Season 2004-05
68TH SEASON
SEASON REPORT
It was thought that the sixty-eighth season would not be an easy one with the fall out from the decision to withdraw the 1st team from the League and the associated loss of numerous players. However, concerns were unfounded and the club was able to regroup with an influx of new and younger locally-based players. In the event the club had one of it’s most successful seasons on record with both the new first and second teams gaining promotion and the veterans once more finishing as runners-up in the Hastings F A Veterans Invitation Cup.
Saturday, 30th April was a memorable one for the club with the 1st team taking on Crowhurst for the Division Four title while the 2nd team visited Mountfield United II seeking a victory to secure promotion. This is probably the only time in the club’s history that the two sides had played such important fixtures on the same date.
Despite the success on the field, the year was overshadowed by the death, on the 27th August 2004, of Andrew Dunlop senior. Andrew had been a stalwart of Icklesham Casuals for the first fifty years, being a player when the club was established and then managing the second team until he relinquished the post at the end of the fiftieth season. The fact that Pett Church was packed for his funeral service with many people having to stand outside is the best tribute that can be paid and showed the respect in which Andrew was held.
1ST TEAM
The new 1st XI was probably expected to have a reasonable season with the nucleus of the side being the 2nd team from 2003-04 strengthened by a few players from the Premier Division side including regulars Michael Beaumont and Gavin Moor with Karl Tarrant rejoining the club in January. The side was free scoring, netting eighty two goals in the league and a hundred in all matches and lost just one of the first eighteen games in Division Four, including ten successive victories. The league was closely contested with four teams – Crowhurst, Magham Down, Westfield III and the Casuals all in the running for promotion for much of the year although Magham Down fell away towards the end of the season. The second league defeat came in March – a heavy 5-0 loss away to a very strong Westfield III team on a day when Westfield’s reserve side who played in the County League Reserve Section had their match postponed. The two sides met again the following Saturday when a markedly different Westfield team turned up at Guestling and were duly dispatched 5-0!
Promotion was secured with a 5-3 win over Catsfield in the penultimate league fixture with the Division Four title being decided in the final game of the season against Crowhurst – a meeting of the top two sides. Despite leading at half-time, the first team went down 2-1 with two fairly late goals and ultimately missed out on the championship on goal difference only. Crowhurst were always behind with their league fixtures and the 1st XI were somewhat disadvantaged in having to wait five weeks after the Catsfield game before the Crowhurst match could be played. In contrast to the league campaign, cup performances were rather disappointing with only one victory achieved. One other memory from the league encounters and not for the right reasons, came in the very first game of the season, the 4-3 victory over Battle Rangers, when two Battle players were sent off in the last few minutes of the match for fighting each other!
Sean Baker led the goal scorers with 31 goals in all competitions while Phil Badrock weighed in with 21. Goalkeeper Neil Hastings was voted Players’ Player of the Year with Sean taking the Manager’s award and Jon Fitton winning the Bert Glazier Cup.
1ST TEAM PLAYING RECORD
| EAST SUSSEX LEAGUE DIVISION FOUR |
| Competition | P | W | D | L | F | A | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | 22 | 16 | 3 | 3 | 82 | 41 | 51 |
| Cup | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 25 | N/A |
| Friendly | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | N/A |
| All Games | 28 | 17 | 3 | 8 | 100 | 71 | 51 |
| DATE | OPPONENTS | VENUE | COMPETITION | RESULT | GOAL SCORERS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25/8/2004 | The Junior Club Tackleway | Home | Friendly | 3 – 5 | |
| 4/9/2004 | Battle Rangers | Home | League | 4 – 3 | Kevin Earl 2, Phil Badrock 2 |
| 11/9/2004 | Hillcrest | Away | Hastings F A Junior Cup 1st Round | 3 – 2 | Mike Beamont, Sean Baker, Phil Badrock |
| 18/9/2004 | Little Common II | Away | Robertsbridge Charity Junior Cup 1st Round | 3 – 5 | Phil Badrock, Sean Baker, Trevor Saunders |
