I will start telling our great Cup Run! We began fighting against Poole Town, and a safe 3×1 win was enough to take us to the FA Trophy 1st Round. Another good and convincing win against Weston-super-Mare got our morale high, and off we went to face Eastleigh. Current league leaders. We did not fear them, and playing an extremely well defensive minded 90 minutes, won the match by scoring an early goal and holding down the opposition.
On the Third Round, we were very lucky with an injury time goal off of Jamie White, against Blue Square Bet Premier Hereford. Yes, a game we should have being defeated, but here we are, qualified to face Bath. Bath gave us lots of trouble, but we managed to survive the first half, and then Jamie White bagged us a nice goal after a couter attack lauched by Scott, The Saints Keeper. Playing away against Luton, we where pretty sure of our slim chances on the FA Trophy Semi Final, especially becouse Luton Town was third placed on the Blue Square Bet Premier. As I had nothing to loose, I decided to play a bit more of an attacking game, and to my dismay, Mr. Oakes is really a defensive guy, he simply could not get anything out of the team, and a 1×4 defeat for the first leg.
For the second leg against Luton Town, we invoked Saint George himself, and did the impossible. A historical 4×0 win! This was enough to take us to the final of the competition.
On the final, against Masfield, another surprise! A 4×1 very convincing victory, where we proved to ourselves and to other clubs that playing defensively could lead us to good achievements. We opened the scoreboard off a mistake of the opposition’s defense. Mansfield tied the game off a cross, but it was our night. Fitchett scored after a long ball from keeper Scott, The Georgies again on the lead. On second half, McPhee almost got lucky off a free kick, but the opposition keeper was there to make the save. On the rebound, Sinclair had to hit it twice to shake the net for our third goal. McPhee eventually scored his second, after a quick counter attack, a ball on the post, but a good finish for the fourth and final goal! What a victory!
Saint George and Mitch Oakes where having a great start. Being 6th place after 14 games was really an interesting achievement for a club that was prone to be relegated. Though a good run that put The Saints close to the playoff zone, there where too few players to rotate. The Anchor Man and Defensive Midfielder on the 4222 formation did not have any substitute, and game after game on the starting XI, they got fatigued, and that happened before half season. Where a series of ties, defeats and couple of victories that were not enough to keep the Saints high on the league table. Actually we dropped down to the 14th position, but maintained a consistency around the 12th position.
The Georgies began to shake things up when April arrived. A hard team talk got the Captain involved in getting the team together. We were also motivated with the conquest of the FA Trophy, that was right after the win against Dover. And if we analyze, we lost to Dorchester with an exhausted squad, that when recovered, commenced a phase of six consecutive wins that pushed us to a respectable 8th place in the league.
Not much to say! Perhaps I’m too short on words, but at this level, I’m not really into analyzing stats, especially because I have no players that really shines over the others, and pretty sure that any player that arrives, could fill up the spot at the same level. Though, I have to admit that Chris McPhee and Jamie White shined during the season. With an amazing amount of goals scored, my attacking pair where responsible for 72% of our season goals.
Nik (9)
