Last season

[Eastside Urchin]

So that season is over and done with and time to look forwards to next season.But time for a little reflection on the season just gone,a season which promised a lot but failed to deliver,at least we was still in the hunt with something to play for with 3/4 games left.

We started pee season looking a decent side with a narrow and undeserved defeat to Colchester united in the Essex Senior Cup final at the Bridge.Many walking away from the ground were filled with confidence after that display and a couple of weeks later we started our league campaign with a good victory against a good Cray side with Martin Tuohy netting on his full debut.

After this though we went on a pretty poor run which included defeat away at Lowestoft where we started the game brightly and other defeats away to tonbridge where we were hammered 7-1 and a 3-0 home defeat to canvey.

A month or so after the Tonbridge defeat we got our own back with a 3-1 reverse but in the mean time we had been knocked out the Fa cup to Brentwood town after a replay in what was one of our worst performances.

Back in the league we beat concord at home,bury away and we were starting to look like a contender for the play offs but despite our cracking league form and a lovely trip down to Devon where we beat Bideford in the trophy,we went out the next round with a bit of a bang away to ashford,with another late defeat.

The turning point in our season for me was the enforced break due to the weather and although some good performances like draws at home to Lowestoft and bury and away wins at cray and Croydon ensued there were too many dropped points at places like Harrow and Margate torwards the end and defeat at canvey finally finished our play off chances.A frustrating season but with plenty of promise for next season if we can add a few new faces to shake it up a bit,still just happy to have a club to support in all honesty though,well done to all those involved

[Wivenhoe Urchin]

Playing just 1 match in the whole of December hindered us a lot I think. On the pitch we were on an excellent run of mostly wins and the rest draws in 11 matches. Off the pitch we didn't have a home game so this didn't help financially. Another reason why we didn't finish in the play-offs could be our general away form this season. I count 11 matches where we failed to score away this season. If you don't score, you don't win and so no 3 points or next round in a cup. Saying that, we've just smashed Aveley away and we've had some excellent away victories as you say at Cray, Croydon and others. A bit more consistency in terms of goals scored is needed. The way we've finished this season is the way we would want to begin next season. I personally think we would also want to keep all our players, particularly as I found it difficult to to choose a player of the season due to so many having consistently performed well.

 

In terms of how this season has gone for us, it depends how you look at it. If you compare it with our most recent seasons, it's not as good, but we have finished just 4 points away from a play-off position and could so easily have scored a couple more goals over the season to be in there, so we've done fine in the league. Finishing 31 points above Aveley surprises me most (and pleases me!) As for the cups, we got further in the FA Trophy but I would've liked us to have got at least a replay from Ashford. We also should have got further in the FA Cup, so ultimately disappointing cup wise and a few big home matches and money missed out on.

 

 

[Eastside Urchin]

Had we got another couple of rounds in the cup we maybe could of strengthened the squad even more than we did

[urchinman1961]

also a lot of uncertainty at the start of the season as regards the future of the club which rubbed off on everybody but once there was a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel then things got better problem was it was a much tuffer division this season hence our lower league placing we had more points and lost less games than the last campaign still think we are heading in the right direction though

[Eastside Urchin]

The uncertainty was the Start of the season before lol