The core of the Kew Association Under 18 Youth still comes from the team that manager, Andy Gates, and his predecessor Craig Evans, have nurtured since starting the side as North Kingston Colts back in 2005. Up until early last season, the team was managed by Craig Evans, with Andy Gates as assistant manager/coach. See History.  When Craig followed his son Nik to our U17 Colts side, Andy became manager, with Bill Evans, father of Jack, taking on the role of assistant manager. Although an U17 side, as the Surrey Youth League didn’t have enough teams for a separate division, Kew ended up in the U18 premier elite, a season after finishing bottom of the second tier premier north at Under 16. However, a mixture of loss, win and draws in early matches suggested Kew wouldn’t be embarrassed.  But it didn’t give a clue as to what was to come. In the New Year, Kew Association Youth started with a draw against Walton and Hersham, then put together a run of five wins, all against other top sides, including beating title favourites Kingston. They only came unstuck, conceding a late goal to local rivals, Kew Park Rangers, as they pressed for the win which would have guaranteed them the title. Kew could only watch while Kingstonians played four games in hand, eventually pipping our lads by a single point, for Kew to finish joint runners-up.  For details of our first U18 season, follow this link.