PDFL Championship Winners

The final day of the season.

For the Social experiment in League One, another two games, and another new combination of players. They started off by doubling their points total for the season in a 3-3 draw with Hampton Utd. A returning Phil Hall galvanised the guys and proved influential in both games. An hour later there was a narrow 1-0 loss to Harborough Hornets Green who finished runners-up. Jason Fullman returned to competitive action (in goal) just 10 weeks after a knee operation. And he was soon flinging himself around making saves.

This season for the Socials was never going to be measured in wins and points. It was all about having a go, enjoying it, and not having a manager or teammates being critical. That this has been successful (I hope) is all down to every one of the players and their brilliant attitude.

In the Championship we were in control of the outcome. Two wins would see us win the division regardless of what our closest rivals did in their last games. And in a Super Sunday style twist of fate, our last two games were against our closest rivals. First up were Harborough Hornets Yellow, led by Stroller, Steve Bones. Harborough have been top for most, if not all of this season. In their penultimate game they beat Hampton Utd. So when they faced us straight afterwards, Harborough only needed a draw to secure the title for the second successive season (promotion is optional). It was a very close game - Strollers trying to keep things tight while still going for the win; Harborough content to soak up pressure but always dangerous going forward. The breakthrough came late on. A nice passing combination opened up the Hornets’ defence forcing one of their players to take a shortcut through his own penalty area to try and block a very good scoring chance. The ref pointed to the spot, and Matt Elphee despatched the penalty. With Harborough pushing for an equaliser, space opened up for us; we couldn’t add an insurance goal but saw out the game.

No disrespect to our opponents in the final game, Glinton & Northborough, but we felt confident going into this one. We took the lead through Matt and didn’t panic even after they equalised. Nigel Reeve gave us the lead again after going close with a few shots. Matt added a third, and we were home and dry.

My goal at the start of the season was to win this division and return to the Premiership feeling we deserved it. Achieving that is pretty satisfying. My squad has been available and has accepted being substitutes or being substituted with good grace. Everyone in the squad has played their part and should be proud of their contribution to an 18-game season with only one defeat.