Your own season review...

Pretty much what the title says, a review of your own team.

What could you have done to improve if needed? Who was the stand out players? Who kept things ticking behind the scenes? What will you do different next season?

Just the usual stuff, look forward to the replies.

Fosse City.

Finished 2nd in Division 2 so I suppose it's got to go down as a successful season although we finished last season very strongly and strengthened in the summer so were hoping to maybe top the table.

Started off poorly losing a big game against Guthlaxton and in truth we never really looked like challenging Foxes for the title. Best result was probably beating Frolesworth in the cup but we also took some hammerings against Foxes, Fleckney, Star and FC Hob.

Main Positive for us this season in my opinion has been our new keeper Andy Pickering who hasn't put a foot wrong, we won games by the odd goal this season that we'd have lost last season.

Disappointingly, on so many occasions we have dominated teams for long periods without scoring the goals our performances deserved. Missing so many chances in the process. Then we go and concede 3 or 4 goals in a mad 15 minutes and it's game over.

Re. The cup competitions, we went out to Hob, Star and Magna, all very good teams but very disappointed with ourselves when losing a quarter final to Magna, no disrespect to Paulo and the lads but it's a game we should be winning. The Magna lads were fired up to get revenge for the Stokes cup final 2 years ago and just wanted it more than us and deserved their win.

We will need to strengthen over the summer as I think we only have around 12 or 13 players now and competing in Division 1 will be a big ask.

6/10 Must try harder.

Harborough Hotshots - Div 6 runners up.

Our season went pretty much to plan, anything less than promotion was always going to be a failure.

We lost a few key players pre season, but by the time we were 2-3 games into the season we were more than happy with the replacements we had found.

We started off the season great, won the first 5-6 games without too much problem, usual draw at home vs NPE. Then around mid November we seemed to just lose interest, turnouts were poor each week and those that did turn up were arriving at 10:25am, not kitted or warmed up so we never stood a chance. During this time we lost both league games vs Royal Oak, Wheel and knocked out of the cups we were hoping to do well in. When we broke up for Christmas we were really in a bad way, unsure of what to expect from the rest of the season.

Fortunately for us, we came back after xmas better than ever, everybody was up for it, morale and attitude were fantastic, this showed with us winning every game in 2012 to clinch second place in the league, including a great 5-2 away win at undefeated table toppers, NPE. Also we managed to bag an alliance team of the month award.

Looks like we may be adding a bit more quality to our team this summer, hopefully not losing any along the way but you never know. If we can keep the same group together next season i don't see why we can't go on to challenge for another promotion.

I'd have to give us 9/10, we let ourselves down mid season but we turned it around with some cracking performances and promotion. well done lads.

MDH Knights - Mid table Div 3

Well at the start of the season a lot of people were tipping us for propping up the table so in that sense we have done ok, and with 1 game remaining we can still come anywhere from 4th to 7th. The start of the season was a disaster losing 4 of the opening 5 struggling to find the right balance and formation coupled with not killing games off, 2-3 being our most common result and most of them we were 2-0 up in. But a great run from early November to February unbeaten i think saw us turn things around, we had a setback with DME folding as we had beaten them twice and the teams around us dropped points there and that knocked us back into the bottom 2 again but once again we dug deep and picked up the results to get to mid table, doesn't sound much but in a very competitive division after our start we can be reasonably happy. Along the way we've had some cracking results too just lacked a bit of consistancy, proven by we have taken more points off the top 3 than bottom 3 (excluding us should we finish there).

In the cups it's been another nearly season for us 2 semi final defeats, in the county cup to Reem Team and more painfully in extra time of the Fosters cup to Magna Town left us disapointed with no trip to Holmes Park this season.

Looking forward to next season our gaffa has a couple of quality players on his hitlist and will look to bring them in, hopefully only one player leaving off to uni, so may fit a few games in here and there. We've gone through this season with a squad of only maybe 13 players for the most part, luckily most are committed enough to show even when steaming so maybe a couple of extra squad players are also needed but sure the gaffa will look at that.

7/10 - After a poor start the side has shown great team spirit to turn things around, if we can be a little more consistant and kill teams off when we have the chance hopefully we can put in more of a challenge at the right end next season.

Magna Town (Division 3 runners up- i think!)