| 25/9/2004 | Burwash | Away | League | 3 – 3 | Gavin Moor 2, Mike Beaumont |
| 2/10/2004 | Old Centmodians | Away | League | 6 – 2 | Phil Badrock 3, Sean Baker, Sacha Patterson, Chris Baker |
| 9/10/2004 | Crowhurst | Away | League | 4 – 4 | Phil Badrock 2, Sean Baker, Sacha Patterson |
| 16/10/2004 | Heathfield Hotspurs | Away | Hastings F A Junior Cup 2nd Round | 3 – 4 | Sean Baker 2. Mike Beaumont |
| 23/10/2004 | Magham Down | Away | League | 1 – 3 | Sean Baker |
| 30/10/2004 | Old Stationers III | Away | A F A Junior Cup 2nd Round | 5 – 10 | Sean Baker 3, Kevin Earl, Jon Fitton |
| 6/11/2004 | Ninfield United II | Away | League | 3 – 2 | Mike Beaumont, Gavin Moor, Sean Baker |
| 20/11/2004 | Athletico | Home | League | 5 – 4 | Phil Badrock 3, Mike Beaumont, Sean Baker |
| 27/11/2004 | Crowhurst | Home | Sussex Memorials Challenge Cup 1st Round | 1 – 4 | Phil Badrock |
| 4/12/2004 | Athletico | Away | League | 1 – 1 | Sean Baker |
| 11/12/2004 | Burwash | Home | League | 6 – 2 | Sean Baker 2, Jon Fitton, Phil Badrock, Steve Tytherleigh, Own Goal |
| 18/12/2004 | Ninfield United II | Home | League | 2 – 1 | Martin Tytherleigh, Sean Baker |
| 8/1/2005 | Travaux | Away | League | 5 – 3 | Steve Baker 2, Mike Beaumont, Steve Tytherleigh, Karl Tarrant |
| 15/1/2005 | Victoria Baptist | Away | League | 4 – 1 | Gavin Moor 2, Sean Baker, Karl Tarrant |
| 22/1/2005 | Battle Rangers | Away | League | 6 – 1 | Sean Baker 2, Jim Taberman 2, Jon Fitton, Phil Badrock |
| 29/1/2005 | Old Centmodians | Home | League | 4 – 0 | Sean Baker 3, Phil Badrock |
| 5/2/2005 | Catsfield | Away | League | 3 – 1 | Sean Baker 2, Steve Tytherleigh |
| 12/2/2005 | Victoria Baptist | Home | League | 6 – 0 | Phil Badrock 4, Mike Beaumont 2 |
| 19/2/2005 | Magham Down | Home | League | 2 – 1 | Sean Baker 2 |
| 26/2/2005 | Travaux | Home | League | 6 – 0 | Sean Baker 4 (1 pen), Gavin Moor Karl Tarrant |
| 5/3/2005 | Westfield III | Away | League | 0 – 5 | |
| 12/3/2005 | Westfield III | Home | League | 5 – 0 | Jon Fitton 2, Steve Tytherleigh, Phil Badrock, Karl Tarrant |
| 26/3/2005 | Catsfield | Home | League | 5 – 2 | Karl Tarrant 2, Gary Osborn, Sean Baker, Mike Beaumont |
| 30/4/2005 | Crowhurst | Home | League | 1 – 2 | Karl Tarrant |
| Notes All home matches played at Guestling Playing Fields |
| 1ST TEAM EAST SUSSEX FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION FOUR RUNNERS-UP 2004-05 Back row (left to right):- Gary Osborn, Steve Tytherleigh, Karl Tarrant, Jon Fitton, Martin Tytherleigh, Neil Hastings, Sean Baker, Nigel Sellman. Front row (left to right):- Bradley Chapman, Martin Ray, Wayne Bumstead, Gavin Moor, Phil Badrock, Mike Beaumont. |
2ND TEAM
The achievement of the second team in winning promotion from Division Six was a remarkable one. The side probably suffered most from the decision to reduce to two teams and the first few weeks of the season were a struggle with four of the first five matches lost and by heavy margins – 1-8 to Hastings Rangers III, 3-9 against White Knight II, 3-6 at home to The Junior Club Tackleway III and 1-5 versus Sedlescombe II when only ten players could be fielded. It says much about the management team of Michael Hambridge and Keith Swallow with much valuable assistance from Micky Zysemil that through their hard work and encouragement fortunes gradually improved and by the end of the season the football played by the side was a credit to the club with all of the early defeats avenged.
The 2nd XI was a young side with the promising players of the previous years third team in Tim Hambridge, George and Sam Richardson, Peter Harris and Freddie Williams continuing to improve throughout the season while others in Chris Baker, Simon Baker, Kevin Earl, Mark Stunt, David Walton and Chris Whitfield either played more regularly or were introduced for the first time. These players, along with two pupils from Buckswood School in Kenneth Nwhukoni and Ola Kupolati formed the nucleus of the squad.
After the poor start, results started to improve as the season progressed but even after the matches on the 12th March and with only nine games left to play the side were still fourth from bottom in the league with promotion never being considered a possibility. Then followed an amazing run of eight wins and a draw including seven victories in a row to end the season. All the other promotion contenders in Bexhill United IV, The Junior Club Tackleway III, Mountfield United II and Sedlescombe II were beaten during this period.
