The Final Outcome: Supporters Team of the Year, Bostik South East Division

By Ian Townsend

Over the last few weeks we’ve been asking supporters from across the League to choose their Bostik First XI. Based on their votes, here’s our Supporters Team of the Year for the South East Division.


The votes are in, and they’ve been counted, checked and checked again. They’ve created debate, as well as bringing praise and- occasionally- derision. They’ve seen some of our supporters greatly favour their own team, but they’ve also seen partisan views put to one side as people focus on choosing the best players even if they play for a local rival.

We’ve been a little fluid about the formations, mainly because you tended to favour centre-backs and sometimes struggled to draw a line between who was a midfielder and who was a forward. The players who feature are those who had the most votes- alter the formation in your head accordingly, as on this occasion we seem to be playing 4-3-3!

OK, here- just for fun- is the final outcome. We bring you our Supporters Team of the Year for the Bostik South East Division.

Goalkeeper:

Sam Mott (Ashford United)

Sam Mott had a magnificent 2017/18, perhaps the best goalkeeper in the North Division as his side, AFC Hornchurch, powered to promotion. On that basis we were rather surprised when he left the Urchins last summer to try life in the South East with Ashford United, but it worked out rather well for both parties, as the Nuts and Bolts reached the Playoff Final and Mott remained just as difficult to beat. It is absolutely no coincidence that United conceded the fewest goals in the division aside from the champions, nor that their keeper had thirteen clean sheets to his name.

Nor, when we come to think of it, that South East supporters voted him the best in the Division.

Defence:

Ben Mundele (Cray Wanderers)

Cray had the best defence in the division, so it’s only fitting that two of them appear here. First up is Ben Mundele, who made thirty seven appearances and, as well as managing to keep them out at one end, chipped in with seven goals of his own at the other. This wasn’t a flash in the pan, as Ben had been a mainstay of the Wands defence as they narrowly missed out on promotion during the previous season, too.

Joe Shelley (Horsham)

The Hornets had a campaign to remember. Playoff Final Winners, promotion, a new ground to start life in the Premier Division with- you’ll recognise a Horsham supporter at the moment because of their permanent grin. They also managed to defeat Cray Wanderers, too! It’s perhaps a surprise that Joe Shelley is their only representative in this side (Rob O’Toole, Josh Pelling and Tyrell Richardson-Brown also picked up votes, but not quite enough), but he did have a quite superb season, his forty-four appearances including six goals. His calm and commanding performances at the back were a major reason for the Hornets’ success.

Jay Leader (Cray Wanderers)

Jay Leader signed for Cray in January 2016, left a short while later for a spell at Barking, but then decided he couldn’t stay away and headed back- and Wanderers supporters must have been delighted, because over two seasons he has been quite superb. There’s every chance that had we run this poll last summer he’d have been in the 2017/18 Team of the Year, too- but it’s no surprise that he’s in this one. Thirty two appearances, twelve clean sheets, and a Bostik South East Division title- not too bad a season, eh?!

Sam Beale (Hastings United)

Sam swapped the Kent coast- and Folkestone Invicta- for the Sussex coast in the summer of 2017, and quickly became a firm favourite amongst Hastings United fans- despite the fact he once played for Eastbourne Borough (we’re probably not meant to mention that!). Last season he was better than ever, and made thirty one appearances for Chris Agutter’s side as they narrowly missed out on promotion.

Midfielders:

Bradley Pritchard (Cray Wanderers)
We’re back to Hayes Lane again, unsurprisingly, and this time you shine the spotlight on Bradley Pritchard. The former Charlton Athletic and Leyton Orient midfielder headed to Cray last summer after leaving Greenwich Borough, for whom he’d starred as they reached the Playoff Semi-Final- and this time he did even better as his new club charged into first place and stayed there. He made thirty five appearances, scoring five goals.

Jack Dixon (Hastings United)

We head back to Pilot Field once more, to pour praise on Jack Dixon. He’ll undoubtedly be pleased that he’d not getting a trophy this time, as he’s probably run out of space on his mantelpiece after winning the- deep breath- Hastings United Players Player of the Year, Managers Player of the Year, Supporters Player of the Year, Chairman’s Player of the Year and John Collins Award for moment of the year. As you can see, he’s popular at Hastings- and he’s fairly popular away from Hastings, too, as reflected by his position in this side. All he needs now is a promotion- perhaps next season, eh/?

Sam Corne (Ashford United)

What a season Sam Corne had at Ashford United. Sadly it was his first, and his last- he has just announced his departure for pastures new- but captaining the side to the Playoff Final whilst scoring twenty-one goals from midfield will mean that his contribution will live long in the memories of those at Homelands. The rest of you were rather impressed with him too, unsurprisingly.

Forwards:

Charlie MacDonald (VCD Athletic)

Charlie MacDonald is perhaps the South East Division Jamie Cureton- an absolute goal machine who never seems to get any older. Perhaps he’s got a gradually ageing portrait hidden in his loft? Whatever the reason for his continuing exceptional form, he’s a great favourite with South East Division supporters, scoring more votes than any other player. With thirty five goals in competitive matches last season, Vickers fans will be delighted that he’s just signed on for one more.

Greg Cundle (East Grinstead Town)

East Grinstead Town don’t get many headlines- apart from when they won Harry Redknapp earlier this season in a competition (they had to give him back, they couldn’t afford the jam roly-poly). But without a doubt their play this season has rightly earned them plaudits, and has also seen Wasps forward Greg Cundle find himself in between Charlie MacDonald and Zak Ansah in a South East Division front three.

With twenty one goals from twenty six appearances, he ended the season with a strike record that Harry Kane would have been proud of. And he didn’t try to claim any goals that might have only got within five centimetres of him on the way in, either.

Zak Ansah (Hythe Town)

Hythe have just announced Ansah’s departure from Reachfields after two prolific seasons, and whilst he’ll be difficult to replace he’s given them many memories. With twenty goals in only nineteen appearances last season, thirty one from forty-two this, prolific doesn’t do him justice- and we’re sure that, wherever he ends up, there will be more of the same.

Thanks for all of your votes. We hope you enjoyed reading the Teams of the Year submitted by our supporters, and we’ll be back with our Supporters Predictions for the forthcoming season in July!

Where next?

A Bostik Review of the Year! Part One-August 2018. So much joy! So much anticipation! So many terrible supporter predictions. Football was back, and it was soon as if it had never gone away.
The Final Outcome: Supporters Team of the Year, Bostik South Central Division Over the last few weeks we’ve been asking supporters from across the League to choose their Bostik First XI. Based on their votes, here’s our Supporters Team of the Year for the South Central Division.

The Pitching In Isthmian Football League newsletter

Keep up-to-date with our exclusive email newsletters.

Subscribe