the Vase final again - how many years running is that a team from the North East has reached the final?

“I think teams from the North-East need to take gambles on young lads from the Northern League.

“The talent is there, there is far too much quality in there to go unnoticed.

“If me and Jordan can set a benchmark to keep grafting hard because you never know who is watching.”

Adapting to professional life is as much about what you do off the pitch and how you look after yourself away from football as it what do come 3pm on a Saturday afternoon.

The summer will be a big period for Fenwick, with one eye on returning to pre-season training at the back end of next month.

“I’m not used to having this much time to do what I want,’’ he mused. “It is nice to get some time now the season has come to an end for us to regroup and then graft in the summer and come back in better shape than I arrived.

“I am looking forward to that challenge in the summer.”

“I will have a break and then graft hard from June to make sure I am in good knick for when I come back.’’

Fenwick netted six times for Pools from ten starts and nine substitute outings. It’s a scoring ratio is is out to improve on next time out.

“I’d love to hit 20 goals next season,’’ he confessed. “I have started ten games and scored six and come off the bench nine times too.

“That isn’t a bad record for my first season and I just look back at those 11 games that I missed and wonder just how many I might have got.

“We were creating more chances in that spell of games too and there was more confidence in the team.

“I’d like to think I would have had a few more in that spell.

“From what I have seen, there is no reason why I couldn’t score 20 goals in this league.”