End of Season Reviews.

Thoughts on how your season went?

Best teams you played against?

Best player you played against?

Best pub you visited?

How our season went:

Considering we were only promoted to the prem this season I think we at fc azzurri have done really well, we were challenging for the league right up until Wednesday when our defeat to oscars ruled out any chance of us winning the league. Our main failing in the league has been the amount of game we drew, other than the 1-1 draw with star and garter I think we have thrown the other games away and should of really won them. We got to the final of the Arthur Moore cup and to the semi final of the billy Walton losing to star and garter and Sparta moshdock respectively. We were knocked out the county cup early on by creation builders. I don't think there has been a time all season where we have fielded the same team twice on the trot, I think going forward we are one of the best teams in the league however not so hot at the back, we kind of had the "we'll score more than you approach".

Best teams we've played against:

Obviously star & garter and creation builders are quality teams but the standout performance from a team against us came from Sparta moshdock in the billy Walton semi final, they were all over us like a rash, didn't give us anytime on the ball and I don't think I have ever seen a team work so hard for each other.

Best player we've played against:

This is easy for me, Aron Preston tore us apart in the semi final!!!!! Might try and tap him up for us for next season haha

Best pub:

Only the star & garter invited us back so will have to be there.

Firstly, thank you to Dezza for the kind words above. We've played Azzurri 4 times this season and every single minute has been played in the right way with some good banter between the sides.

Our season:
Our league form has been pretty shocking, the worst it has ever been for us in our 7 years. We went through some tough times earlier in the season, struggling to get players there but it was the cup runs that kept our season going. We lost to Creation in the quarters of the County Cup, and we lost to Azzurri in the quarters of the Arthur Moore. But it was our determination to get to Holmes Park that saw our best display of the season against Azzurri in the semi final of the Billy Walton. This was followed by another terrific performance in the final against S&G to win the cup. Those two displays were made up of fight and work rate and pure desire to win for each other. We didn't have enough of that in the league this season, but hopefully with a few more additions we can do better on all fronts next season.

Best teams:
S&G have got to be up there, apart from the final, we only took a point from them this season. Creation Builders are also a decent team and tore us apart. Azzurri would be up there as well, got some great attacking players but also because we actually enjoyed playing them.

Best Players:
Jim Mee at S&G on his day can terrorise anyone. Rikki Bates at Azzurri also grabbed a few goals against us and their big cb with the beard was a great defender. Overall though, I'd go for Jake Duffy when we played Creation.

Best Pub:
Our very own Horse and Trumpet now after the Billy Walton win!!!!

spartamoshdock wrote:

Firstly, thank you to Dezza for the kind words above. We've played Azzurri 4 times this season and every single minute has been played in the right way with some good banter between the sides.

Our season:
Our league form has been pretty shocking, the worst it has ever been for us in our 7 years. We went through some tough times earlier in the season, struggling to get players there but it was the cup runs that kept our season going. We lost to Creation in the quarters of the County Cup, and we lost to Azzurri in the quarters of the Arthur Moore. But it was our determination to get to Holmes Park that saw our best display of the season against Azzurri in the semi final of the Billy Walton. This was followed by another terrific performance in the final against S&G to win the cup. Those two displays were made up of fight and work rate and pure desire to win for each other. We didn't have enough of that in the league this season, but hopefully with a few more additions we can do better on all fronts next season.

Best teams:
S&G have got to be up there, apart from the final, we only took a point from them this season. Creation Builders are also a decent team and tore us apart. Azzurri would be up there as well, got some great attacking players but also because we actually enjoyed playing them.

Best Players:
Jim Mee at S&G on his day can terrorise anyone. Rikki Bates at Azzurri also grabbed a few goals against us and their big cb with the beard was a great defender. Overall though, I'd go for Jake Duffy when we played Creation.

Best Pub:
Our very own Horse and Trumpet now after the Billy Walton win!!!!

Big centre back is dean Edwards ! He will tell you he's a goal scoring centre mid if you listen to him haha best defender in the league in my opinion.

Thoughts on how your season went?

