Coming off the back of a decent Autumn season in a joint league of previous Premiership and Championship sides, the leagues split again we were placed in the Championship. Despite coming 6th, our defense was the 3rd best in the league and we felt fitter and more organised for a crack at promotion after our last Premiership bow in the Summer of 2007.
We got off to a cracking start, winning our first 5 games before losing to the other form team in the league Mergermarket. It was our heaviest defeat of the season and probably our worst game after coming from behind to beat them a few weeks earlier. But we were playing well with Marcus stepping into the team, scoring the only goal of the game in a crucial victory the next week against the 3rd placed team Ataxic FC. A result which kept us at the top of the table.
3rd of March was a turning point in the season, a miserable evening in which I missed the game and we lost 4-3 to one of the lower placed teams, we thought we had blown it. However on the same night, Mergermarket also lost to Ataxic. We had a 3 point cushion with 4 games to play and for the first time we could seriously thinking about at least promotion, maybe more…
I was away having a baby the next week, but we were luckily handed a win thanks to a no-show. Looking at the last three games, the title was in our hands and 9 points would see us home. All through the season our midfield maestro Andy had been solid, but disaster struck in our 4-2 victory the next week. He had scored a wonderful goal early in the game, but had gone down heavily in a tackle before half time. He played on but was in some pain. The news the next day was bad – he had broken his arm which ended his season.
The next two games were tense affairs. Ricky came into the team in place of Andy and gave us goals and great hold up play, but our tough defense of both the Rich’s and Donny helped me keep two clean sheets to close out the season and claim the trophy. A fantastic achievement, conceding only 14 goals all season and gaining me another 3 MOM awards. A mention also goes to Tom, who with 9 goals and 2 MOMs will be sadly missed next season after shoulder surgery.
Big thanks to all the players and once again captain Rich, our long suffering other halves and our supporters and ex-players, many of whom came out to watch the final game of the season and cheered us home. A special moment.
See you next season.
