An excellent first season in senior football saw Dave Knight’s side reach three cup finals, winning two of them and finish fourth in Division 1 but only 3 points behind the title winners.
The final league table showed 8 victories, 1 draw and 5 losses in 14 matches, with 43 goals scored and 25 conceded. The season started well but really took off with a superb run of form after Christmas which saw the lads net 17 wins, 1 draw and only 3 defeats out of their 21 league and cup matches to the end of the season, reaching 3 cup finals on the way.
There were many highlights but the cup runs deserve special mention. In the League Challenge cup the team showed their battling spirit to come from behind and defeat OPR in an amazing 5:4 semi-final victory after extra time. This was the first final and although they were very unlucky to lose it 1:0, they got their revenge later with two excellent 4:1 victories over the winners King St Rose on their way to the League Trophy and Roy Lester Trophy cup finals.
The League Trophy final against OPR was another memorable match, with the boys running out 4:3 winners but only after 10 minutes extra time had been played and the unprecedented abandonment of the match by the referee due to verbal abuse from some OPR players and supporters when they received their second red card of the match. Our win had to be confirmed by an FA hearing. The Roy Lester Trophy final was a more straightforward win by 2:1 over FC Bentons.
Goal of the season
Contenders for goals of the season were Mark Knight for his 35 yard volley against FC Bentons on the way to our 4:3 cup win after being 3:0 down at half-time and Daragh Doyle for his stunning 30 yard volley to bring us level against the same team in the Roy Lester final. Nathan Lishman’s well executed winner against OPR in the League Trophy final from a well worked free kick and James Gisbourne’s powerful drive in extra time to seal a semi-final win over FC Hurley were also memorable highlights.
Transfers
The season saw the following new players join: Lee Jerum (striker), Bradley Nurse (striker) and Josh Waldren who despite being a midfielder deputised superbly at right back. We saw Robert Wilson and David Ratsakitika leave during the season for university and a gap year respectively.
Awards
Manager’s and Players’ Player of the Year went to Daniel Wilson for his outstanding defensive displays.
Goalscorers
Leading goalscorers were
James Gisbourne – 29
Nathan Lishman – 15
Dean Knight – 13
Josh Waldren – 10
Lee Jerum – 9
David Ratsakitika - 9
We look forward to the coming season with optimism and know that if we continue with the level of performance from last season we are more than capable of maintaining a successful challenge for league and cup honours.
Darren Bent is one of the Barclays Premier League’s most prolific strikers. Now he’s passing on his top tips to help amateur strikers everywhere score more this month.
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Club Website has teamed up with our friends at Umbro to give away three pairs of their brand new football boot, the Stealth! Are you fox or chicken?