Again bit like Lee at MDH we were tipped to finish in the bottom 2 by many so from that point of view am very pleased with the outcome- but again our season tailed off towards the end which was disappointing as this seems a re occuring theme.

High points- Beating Fosse, we had lost the previous week in the County Cup semi final so a big performance was required, had Fosse scored first I have no doubt we would have crumbled and lost, luckily thats not how it happened. Beating Huncote in the last minute of extra time of the County Cup was another high point in a very very tight game

Low points- Losing to Malborough in County Cup was the start of the demise of our season, from that point, confidence started to crack. Losing to Saff Lounge in the final, in not a particularly high quality final, think we worried to much on what Saff may or may not be doing and were suitably punished and another winners trophy missed out on.

Next season, need a centre forward to push on (applicants apply within), hoping to keep the squad together, 2 pieces of silverware is no mean feet (albeit two runners up trophies) so hopefully will be enough to keep everyone on board.

7/10.....A positive season but left wondering what could have been!

Sparta Moshdock - 3rd in the Prem

Started off with a terrible preseason, losing most of our friendlies to lower league opposition. Many people, including people within the club, had written us off before the season even started and many had us down to fold before Christmas.

Losing away to Glenfield 3-0 in the opening game didn't help, but from then on in we dug deep and quickly improved. Disappointing cup runs in the Arthur Moore and Billy Walton were the only footballing negatives. We reached the quarters of the County Cup and lost in extra time to a very good Wigston Car Breakers team....so no real disgrace there.

We managed to go the whole season with no Prem side doing the double over us, and the result of the season will be either the 2-0 away win at Prem Sports or the recent 3-2 win against Advance.

Player wise, there were a number of stand out performers over the season. Aaron Preston again banging in the goals for us, Mark 'Nolly' Preston trying hard to match his brother in the goal scoring charts in his debut season in mens football at the tender age of 17, deserves a mention. The other youngster, Jon Tature, has been an inspired signing, putting in solid performances in several positions. Finally, Warren Butlin in goal has been immense and saved us a lot of points!

We actually finished the season joint 2nd, only goal difference denying us the runners up spot! However, the deducted points which cost us out and out 2nd place did somewhat sour the season, as we feel, and continue to believe, the decision was somewhat unfair. The worst part being that little asterix next to our name on the website, portraying us as some sort of cheats, when there is more to it than that! But we moved on and didn't dwell on this on the pitch!

Overall though, outstanding first season in the Prem for us and far outdid any expectations we may have had! Hopefully be able to make a few signings and push on next season.

9.5/10

NRI - 1st Div 3
When the season started we set our sights on a good cup run, but many of us expected to be just above mid table with teams like Aylestone Lounge, Reem and DME touted by many as the potential winners of the league. Some people said we wouldnt win anything this season and even suggested we would fold come December!!
Anyway, we have proved ourselves hard to beat once again this season, with only one loss in the league, and unbeaten at home in the league all season (only one home league loss in our history!), however, nothing can be taken away from the difficulty in winning this league. The highlight probably when we cam back from 4-0 down to beat Saff Lounge, showing some real mental strength. Also the faultless performance in our second match against Reem Team sticks high at the top of the list, especially for myself in terms of redemption!!
We had a lot of new players this season who played a prominent part in the season, lads like Leon Coleman, Chris Eames, Jimmy Dixon and Andy Veasey all being superb for us.
They say the second series is always the most difficult, and this was definitely true!!
Also this season was good for growing closer 'ties' with clubs Magna and Huncote who have given us probably our toughest and most enjoyable games in the league over the past two seasons, all played in great spirit with good sets of people
League performance - 9/10

The cups....ahhhh dear, where to start...really hit home when we saw teams like Magna, Reem and Saff having a night out at Holmes Park, we knew that we should have done better in some of the cups.
Losing to Birstall Stamford 3rds early doors was a massive disappointment, i would say they were the worst team we have played this season and we would beat them 10/10 times from now on, our worst performance of the season.
Losing to DME in the Fosters - our second worst performance of the season, it was dire, probably not helped by the on pitch problems the week before, the game was so lacking in passion and we just rolled over.
Lost 3-2 to a very good Star and Garter side, i thought we were unlucky in this, hitting the bar in the last minute and having two players off injured in the first twenty minutes, we battled hard and fought for everything.
Cup performance - 2/10

Polska - 4th div 2

We've continued to improve with the bulk of our (Polish) players having looked better with 1 season of English Sunday morning football under their belts. Got off to a great start beating both Hurricanes and St Patricks away, only for those two 2 fold early on. Our bogey side were Wigston. We dominated them for half an hour at home, but couldn't score, and as soon as they found the net we collapsed. Almost exactly the same thing happened against them away.

