UCL Review 2015 16

Rushden & Higham started the season with a six match unbeaten run while other fast starters were previous season’s strugglers Irchester who won their first three games and Whitworth who were also unbeaten in six to start the campaign.

Teams expected to do well included ON Chenecks, Olney and Raunds but all made slow starts. By the turn of the year though Chenecks and the Nurserymen were well in contention alongside Rushden & Higham.

2016 brought a change in fortunes for some of the title aspirants though. Chenecks lost their first four matches of the year while Olney picked up just a single point from the first nine available in the new year.

By contrast the Lankies kept winning but distractions in cup competitions saw them just a few points clear of their rivals, albeit with an increasing number of matches in hand.

Rushden & Higham’s eight match winning run ended in a goalless draw at Raunds on 5 th March, but as the season moved towards a close they maintained their long unbeaten run before clinching the title with a 2-0 success at Cogenhoe on 16 th April, Dan Turiccki and Ryan Kalla on the scoresheet. By season’s end their unbeaten run stood at 17 games, twelve of them victories.

Raunds came through the pack to take second place, reeling off eight successive wins in a fifteen match unbeaten run to finish six points clear of Olney who pipped Chenecks to third place on goal difference.

The league was close at the bottom end too with the bottom three separated on goal difference alone. Whitworth finished in the basement position behind Thrapston and Bugbrooke while Rothwell Corinthians pulled clear after just one reverse in their last six outings.

UNDER 21 DIVISION: FAST FINISHING POPPIES ELITE TAKE THE TITLE

The league’s second season of Under 21 Division football proved a difficult one. The campaign kicked off with sixteen teams and the original plan was for clubs to meet just the once with a possible expansion of games if the weather was kind.

The membership was soon to reduce though with Daventry and Stamford dropping out in September followed by Wellingborough in October. Early in the new year Bedford called it a day due to team raising problems.

This quartet had struggled in a division which saw a gulf in standard between the strongest and weakest teams, and through the season there were a number of high scoring games reflecting the strength and weakness of various clubs. Reigning champions Milton Keynes College Elite made a strong start in the defence of their crown, losing just once before the turn of the year, while Kettering Elite, runners-up in the inaugural season, took time to find their stride, picking up just two points from their first three games.

Two other second season clubs who had good first campaigns, AFC Kempston and Histon, both started well while Football CV Reds were the most improved second season side, winning six of their first seven matches.

Kettering Development looked the strongest of the new teams in the first half of the season, but slipped down the table as the season progressed.

Histon’s prospects were hit by the promotion of several of their starting squad to Southern League duties, and as the season progressed the title race developed into a four team contest.

Kempston suffered heavy defeats against Histon and Kettering Elite but the new year saw them come into their own, putting together an 11 match winning run which left them on the verge of the title. A March goal drought saw Football CV Reds fail to score in three games as they slipped out of contention while a nine week lay off all but wrecked MK College Elite’s chances of retaining the title. 11