Men's 1s 2010-2011 Season Report
After a promising first season in Hampshire/Surrey Regional 1 in 2009/10, the men’s 1s were aiming for promotion this season. Our squad was largely unchanged and our pre-seaon Surrey Cup results hinted at bigger things to come.
The league got off to the best possible start with a 7-2 win over Southampton at home. Celebrations were, however, short-lived, as our season pre-Christmas turned out to be our worst in recent memory, recording two losses and four draws before finally beating now-relegated Trojans in late November.
Deferred matches and a soft loss to Havant saw us in a very tricky position come Christmas, and the team running low on confidence.
HA Trophy
2010 saw us reach the 3rd round of the HA Cup, and in true Accies style, we decided to make a night of it, opting to fly to Jersey to play our opponents, rather than use our home advantage to actually progress further in the competition.
Turns out we weren’t really interested in the Cup anyway this season, and our pre-match preparation, which started at Gatwick Airport and continued on into Jersey's finest drinking establishments, ensured could errr, focus on the league.
Post-Christmas
By the time January 15th rolled around, we were faced with a very different set of challenges than we had at that time one year ago, having been second in the league. Our first objective was to find some form and put some results on the board, and then do our best to turn the season around. We’d learnt from last season that it’s not over until the final whistle of the final match.
A bizarre, mildly comical match away at Southampton saw us get back to our winning ways with a close 6-5 victory. We made hard work of a team seemingly distracted by seagulls, nearby dogs and their own mad coach.
The next day we were faced with a rescheduled match against Reigate – a closely fought 3-2 loss.
The following weeks saw our season get back on track with wins over Bournemouth, Old Cranleighan’s, Oxted, Fareham and Chichester.
Any real hopes of a last minute scramble to a promotion place were dashed by a 4-0 loss to a well-drilled (and eventual champs) Woking, and a 4-3 loss to Winchester (having been 3-1 up). In truth, our season was undone by our poor pre-Christmas form, but these were still hard results to swallow on the back of our new-found momentum.
March came and went, but the undoubted highlight (aside from the players’ dinner) was the absolute destruction of poor-sports Reigate. Turns out we know how to hold a grudge, and one season of pent up injustice was avenged with a comprehensive 5-0 win at home. Emotions aside, it was actually the kind of performance we need to put in every week: early passing, hard pressing and taking opportunities in the circle.
We finished a fairly disappointing 6th – well below where we had aimed – but have come away with a very clear picture of what it will take in 2011/12 to achieve promotion to South Premier 2.
Thanks must be given to our two sometimes-bearded coach and captain combo, Ollie Davies and Dan Borg, whose commitment to the club, and in particular the men’s 1s, has been unwavering for the last few seasons.
They have both made a huge contribution to the club not only on the pitch but also in their work behind the scenes on the committee.
Everyone is enjoying a well-earned break and all eyes are definitely on the coming season, where we are working toward (not expecting) big things.