Second half of the season we really turned things around - especially with 4 games to go when we realised we would be playing the top 4 sides! We also signed Lukasz Tabaka from Parva before Christmas which gave us a bit of momentum, but for me the key was the return of Radek Gaglewski down one wing, and the impressive Maciek Wisniewski down the other - who has been the find of the season for us. With the 2 Chater brothers also performing consistently well. We've also picked up some real gems from midweek training who hadn't played on Sundays before. Against that top 4 we were solid, and although we drew 3 and lost 2-1 to champions Foxes, we should have drawn to them, and certainly beat Gutho and Webbys at home.

We do need to tighten up defensively, and turn draws into wins and also stop throwing away leads, but we have certainly improved. More work to be done though, goal difference of '0' and 6 draws in the league underline that.

Leicester Foxes 1st division two

After securing promotion last season finishing third behind S&G and FC Hoskins we went into this season with the intention of giving it the best we could and winning a cup.

On the cup front we played hoskins and beat them after a tough game and then played dunton and broughton in the next round, In my opinion we were most dominant in this match than any other put couldn't buy a goal and ended up losing by a goal. We are also knocked out of another cup by MDH being 4-2 up with 15 minutes to go mdh went for the kill and deservedly beat us, So very dissapointing on that front.

In the league however it quickly came apparent that it was possible we could finish top 3 with the way we were playing, im sure we were a good few points clear when st pats and hurricanes folded which added a bit more pressure on ourselves. The only blip of the season was away to webbys, i would like to say i wasnt there! But word is they deserved the win as a couple of our lads attitude was completely wrong, Big time charlies they aren't. Anyway the rest of the season went according to plan but not without some squeaky bum time namely polska holding us off for 75 minutes and wigston united threating a great comeback from 3-0 down only to run out of time and finished 3-2.

I would say that we have played well this year but with no dissrespect to any of the teams in division 2, it hasn't been the strongest set of teams.

Special mention to the old boy from Trinderbox who scored against us after my chocolate foot clearance & most importantly gary bowen, sid and Gerald who all do a great job for the foxes..

Advance Couriers-2nd Prem

Now for 90% of teams in any standard of football, runners up and 2 cup finals would be classed as a very successful season, yet for us this season has still been somewhat disappointing.

With 4 games in the league remaining it was still in our hands, yet 2 defeats in them 4 games scuppered any chance of us winning the league, the 3 games we did lose this season we felt we should of won (taking nothing away from those teams),

The County Cup which we have been in the previous 3 finals, we didnt get past the 3rd rd, now we lost to the eventual finalists but personally I felt we shouldn't of lost that game missing a glorious chance to go 4-2 up, and ending up losing 4-3 with the last kick of the game.

The Billy Walton has stirred up some strange results this year meaning that apart from Bullshead (who folded) we didnt have to play another Prem side en route to the final, our most difficult fixture on paper to the final were local rivals S&G in the semi's, which provided a much awaited fixture for most of the Alliance league, and proved to be my personal highlight of the season.

Finally the one piece of Silverware that we have managed to win this year and retain being the Arthur Moore, although we won our group apart from Horse the other fixtures all the way through were very tight and competitive none more so than the final against Premier.