First season together and must admit despite everything going on think everyone had an enjoyable season. Our form was so up and down it was unreal, and no surprise we will finish bang in mid table. The lads have been great and most have played in a variety of positions without moaning due to the number of injuries. Highs include taking 4 points off Pochin (only team to do that I think!?) but then the inconsitancy kicks in with games we really should have been winning. New management team next season with a couple of new players and hope to push on

Best teams you played against?
Pochin away were tremendous, played with 10 men for 70 minutes as the shouty bald bloke at the back got sent off they dominated the game and were unlucky to lose the game. Strong from back to front and will no doubt do well in Division 3

Should also mention Moshdock that spanked us for 16! (the worst defeat of my football career by some distance!) they were outstanding...says a lot when the lads come off losing like that and just struggle it off...there was nothing we could do about them that day!

Best player you played against?
Pochin GK: Best keeper I have seen for a long long time

Best pub you visited?
Cant say we remember going back to many pubs...apologises if I have forgotten, but our facilities as Huncote are spot on, the pitch has played brilliantly (apart from the QPR game just as the rain came), having a bar on site has been a real plus for us also

Finally just a quick thank you to Division 5, it has been a fantastic league to be involved in, all the games have been played in the right way and there have been plenty of upsets along the way. Good luck to Wigston and Pochin in the higher division! Been a pleasure!

Thoughts on how your season went?

A good season for a second year. a third place finish in a tough league is brilliant, especially with the calibre of the new teams in the division. Finished 5th last season so climbed two places with a record points talley. Scored more goals and from more areas of the pitch. The cup run didn't quite work out for us, we were unlucky in the county cup against Suecaslte and we rotated for the stokes cup.

Best teams you played against?

Has to be star and garter in the cup. Only lost 6-1 considering the gap between divisions so not too bad. Friar lane the best team we played in our division and it was two hard fought draws against them.

Best player you played against?

Can't think of any stand out players, obviously star had a few but played well as a team, same with friar lane. Suecastle had a couple of stand out players and vale had the captain who was there best player against us.

Best pub you visited?

Don't think we went back to a pub and we didn't go back to the plough after the game which was unfortunate. Some of the lads go to the wyg so probably that one.

Thoughts on how your season went?
Very happy to have won the league again, 2nd on the bounce. Was a very tough division but we came out the blocks and I thought for the first few months we were unstoppable in the league. We picked up quite a few injuries by mid November and playing when ever the council finally let us play was hard. We had a couple of dodgy months where our form slipped but managed to get back in the winning habit when it mattered.
A terrific division to be a part of with competitive games throughout. Just a shame there wasn't another couple of teams in the division.
Personally am disappointed with our efforts in the cup competitions. County Cup we came up against arguably the best team we've played all season in Shoeys, beaten in the second round. You just never know what kind of standard of teams are in the County Competitions.

Best teams you played against?
In the Cups it would be difficult as Shoeys, F.C Azzuri & Frolesworth stopped us. F.C Azzuri didn't perhaps play their best against us and I was gutted we couldn't of played our full strength team to give them more of a game. A toss up between Shoeys & Frolesworth I would personally say Shoeys edged it for me.
In the League Thurmaston Reserves for me. 2 tough games and 3 points a piece between the 2 sides.

Best player you played against? God Knows, I don't really take much notice of the opposing players. But any of the superstars at Azzuri surely

Best pub you visited? weren't invited to many. Huncote have a good set up but our mood wasn't the best after the defeat. Thurmaston invited us but we ended up going to the wrong pub :Z and Azzuri we didn't manage to get down unfortunately! So I would have to say First Break for looking after us all season.

Hope it's ok for ref's to chip in here........End of my first season as a referee for the Alliance League and it's been a steep learning curve but a very enjoyable one!

Overall the season has been great and league a pleasure to be a part of. 99% of players have played in the right way, have offered advice and been welcoming before and after games. Some good banter had with teams, especially the boys down at Fleckney Athletic   

Best Team I've refereed
Having only refereed teams from Div 3 to 7 I can't comment on the teams further up, although I was lucky enough to be put on the line for the cup final where Star & Garter were impressive. I've had CFA a couple of times and they move the ball around well, organised at the back and have some decent players.
LKS too get a mention

Best Player
LKS central midfielder, tall, curly haired bloke was very skillful and cut through teams for fun. Also good at controlling his players which as a ref is a massive help!

Again thanks to the teams I've reffed whether it be an enjoyable game or on very rare occasion not so enjoyable. Already looking forward to next season and hopefully get to visit a few of the top tier clubs as well.

