NEWS FROM FLEET TOWN FC MARCH 2007
MAKING HISTORY & BACK ON TRACK FOR A HECTIC FINALE
Dear Supporter,
In football March is the month that decides whether your season will build to a crescendo or fizzle away as an anti-climax. Well the good news for us at Fleet Town FC is that it's very much the former and things are getting very, very exciting!
History was made as we reached the final of the Hampshire Cup for the first time. We held a slender 1-0 lead from the home leg of our semi-final against US Portsmouth but on a mild Thursday evening in Portsmouth our team produced a masterful performance to win 3-0 (4-0 on aggregate). Over 50 fans had a great trip home and we can all look forward to a ‘tasty' final on 5 th May when our opponents will be either Aldershot or Farnborough - Aldershot are 1-0 up after the first leg.
Our league form improved greatly in March and we are back in contention for a promotion play-off place. The month started with a draw and a bad defeat (1-3 at Hastings ) but after that followed three victories against Horsham YMCA, Molesey and Kingstonian. This winning run came to an abrupt end at in-form promotion rivals Tooting & Mitcham on 31 st where we lost 3-1. They had only lost once in 2007 and with the match coming less than 48 hours after the cup semi we looked tired. Sam Pearce got his first goal of the season but it wasn't enough to save us from defeat.
We are now in 7 th position with a playing record of 16 wins, 10 draws & 9 defeats . The division continues to be led by Maidstone United and probably only Hastings and Tooting & Mitcham have a genuine chance of catching them. We are in a group with Dulwich, Dover and Dartford vying for the remaining two play-off spots and have to face both Dulwich (3 rd ) and Dover (7 th ) in real six-pointer games this week. Wins will propel us up to a great position especially as our final run-in sees us play four of the bottom six clubs, games we should win.
Away from the league we still have two more cup semi-finals to contest - the Basingstoke Senior Cup, where we are defending our title and the Russell Cotes Cup.
The depth and quality of our first team squad will be tested in the final run-in with suspensions and injuries being crucial but Andy Sinton and Steve Mellor have built a squad of players that is the best we have ever had and belief and confidence is high.
If you wish to join your fellow Blues we have four scheduled home games in April :
- Saturday 7th vs. Dover Athletic 3.00pm League
- Saturday 14th vs. Corinthian Casuals 3.00pm League
- Tuesday 17th vs. Ashford Town 7.45pm League
- Saturday 21st vs. Croydon Athletic 7.45pm League
Our home crowds continue to grow and more are now following the team away indeed at Molesey there were more Fleet Town fans than home ones and the noise they made certainly inspired the team.
The FTFC Reserves remain in 3 rd position with a playing record of W10 D4 L4. In March they narrowly lost to league leaders Hillingdon and exited the Hampshire Intermediate Cup in the quarter-final at Wellow. This team is important for the club in many ways giving competitive games to first team players regaining fitness & form and to youth team players experiencing adults' football for the first time.
The Youth team finally got three games played in March but probably wished they hadn't as they lost them all including losing to a last minute goal against runaway league leaders Woking . The team has slipped to 7 th in the division but with lads of 15 & 16 regularly appearing the next two seasons promise to be good ones.
More success to report in our young people's teams with our Girls u14's (Blues) team making the final of the Surrey County Cup and our u11 girls and u14 girls (Reds) both on target to do League and Cup doubles.
The Colts (Boys) club has its first champions of the season with the u13 Reds in an unassailable position – congratulations to them and their manager Martyn Jones. Also our u9 Eagles, u9 Hawks and u9 Ospreys all top their respective divisions but have opponents running them close. Another example of the positive progress being made in the Colts is the announcement last month that the Coerver Coaching scheme is to be introduced to the u5-u13 age group to help them improve their football and football experience through improving the coaching they receive.
Away from the pitch we will shortly be going live with our new website which we think will be one of the best in the league and we will also be launching the FTFC membership scheme in the close season, but more details of that next month.
Finally, the next Quiz Night is at the Clubhouse on Friday April 13th from 7.45pm.
So a tense, exciting and hectic final few weeks of the season starts now.
Up the Blues!
Mike Gardner
Commercial Manager
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