Success on the field is nice, but is not why we run this club – we want people to enjoy their football and reap all the mental and physical benefits that sport and camararderie can bring.
On Saturday our Colts team – formed this season from a selection of our previous U16s and others – picked up their first league point in Northamptonshire Combination Division 4 with a 1-1 draw against Wellingborough Old Grammarians Reserves.
While our as-yet-unbeaten Saturday Adults team has grabbed all the on-pitch attention, we thought that this result for our Colts was worth shouting about, as that team has had some heavy defeats in its infancy (especially the time it only had eight players turn up). Despite that, they are a fantastic group of players with a great team spirit and – despite what results might suggest – no shortage of individual talent.
It is great to see them start to grow as a team and gain understanding of the game and their positions. This result has been coming. Again, despite final scores, they have become increasingly competitive in the first halves of matches, only for things to fall away towards the end. They’ll do well to remember our Vets, who in their first season, scored only one goal and conceded upwards of a hundred. This season, they’re second in their league.
Huge credit must go to the leadership group; manager Simon Stevens, assistant Michael Hart, coach CJ and captain George Jeffrey. They’ve created and nurtured this group to the point where we now have stand-by lists for matches, when earlier in the season we were shouting out for help each week – at one point even fielding three players in their fifties alongside a handful of teenagers!
We couldn’t be more proud of the Colts – as we are of all our teams.
George Jeffery
Manager