Thoughts on how your season went?
We leave on a slightly disappointing note after continual promotions took us from div 5 all the way to the prem. In honesty we had intended to call it a day last year but having got there it felt wrong to bow out without really testing ourselves.
On the pitch we feel we have let ourselves down slightly, we certainly haven't been at our best but each year we have begun with a playing squad of 16/17 and this year with 4/5 injuries of 8 weeks + it finally caught us out. That said a mid table finish isn't disastrous, I suppose it just shows the ability we believe we have in this group.
We knew we were earmarked as potential strugglers but we wanted to give it a go. The one thing we thought was that the level would be all round better and in terms of the teams playing that would be true BUT we were MASSIVELY disappointed in both the configuration of the league (Unfortunately this fell outside of all control as teams dropped out) and the standard of officiating which was at times appalling. There are a great set of officials working within the Alliance League and why oh why we saw them assigned div 6/7 games when we received massively sub standard I will never understand. THIS WAS NOT ALL OFFICIALS and to the many that did a fine job I thank you for that, however there was some utter tosh which having got to that level I find unacceptable.

Best teams you played against?
This season it would have to be Creation Builders - we worked like mad men to hold them and made it to extra time before the class just paid off, however S&G were a great side also.

Best player you played against?
Clint Gunn was an absolute nemesis to our back line this year - each time the lads came off thanking God it was over!

Best pub you visited?
The Horse & Trumpet

Hairy Hebrew! wrote:

Thoughts on how your season went?
Very happy to have won the league again, 2nd on the bounce. Was a very tough division but we came out the blocks and I thought for the first few months we were unstoppable in the league. We picked up quite a few injuries by mid November and playing when ever the council finally let us play was hard. We had a couple of dodgy months where our form slipped but managed to get back in the winning habit when it mattered.
A terrific division to be a part of with competitive games throughout. Just a shame there wasn't another couple of teams in the division.
Personally am disappointed with our efforts in the cup competitions. County Cup we came up against arguably the best team we've played all season in Shoeys, beaten in the second round. You just never know what kind of standard of teams are in the County Competitions.

Best teams you played against?
In the Cups it would be difficult as Shoeys, F.C Azzuri & Frolesworth stopped us. F.C Azzuri didn't perhaps play their best against us and I was gutted we couldn't of played our full strength team to give them more of a game. A toss up between Shoeys & Frolesworth I would personally say Shoeys edged it for me.
In the League Thurmaston Reserves for me. 2 tough games and 3 points a piece between the 2 sides.

Best player you played against? God Knows, I don't really take much notice of the opposing players. But any of the superstars at Azzuri surely

Best pub you visited? weren't invited to many. Huncote have a good set up but our mood wasn't the best after the defeat. Thurmaston invited us but we ended up going to the wrong pub :Z and Azzuri we didn't manage to get down unfortunately! So I would have to say First Break for looking after us all season.

We don't have superstars......they have attitudes like superstars but certainly don't play like it. Let you off jot coming to the pub, traffic was horrendous that day.

First year as a referee on the league. Having never done Sunday football before (in 30 years refereeing including at league level both in UK and abroad) I was open minded as to what to expect! Having done games in all divisions I can relate to all levels. 99% of the games have been enjoyable as teams have just wanted to play football. As ever there are still some players that cannot understand that no matter how much they moan it is going to be very rare that a referee will change a decision. By and large though most teams have accepted decisions and just got on with the game. If I had to select a team for 'fair play' it would have to be Frolesworth. They play nice touch football and just get on with the game, never had one complaint from any of their players about decisions. Was pleased to get appointed to a cup final, and a semi final, so thanks to the league for that. To all teams / players a big thank you for what was mainly a very sporting attitude. This is was football is all about. Put on your boots, give 100% be sporting and if you don't win then take defeat on the chin and try again in the next game. Congratulations to all teams who have achieved success this year

Whistle Blower1234 wrote:

Hope it's ok for ref's to chip in here........End of my first season as a referee for the Alliance League and it's been a steep learning curve but a very enjoyable one!

Again thanks to the teams I've reffed whether it be an enjoyable game or on very rare occasion not so enjoyable.  Already looking forward to next season and hopefully get to visit a few of the top tier clubs as well.

Welcome to the Alliance Forum - feel free to chip in at any time.
Pleased you enjoyed your first season and good luck for next season.