IS THIS THE BEST ATHLETIC SIDE EVER?

Ok some people may question the above statement, pointing out that we lost our last 2 games of the season, firstly going down 2-1 to Wormley Rovers in the Play Off (Semi-Final) game and then being defeated by the same score in the St Mary’s Cup Final by Harpenden Town. But those two results should not over ride what has been a magnificent season and the evidence clearly shows that Ryan Sturges, his coaches and players can lay a claim that this team has been the most successful in the Club’s history.

But before we look at the evidence behind the claim above we need to just report on the last match of the season, namely our St Mary’s Cup Final against Harpenden Town played on Hemel Hempstead Town’s 3G pitch. We certainly got off to a good start with Kieran Turner shaking off the after effects of running the London Marathon 12 days earlier to open the scoring in the 25th minute. Harpenden equalised 9 minutes later through the prolific Danny Webb then took the lead a minute before half time through their Captain Ryan Plowright. We thought we were going to equalise 2 minutes later from Max Hercules rasping shot but the opposition keeper Eman Olajide pulled off a magnificent save. HT Score 1-2.

We thought we should have had a penalty in the 54th minute when George Carbery was denied a clear scoring opportunity when he was caught from behind but the referee disagreed. However, 9 minutes later Max Hercules was fouled in the box and this time the Referee gave the penalty. George Carbery rarely misses a spot kick but on this occasion his effort hit the post. We kept pushing forward to try and grab an equaliser but it was not to be and Harpenden lifted the trophy for the second year running. It was a very good cup final and both teams played well and we congratulate our opponents on their victory.

It would have been nice to have lifted the St Marys Cup for the 8th time to add to the two other trophies we won this season namely the Gladwish Challenge Trophy (for the second time) and the Herts Charity Shield (for the 5th time). We also finished clear Runners-up in the Premier Division 9 points above our nearest challenger Cockfosters and 12 points ahead of promoted London Lions who we beat 3 times last season. In addition our brilliant form was recognised by the South Midlands League who awarded us the Team of the Month trophy for January, February and March.

Other amazing stats leading up to the Play Off game include going 24 games unbeaten, having a run of 10 straight wins, conceding just 2 goals in 13 games and keeping clean sheets in 6 consecutive games. Other than champions MK Irish we had the best goal difference of 36 which was 8 goals better than our nearest rival London Lions and we only lost 4 league games all season.

But how do the above stats compare to other previous Athletic teams? In the 1960’s and early 70's we certainly won a lot of trophies and we had some great players but that was in the West Herts League which at the time was a decent standard but was not in the National Football Pyramid and was not semi-professional (in fact in those days we had to pay subs!). I think its fair to say that it was not quite up to the tough standard of the South Midlands League.

The next great Athletic side was around the late 1990's under the management of Mick Eldridge, Ray Brimson and Richard Vincent and the captaincy of Mark Boniface who was an exceptional player as was many of his team mates many of whom would have been good enough to play in the current team. In the 1999/00 season we won what was then the Senior Division title and won a raft of cups and awards. The Senior Division was the equivalent of Division 1 now but we were prevented from getting promotion to the Premier Division because we were playing at Miswell Lane and we were unable to get floodlights which is still a pre-requisite for gaining promotion to the Premier Division which we did eventually achieve in 2004/05 season.

In 2008/09 we achieved a remarkable feat of winning 3 cups in our last 3 games of the season. The manager was Phil Casserley assisted by Terry Nightingale with a certain Trevor Langley, who is still involved in the Club, as Physio. The captain was another quality player called Graham Hall and he lifted the Challenge Trophy, Premier Division Cup (the only time we have won this cup) and the St Marys Cup. However our League form was less impressive as we finished 8th in the Premier Division.

Two years later in the 2010/11 season Phil and his team achieved our highest ever position in the table by finishing in 2nd place. We did add to the trophy cabinet the St Marys Cup but lost to Royston Town in the South Midlands Floodlight Cup a competition that no longer exists.

In 2018/19 this time under the Management of Ian Richardson, Stuart Stedman and Colin Phillips we again finished runners up but failed to win any cups. In the squad that season were Dave O’Conner, Lee Stobbs and Kieran Turner and many other very good players.

So how does this season compare with the previous successful teams? Well one thing that is patently noticeable is that Ryan Sturges and his team have been in charge for 4 years and each season there has been an improvement - finishing 13th, 9th, 6th and now 2nd . The South Midlands is such a competitive League that finishing runners up and qualifying for the play offs is a major achievement. In addition this season we have also lifted 2 cups and narrowly missed out on another and we were awarded the Team of the Month by the League for 3 consecutive months so Ryan, his Coaches and Players can justifiably claim that this has been our best ever season.
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TEAM:
TA: Josh Amenganvi, Mason Clarke, Greg Deer, Dave O’Connor (Harry Beaumont 52), George Carbery (Capt), Dylan Fitzpatrick, Frankie Hercules (Lee Stobbs 79), Harry Shepherd, Finn Rolfe (Bailey Osborne 70), Max Hercules, Kieran Turner (Harry Jones 77). Sub not used: Michael Olulode

Scorers:

TA: Kieran Turner (25)

HT: Danny Webb ((34), Ryan Plowright (44)

Crowd: N/K