UCL Review 2015 16

DIVISION ONE: SPORTS DOMINATE THE DIVISION

The Division One season was dominated by Peterborough Sports who finished the campaign a massive 21 points clear of runners up ON Chenecks.

Jimmy Dean had assembled a formidable array of attacking talent at Lincoln Road and an opening match 9-0 rout of Irchester put down a marker for the season. It was October before Sports hit top slot though as another well fancied side Stewarts & Lloyds held pole position through most of September. Sports went top with another 9-0 win at Blackstones on 7 th October and were never headed thereafter. They extended their winning start to 21 games by the end of January, by which time their advantage at the top stood at 15 points. Hopes of a perfect Sports season were wrecked by a 3-0 defeat at Long Buckby on 13 th February and they were beaten in their next game at Stewarts & Lloyds as well. In reality the chasing pack were too far behind to mount a challenge and Sports duly won twelve of their last thirteen games. The title was clinched with a 1-0 home win over Thrapston on Easter Monday, Avelino Vieira scoring the title winning goal. The second promotion place came down to a two horse race between much changed Stewarts & Lloyds who included a number of players with Premier Division backgrounds and an ON Chenecks squad which had been playing together for a few years. Meetings between the pair ultimately proved crucial with a pair of 2-1 Chenecks wins at home in December and away in February accounting for the six point gap between the pair in the final table. Chenecks clinched second slot in their penultimate game, winning 5-0 at Burton Park with a Ben Lewington hat trick, Adam Spalding effort and Joe Lewington spot kick. Graham Cottle’s men lost just once in their last fourteen games and won their last six without conceding a goal.

The Foundrymen were left to rue late season points dropped against Thrapston, Oakham and Olney as they came up short in the final analysis.

Below the top three there was little between a raft of clubs with Olney pipping Bourne to fourth, Long Buckby and Potton also having good seasons without the consistency required to make serious challenges for a place in the top flight. In the lower reaches Burton Park finished well adrift after failing to win in their first nineteen games. A shock victory at Potton on the Saturday before Christmas broke their duck but they had to wait until April to add to their wins tally with home victories over Bugbrooke and Irchester.

The young St Neots Saints side looked set for another season of struggle, and they had just a single win to their name in sixteen matches when they submitted their resignation in late November.

A seventeen match sequence without victory condemned Bugbrooke to a second bottom finish, seven points adrift of Buckingham who failed to escape the bottom three from December onwards.

RESERVE DIVISION: ABBOTT STEERS LANKIES TO FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP

The Reserve Division proved the most competitive of the league’s four sections during 2015-16 and it was Rushden & Higham who found the necessary consistency to take the honours in a league in which any team seemed capable of beating any other.

New Lankies boss Wayne Abbott assembled a squad blending youth and experience and with a settled group of players the crown found its way to Hayden Road with eight points to spare.

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