On a personal note my season I feel has been disappointing although I accept I'm never gonna reach the heights of last season I do feel I should've scored more than I have plus the fact I failed to score against either of our closest rivals, age is definately catching up with me as Ive had 2 injuries this year ruling me out for a number of games and have played the last 2 games slightly injured maybe the time is nearer than I'd like

Leicester Bharat talbot

season review

one Word S***e

:-)

soave

Little Bowden - 6th Division 6

We finished last season in 7th place and, following losing our 30+ goal a season striker to MDH Knights we knew we were going to be facing an uphill struggle if we wanted promotion (which was initially our target. We Started well with a win over Friar Lane, but then came visits from NPE, Hotshots and Pollards in succession. We lost all three which really hit our confidence - especially losing the Hotshots game where we took the lead and succumbed to two very dodgy pens. Leaving us rooted to the bottom. A point from our next two came and it looked like we might be struggling to stay in the league, with goals especially hard to come by. We then picked up back to back wins, another two draws and things started to look up but then Hotshots and NPE brought us back down to earth. We won back to back again against teams in 4th after this (Royal Oak and Pollards) and we thought 3rd was up for grabs, but then we went and threw away games to Firs OB and Hat & Beaver and ended up 6th.

6/10 - We aimed to improve. We did by one place although we expected more. We desperately need a goalscorer. We probably have one of the meanest defences in the league but if we concede even one you do wonder where the goals are going to come from. If we can get ourselves a 20+ goal a season man we will be right up there next season. No question about that.

White Eagles - 4th in Div 6.

With it being our first season we didn't really know what to expect, I suppose we would have taken mid-table. We started disastrously, losing to NPE, then Hotshots and then Epworth 5-0 at home. But we then bounced back to beat Hat and Beaver and since then our form has been fantastic really.

Had it not been for our 2 point deduction and poor losses away to Friar Lane and Firs, our finish would have been much more comfortable but we still got the job done with an excellent double over Pollards towards the end of the season.

Look forward to next season and hopefully a bit of success with an ever improving squad!

A.F.C ROYAL OAK - 3rd, Division 6

We started the season as everyones favourites to finish in the bottom 2. We were quietly confident that we would do ok in this division after competing in the previous years division 3 against some big big teams. Results were bad that season but performances gave us something to build on going into 2011/12. Pre season went well with some rigorous training to whip us into shape and had some mixed results, but again good performances in our friendlies. We managed to draft in a couple of experienced heads into our defence, John Doyle and Chris Montoto to help organise our back line. But we were still struggling for an out and out goal scorer at this time.
So the season started, and i was unfortunately on holiday. Bad timing i know. I recieved news that we had a very average start to the season, drawing to Pollards (which looking back was a good point), and losing to Hat & Beaver ( our bogey side), with a little help of from our one and only John Doyle scoring 2 cracking own goals.

When i came back we seemed to pick up after a win v's Friar Lane we went on a bit of a run winning quite a few games in succession. Our game v's Epworth showed me that everything that we had been working for was paying off and absolutely destroyed them 5-1. Unfortunately they was soon to drop out
Our back to back victories versus Harborough Hotshots and then a win at struggling Firs Old Boys left us feeling optimistic going into the Christmas break.

We then had our game away to NPE and we was all confident of a positive outcome after giving them a good game previously. The game ended 1-0 to NPE. We felt we gave a good account of ourselves but knew our title dreams were over.
We then had some mixed results which left us lower down the table than we expected but knew we had games in hand to climb the table. We knew we were missing a killers instinct up front and was pleased Daz Jones joined us from Blaby. He proved to be part of a Very good double act upfront, proving to be the perfect partner for Simon Herbert.
We went on a great end of season run winning our last 5 games comfortably and conceding 0 goals securing 3rd position in the process.

Our Cup games went ok this season. We would liked to of done better in 2 of the cups, but lost to eventual winners in the county cup. Felt hard done to losing to Pollards and Superfly in the domestic cups. Will be looking to improve on our cup runs next year and would like to reach atleast the semi's of any competition.

Personally my stand out players for our season were,
Simon Herbert - Not naturally his best position but this season has improved massively for me upfront, and the goals have flowed. Looking for more of the same next season.
Chris Montoto - Has been solid all season and has organised our backline into one of the toughest defences in the league. Constantly talking to his team mates and isn't shy of a tackle or two.
Dan Maxwell - To score the amount of goals he has done from left back is a great achievement. Bags of energy and loves to work for the team.

Ones to watch next season -
Daz Jones - hopefully can get him down all season and will cause many a defence problems. Pace to burn.
Shaun Doyle - missed him for a large chunk when he went off on his travels. Can boss a game and scores some cracking goals.

With quite a few big injuries last season and a couple of retirements we'll be looking to try add to our squad for next season but look to give division 6 a real good go and hopefully a successful campaign.