On the day the first team were playing Crowhurst to decide the Division Four title, the 2nd XI were defeating Mountfield United II 6-4 to secure runners-up spot in Division Six. To show just how fine margins can be, the second team suffered a narrow 2-1 loss to eventual Division Six champions Bexhill United IV in February in a game where they were the better side and hit the woodwork or had shots cleared off the line on a number of occasions. Had just one of these chances found the net and a draw secured, it would have been the 2nd XI and not Bexhill who would have lifted the championship.
In the return fixture against Division champions Bexhill United IV played at Guestling on the 9th April when promotion was still only an outside possibility, the 2nd team secured a comprehensive 3-0 victory. A particularly unsporting Bexhill United IV side who had already secured the title and were not used to losing let alone being so comfortably beaten clearly did not consider the 2nd team had even the remotest chance of a top-two finish with comments when 3-0 down such as ‘we are the only team who will be going up’!
Whilst the overriding memory of the season for the second XI will be gaining promotion, it is worth briefly mentioning the Hastings F A Lower Divisions Cup tie against Bodiam II which finished 6-6 after extra time including a hat-trick from Ola Kupolati. The resultant penalty shoot-out was won 5-4. The side lost in the next round, going down 1-0 in a very close game to Beulah Baptists from Division Five who went on to win the competition.
Ola Kupolati was top scorer for the season with 23 goals followed by Peter Harris with 18. Freddie Williams took the Players’ Player of the Year trophy while Peter was Manager’s Player of the Year. Special mention should be given to Michael Hambridge, who as 2nd XI and previously 3rd XI manager had been responsible for injecting a lot of new blood into club, the benefits of which had been clearly seen with the successful season. However, many connected with the club would not be aware of or appreciate the amount of time Michael spent on the telephone each week ensuring that the club was properly represented on a Saturday afternoon.
2ND TEAM PLAYING RECORD
| EAST SUSSEX LEAGUE DIVISION SIX |
| Competition | P | W | D | L | F | A | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | 26 | 17 | 2 | 7 | 76 | 62 | 53 |
| Cup | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 11 | N/A |
| All Games | 30 | 19 | 2 | 9 | 88 | 73 | 53 |
| DATE | OPPONENTS | VENUE | COMPETITION | RESULT | GOAL SCORER |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11/9/2004 | Hillcrest II | Home | League | 6 – 4 | Ola Kupolati 2, Peter Harris 2, Jon Fitton, Kenneth Nwkukoni |
| 18/9/2004 | Hastings Rangers III | Home | League | 1 – 8 | Peter Harris |
| 25/9/2004 | White Knight II | Home | League | 3 – 9 | Peter Harris, Sam Richardson, Ola Kupolati |
| 2/10/2004 | The Junior Club Tackleway III | Home | League | 3 – 6 | Sam Richardson 2, Wayne Callaghan |
| 9/10/2004 | Sedlescombe II | Home | League | 1 – 5 | Peter Harris |
| 16/10/2004 | Beulah Baptists II | Home | League | 6 – 0 | Tino Brink 2, Ola Kupolati, Mark Stunt, Peter Harris, Sam Richardson |
| 23/10/2004 | Bodiam II | Home | Hastings F A Lower Divisions Cup 1st Round | 6 – 6 * | Ola Kupolati 3, Chris Baker, Peter Harris, Simon Baker |
| 30/10/2004 | Bohemia United | Home | League | 4 – 1 | Ola Kupolati 2, David Walton, Freddie Williams |
| 6/11/2004 | Hillcrest II | Away | League | 3 – 1 | Kenneth Nwhukoni 2, Ola Kupolati |
| 13/11/2004 | Crowhurst | Home | Hastings F A Lower Divisions Cup 2nd Round | 1 – 3 | Ola Kupolati |
| 20/11/2004 | Magham Down II | Away | Hastings Printing Company Limited Challenge Cup 1st Round | 5 – 1 | Ola Kupolati 3, Peter Harris, Simon Baker |
| 4/12/2004 | Beulah Baptists | Home | Hastings Printing Company Limited Challenge Cup 2nd Round | 0 – 1 | |
| 11/12/2004 | Heathfield Hotspurs II | Away | League | 3 – 2 | Kenneth Nwhukoni, Mark Stunt, Sam Richardson |
| 8/1/2005 | Herstmonceux II | Home | League | 0 – 5 | |
| 15/1/2005 | Magham Down II | Home | League | 3 – 1 | Peter Harris, David Walton, Kenneth Nwhukoni |
| 22/1/2005 | Mountfield United II | Home | League | 1 – 1 | George Richardson |
| 29/1/2005 | Hastings Rangers III | Away | League | 3 – 2 | George Richardson 2. Ola Kupolati |
