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It was all the 3s on the 3rd of May as we drew 3-3 with 3rd placed Links Colts. What made it even more creditable was the fact it was an away match, coming just seven weeks after we went down 3-0 to the same side at home. With Hampton Manor also drawing, we’ve now definitely finished the season in 8th place in the Table. A week before, we put on an improved performance in our return match against local rivals, Kingstonians, going down 1-3 on 26 April. A 1-0 win over lowly side Ashford Town on 19 April moves us up to 8th, and towards mid-table respectability. Before Easter, we had another close result which belies our lowly status, as we held top side, Epsom and Ewell Colts to a narrow 3-2 win on 5 April. Prior to that, and playing probably our best football of the season, we enjoyed a decisive 4-2 win on 29 March, to complete the double over Hampton Manor. But for their goalkeeper, it could have been an even bigger win. With a small squad, we knew it would be a tough double header on 22 March against top half side Junior Bees. In the “away” leg, starting with just 9 men, we held them to a creditable 4-2 result, but as we tired, while they had subs to rotate, Bees ran away with the return leg, 0-7. We lost our game on 15 March, 0-3 to third-placed Links Colts. They scored all their goals in the first half and although we looked the better side in the second, we couldn’t break them down. We won our game on 8th March 3-2 at home to the side immediately above us, Hampton Manor. A tremendous team performance in a close contest, see Match Reports. We lost 5-1 against division leaders, Epsom and Ewell Colts, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Kew competed well in the first half, going to the break only 2-1 down. But with our shortage of subs against a full squad, Kew faded in the second half and Epsom and Ewell won comfortably. After a thrashing at hands of 2nd placed Bedfont Green last November, a creditable 1-2 defeat was the outcome in the return tie on 22 Feb. We got our first win of the year with a walkover against bottom of the table Barnes Eagles on 15 Feb. Prior to that, we went down 4-3 at Meadow Sports on 1 Feb, a duplicate of the result when they visited us in October. Snowed out the following week. On Sunday, 18 Jan, it was the first time we hadn’t been beaten in the League since early October. Mind you there were a lot of Cup matches and postponements along the way. It was a close-fought 4-4 draw at Links FC, the team that started our bad run when they visited three months ago.
After no games for two weeks, on 21 Dec we were hoping for a return to winning ways against Old Isleworthian Whites, against whom we had our best league result in the opening match of the season. Instead we were beaten 3-nil to fall to second bottom. Our Surrey FA Cup run came to an end in the third round against holders AFC Wimbledon. We just managed to keep it in single figures as this premier outfit ran out 9-0 winners. We lost our 23 Nov league match, 5-1 at Bedfont Green, a result that saw them go top. Four teams have now pulled away from the rest, so we need to make sure we’re competitive in the mid-table melee. Cup success did not follow Cup success as we crashed out of the Invitation Cup 2-5 to Junior Bees on 16 Nov. But we enjoyed an astonishing 21-0 thrashing of Worplesdon Phoenix to take us through in the Surrey FA Cup.
Two successive losses in the league made for a disappointing October, although they were close matches. We went down 3-4 at home to Meadow Sports, after losing to Links 3-5. Our only success in the month, on 5 Oct, came with a hard fought 3-2 win against Ashford. That followed a 5-1 loss on 21 Sept at local rivals Kingstonian Youth Colts, after a spectacular opening to the season when we beat Old Isleworthians White by a staggering 10-1. We had success in the Surrey FA Cup on 28 Sept, progressing to the next round with a 2-3 victory at NPL.
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