A Bostik Review of the Year! Part One-August 2018.

After a summer where we’d all learned to love the England team again, as we watched them be plucky losers once more, it was time for the real football to start again- and there were so many questions. Why were AFC Hornchurch the bookies early favourites for promotion (we’ve never yet managed to work that out)? Would Dorking Wanderers and Kingstonian be as good as their new squads promised (we won’t spoil the surprise here). Would Cray Wanderers and Bowers & Pitsea bounce back from Playoff disappointment? What on earth was the Bostik South Central Division?

All of these questions would be answered over the next nine months or so.

On the pitch

Margate were making waves off the pitch- see below- and started well on it too, thumping Corinthian-Casuals for five. Aveley went one better, getting six at home to Dereham Town, whilst on the Sussex coast there was five for Hastings United against Thamesmead Town. In the South Central Division Cheshunt and Hayes & Yeading United shared six goals equally, and the South Central Division also had our match of the day, as Northwood, three-one down to Tooting and Mitcham United with eleven minutes to go, came back to win four-three. James Ewington got a hat trick.

After our first set of midweek fixtures Potters Bar Town were top of the league, which shows that early season form doesn’t count for too much, whilst Kingstonian had lost their opening two fixtures, which perhaps shows the opposite. By the second weekend, the Scholars had been replaced by Worthing, who had made a perfect start to the season, and Sam Bantick had his first goal of the season in the North Division, for his first club. He had two more clubs by the time we got to May, and now he’s looking for another- there’s a Tiger Woods joke in there somewhere!

By August Bank Holiday weekend we were focused on the FA Cup, and we had two sides- Hayes & Yeading United and Herne Bay- hitting seven goals. Corinthian-Casuals got six, but there was some bad news too, as Greenwich Borough- Playoff Semi-Finalists a few months previously, don’t forget- conceded seven goals at home to Lancing of the Southern Combination Football League. Back in the Bostik League, Enfield Town were taking a turn at the top of the Premier Division table- but not for long, as Tonbridge Angels had climbed to the summit by Bank Holiday Monday. In the South Central, Bracknell Town and Hayes & Yeading United both got six- Hayes had twenty one goals in five matches so far, ominously.

Six clubs in the South East Division ended the first Bank Holiday of the season with 100% records- Ashford United, Hastings United, Cray Wanderers, Phoenix Sports, Whyteleafe and VCD Athletic.

Off the pitch

Margate announced a new shirt sponsorship deal, going where Lewes had gone before (Squeeze) by teaming up with a popular music combo, in their case The Libertines. It worked, too, with orders from around the globe. Hanwell Town announced that their new pitch came with its own mobile phone app!

Sadly, we had to send condolences to VCD Athletic, who mourned the passing of former secretary, treasurer and devoted supporter, Chris Dudley.

The managerial merry-go round

On August 26th we had our first managerial change of the season, and it came at ware, where John Dreyer decided to step down and his Assistant Paul Halsey stepped up.

And the winner is…

We had a prize before we’d even played a match, as Tonbridge Angels groundsman Peter Elves won the FA Groundsman of the Year Award (see headline image). This meant, if we stretch a tenuous link, that Angels lifted both the first trophy of the season and the last. More on that later.

Angels won a second August prize, too. Steve McKimm picked up the Anderson Travel Manager of the Month award for four wins and a draw from five matches without a single goal conceded, whilst Romford’s Paul Martin picked up the North Division honour, Carl Davies of Bracknell Town got the gong for the South Central, and Gary Alexander of Ashford United picked up the prize for the South East Division. Angels and Romford won the Samba Sports Golden Gloves Awards, too, Marlow and Cray the other victors.