| 5/2/2005 | Peche Hill Select II | Home | League | 2 – 4 | Ola Kupolati, Peter Harris |
| 12/2/2005 | Beulah Baptists II | Away | League | 4 – 1 | Ola Kupolati 2, George Richardson, Peter Harris (pen) |
| 19/2/2005 | Bexhill United IV | Away | League | 1 – 2 | George Richardson |
| 26/2/2005 | Herstmonceux II | Away | League | 4 – 0 | Peter Harris 2, Kevin Earl, Simon Baker |
| 19/3/2005 | White Knight II | Away | League | 3 – 1 | Simon Baker, Pete Gumbrell, Jack Richardson |
| 26/3/2005 | Peche Hill Select II | Away | League | 0 – 0 | |
| 2/4/2005 | Heathfield Hotspurs II | Home | League | 4 – 1 | Peter Harris 2, Adam Nichols 2 |
| 5/4/2005 | Bohemia United | Away | League | 2 – 1 | Adam Nichols, Peter Harris (pen) |
| 9/4/2005 | Bexhill United IV | Home | League | 3 – 0 | George Richardson, David Walton, Chris Baker |
| 19/4/2005 | The Junior Club Tackleway III | Away | League | 5 – 2 | Sean Baker 2, Sam Richardson, Peter Harris, Simon Baker |
| 23/4/2005 | Sedlescombe II | Away | League | 1 – 0 | Ola Kupolati |
| 30/4/2005 | Mountfield United II | Away | League | 6 – 4 | Ola Kupolati 2, Kenneth Nwhukoni 2, Simon Baker, Peter Harris |
| 7/5/2005 | Magham Down II | Away | League | 4 – 1 | Ola Kupolati 2, George Richardson, Nigel Sellman |
| Notes All home matches played at Guestling Playing Fields * After Extra Time – won 5-4 on penalties |
| 2ND TEAM EAST SUSSEX FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION SIX RUNNERS-UP Back row (left to right):- Keith Swallow (assistant manager), Chris Whitfield, Adam Nichols, Kevin Earl, Freddie Williams, Jon Fitton, George Richardson, Tim Hambridge, David Walton, Steve Tytherleigh. Front row (left to right):- Chris Baker, Paul Elms, Peter Harris, Simon Baker, Chris English. |
VETERANS
The veterans won their group in the Hastings F.A. Veterans Cup after a draw away to Bexhill United Veterans and comfortable victories at Guestling over the Junior Club Tackleway Veterans and Rye and Iden United Veterans therefore reaching the final of the competition for the for the third successive season.
The side could not reproduce the form shown in the group stage in the final played at the Pilot Field against Westfield Veterans and had only a late Wayne Bumstead penalty to show for their efforts in a 5-1 defeat.
Match Programme
VETERANS PLAYING RECORD
| Competition | P | W | D | L | F | A | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cup | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 8 | 7 |
| DATE | OPPONENTS | VENUE | COMPETITION | RESULT | GOAL SCORERS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/9/2004 | Bexhill United Veterans | Away | Hastings F A Veterans Invitation Cup | 1 – 1 | Andy Vickers |
| 8/9/2004 | The Junior Club Tackleway Veterans | Home | Hastings F A Veterans Invitation Cup | 7 – 2 | Martin Tytherleigh 3, Wayne Bumstead 2 (2 pens), |
| 15/9/2004 | Rye United Veterans | Home | Hastings F A Veterans Invitation Cup | 5 – 0 | |
| 6/10/2004 | Westfield Veterans | Neutral< | Hastings F A Veterans Invitation Cup Final | 1 – 5 | Wayne Bumstead (pen) |
| Notes All home matches played at Guestling Playing Fields < Match played at the Pilot Field |
SEASON AWARDS
GENERAL MATTERS
A very enjoyable Presentation Evening was held at the Fairlight Lodge Hotel in June when the awards for both the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons were made. With the club withdrawing the 1st team from the East Sussex League at the end of the 2003-04 season it was not felt it was appropriate to make any awards at that time. The Annual General Meeting of the club took place prior to the presentations being made.
Mike Beaumont took part in the 21st Hastings Half Marathon in March and won the Ron Sellman Award for the first local soccer player to finish. He received the trophy at the presentation evening held at the Hastings Centre, The Ridge from Olympic athlete Sean Baldock, himself a former winner of the prize.
Although it was a very difficult decision to make in withdrawing the first team, it appeared that this was the correct one with the spirit within the club improving and players from both teams turning up to support the other when fixtures permitted. It was felt that the club now had a stronger base on which to build for the future.
PRESENTATION EVENING
Fairlight Lodge Hotel – Friday, 17th June 2005
