ORAFC Championship Title for 7th Team |
15/06/2001 |
Through hard toil, great skill, fantastic teamwork and terrific leadership, the Old Reigatian 7th XI have been crowned with the Division Eight South League Championship. A proud moment for the whole Club.
Pictures at foot of page
The first game of the season and Old Reigatian VIIs set out on an incredible season at home to Sutton. They are the whipping boys of the league, but if you only turn up with 8 players, what do you expect? By half time we were three goals to the good. Sutton had another two players turn up but this didn't stop the 7s going on to win 11-0 with Tim Hooper scoring five and Paul Grant scoring three and both failed to buy a jug!!!!!!!
On to a cup game at Wilsons where we were given a lesson in the art of biased reffing, but that stands to reason - it was away at Wilsons.
New boys, Guildford were our next victims, a missed penalty lost Andy Bull his main supply of goals and Tim Hooper duly slotted the next one home in the same game.
At home to a stronger than normal Meads side in the cup. Two well taken goals by Jeremy Barnes and a breathtaking display in goal by Eagles including a last minute flying save and them hitting the bar sent us into the unknown of the second round. Even their skipper said that Eagleton won the game for us - high praise indeed.
A month passed and with no games due to the weather the Sevens found themselves indoors at Edenbrige for 5-aside, thanks to Nick Barclay.
Guildford away and the Sevens record what was to be the first of many doubles with a 5-2 win on a pitch about a mile from the club house.
Sutton away and our worst performance of the season. Adrian was not happy, but then we did play crap on a small pitch. One good thing to come out of this game was Mark Ransom's goal that bobbled in from 25 yards, although he will tell you different if you ask him.
THE SECOND ROUND OF THE CUP!!!!!! This game was nearly postponed when we got there, due to a frozen pitch but a late pitch inspection and both Andy Bull and Adrian Holloway having driven to North London agreed we should play (hindsight is such a wonderful thing). Only 1-0 down with 25 minutes to play.....how did they score seven more!
A sad day for the Sevens but what a way to go this match was Adrian Holloway's last game as skipper as he went in search of work in birmingham it was also Rob Aris 's last game as he broke his collar bone in the line of duty. Paul Grant scored a great free kick then 5 minutes later andy bull scored a free kick from the other side of the penalty area to match Granty's for quality. Wilsons crept back in to this game with two scrappy goals and when Rob broke his collar bone and Reigate having used all their subs (one of which was a keeper), we had to play the last 10 minutes with Alan Harding in goal and with only 10 men. Victory tastes so sweet against Wilsons.
Andy Bull was promoted to Captain on Saturdays and Nick's side-kick. How was he going to follow such a good start? Pretty fantastically as it goes.
A double header against Meads and six more valuable points secured in our quest for glory. Goals from Jeremy Barnes and Steve Moore saving the day in the second game as we went one-nil down for the first time in the league.
At home to St Mary's - one of our title contenders - and we sent them away with their tails between their legs. Another fine display between the sticks from Eagles and some quality finishing from Granty and Richard Haydon for his first goal of the campaign.
A double-header against Shene. Well the pitch was unplayable and it was at Shene, so no ref. We won the first match 2-1. Some very brave goalkeeping from Gerry in apalling conditions and tackles flying in and getting progressively worse as the match went on. Nevertheless, the first game was really even with hotshot Barnes just edging it for us with a fine brace. A win was fair and it seemed that playing in the spirit of the League as we were would pay off. We changed keepers at half-time, but it was hard for anyone to come on clean into that mudbath and it was a mistake that was partly to blame for us losing the match (again, hindsight is 20:20 vision). It wasn't all down to Eagleton's fumbling though (he'd been in the 5s too long and had no confidence left), but it was more than a lot to do with the fact that Shene made 8 changes for the second game. Hmmm wonder where they came form?
The winning run came to an end and Nick Barclay bowed under the pressure and disappeared to spain for two weeks (fine time to book your jollies; mid-season!)
A double header against Tenisonians and again another six points. This first game was where I believe we showed signs of true championship aspirations, it was also our best performance. We looked solid throughout the side with Eagles commanding in goal, Eddie marshalling the defence, Steve, Rob and Richard solid, Alan, Dave and Tim putting in strong performances in midfeild and Jeremy and Alan Mazzetti working hard up front. Andy bull put in a Captain's performance grabbing the only goal with a fine header at the near post from Alan Couling's free kick. The second part of this double header was a different story: enter Alan Harding. Alan (or Grandpa as he's been dubbed in the 7s) ran the show up front, he ran their back four ragged, scored two goals after only getting in the side on the off chance. Two well-deserved clean sheets for Eagles and the back four boys. Great delight was taken texting Nick with the result that night (mission accomplished all six points in the bag enjoy your hols)
A comfy 5-0 win in the first match of our double header against Tiffs where Andy Bull re-established himself as penalty taker scoring two from the spot. Alan Harding scored a fine brace and Jeremy Barnesfinished off the rout (with all the other games in the priory it was nice to see senior selection committee members watching the sevenths). Tiffs were stronger for the second game and we scrapped through to win 2-1 Dave Littlemore claims he scored but we will look into that - if he did it would open and close his scoring account for the season. Their goal, by the way was an oggie after a call of "Al's" meant everyone left it for Al and it hit Richard Horn and went in. Now it could n't have been Harding because he was on the bench at the time...so who was it?
Away to a stong (and mixed) St Marys on a massive pitch. We never got going like we have in the past - maybe with a title insight and only needing one more point to make certain we buckled under the pressure and lost out to two quick break away goals. On returning to the St Marys pub for some hospitality, Mark and Alan both enjoyed a pickled egg, whereas I opted for a pickled onion and Eddie whimped out. As we were the only members of the team to return to their place, between the four of us we ate sarnies for twelve and Mark tried to lock me in the toilets.
With our last game against Wilsons not needing to be played we were crowned...
MAY I TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HARD WORK AND COMMITMENT IN MAKING THIS SEASON AN ENJOYABLE AND SUCCSEFULL YEAR. MANY THANKS TO ONE AND ALL ESPECAILLY NICK AND EDDIE (those warm-ups are great, we could really learn from them)
ANDY BULL 7TH X1 CAPTAIN
(with little bits added by Mark Eagleton)
 |
 |
 |
 |
| The two faces of goalkeeping as dispayed by Messrs Harding and Patterson |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
| ...but then you've got to be pretty brave to play up front! |
Whereas midfielders just scratch their bums and walk about |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
| The view from the goal |
Last kick of the game |
Finally something to celebrate |
and a mudbath for the hell of it |
|