retired_richcoble

Our next match was away to Sutton United in the Conference South, we travelled to Gander Green Lane in a confident mood, the lads were really buoyant and had bonded really well over the course of the season, and they were all looking forward to the match after this but knew they had a job to do against Sutton United beforehand.


Six minutes into the game and Jones received a ball from Smith who had won the ball, the played the ball 20 yards forward to Mitchell in the centre of the pitch, Mitchell turned on the ball, in the process losing his man, he then hit a chipped ball forward for Hejazi. A Sutton Utd defender was running with Hejazi as the ball came down and Hejazi controlled it with his right foot while it was still in the air, dragging it back at the same time and taking it away from the Sutton Utd defender. That piece of skill had opened up some space for him and he shot at goal, bending the ball round the keeper’s left and into the bottom corner of the goal. Ten minutes into the game and Matt Gray was forced to concede a corner as he headed a ball out for safety from a Lemos cross. From the resulting corner Gray pushed Lemos and Matt Morris, the referee, gave a penalty, Appleby stepped up to take it and planted it in the bottom left corner of the goal for a two nil lead with only ten minutes gone in the match.


Sutton Utd were now applying pressure to my defence and half an hour into the game Gitselov cleared the ball from the defence of yet another Sutton attack and the ball found its way to Appleby. Appleby pushed the ball forward with a beautiful weighted pass that allowed Hejazi to run onto it despite the Sutton defender being in between my two strikers. Hejazi then took it across the defender before meeting the keeper just inside the area. It was a quick shimmy from Hejazi that took him round the keeper to the keepers right and Hejazi looked good to score, but instead of shooting he attempted to cross the ball as he was a bit wide of goal. The ball travelled in the direction of three Sutton defenders who couldn’t deal with it and one of them deflected the ball into his own net for a 3-0 Canterbury lead.


Paul Brown had come in from the left to receive a Gitselov header near the centre circle, he saw Hejazi making a bending run out to the left wing and played a nice ball into his path. Hejazi took the ball round his man before seeing Brown advancing quickly into the box and so he stroked the ball into Brown’s path just as Brown was entering the penalty area, Brown hit the ball first time at goal and it thundered into the goal, the keeper should really have saved it but the ball seemed to go straight through him!


We went in at half-time 4-0 up and comfortably cruising, for the next 25 minutes we patiently played our football and it wasn’t until the 72nd minute that a Harkness cross from way out left was met by the head of Appleby at the far post and sent back in the direction from whence it came and into the Sutton Utd goal. A 5-0 demolition and that was the final result, it was a wonderful performance and stood us in good stead for our game against Dagenham & Redbridge in the semi-finals of the FA Trophy.

Sutton United 0 Canterbury City 5
Goals: Hejazi 6, Appleby pen 10, 73, Palmer (OG) 30, Brown 34;
MoM: Mahmod Hejazi

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The victory against Sutton United guaranteed us a play-off spot in the Conference South after only 32 games. The following Saturday, the 18th, we played Dagenham & Redbridge at Marlowe Road. I was expecting a tough match and named the strongest line-up available to me. In the opening minutes it took Pidgeley’s agility and reflexes to keep us level as he made terrific saves from Saunders, Uddin, and Moore. Hejazi had a chance 11 minutes into the game when he cut inside from a Brown pass but his vicious shot when high and wide of the goal.


Lemos had exchanged passes with Smith 15 minutes into the game when he knocked it down the line for Gitselov who played it past the advancing Vickers before regaining possession and crossing the ball into the box, the ball looped over the Daggers defence and towards the back post where the head of Brown met the ball and crashed it into the net for a 1-0 Canterbury lead! After that Hejazi and Gitselov both came close, one from long range, the other up close but Roberts in the Daggers goal kept the ball out with some good saves. Moore had another chance for Dagenham 34 minutes in but he didn’t even get close to troubling Pidgeley in my goal.


Harkness had searched out Brown in the 36th minute and he passed it to Gitselov who turned and in the process was tripped by Vickers. Hejazi lined up for the free kick and took a sweeping run up, he dispatched it goalwards where the ball, in characteristic Hejazi fashion, nesteld itself into the top corner, beating the stranded keeper. It was struck from 20 yards out and was a wonderful free kick to give my team a 2-0 lead. Just five minutes later and Teymur got on the end of a good ball from Hejazi and sweeped it into the net past the keeper for a 3-0 lead.

At half-time I told the lads they were doing very well and to keep up their good performance but Dagenham started the second half like they did the first, with a number of chances. They fell to Vickers, Saunders, and Griffiths but they were either unable to get it on target or Pidgeley saved and kept his clean sheet.


With Dagenham pressing to get back in the game it was only a matter of time before they got exposed at the back and sure enough fifteen minutes from time Appleby flicked a ball on from a cross where Jones was still up from a corner a minute earlier and he shot at goal, receiving a deflection of Benson along the way, that ended up in the back of the net. 4-0 Canterbury and that’s how it finished.

Canterbury City 4 Dagenham & Redbridge 0
Goals: Brown 15, Hejazi 36, Teymur 41, Jones 76;
MoM: Mark Jones

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The following Wednesday we played Welling at home and despite the best efforts of my time I think they still had a hangover from a memorable cup victory and they could only play out a dull nil - nil draw. Before the game I had accepted a loan offer from Welling for Tim O’Donovan which meant he joined them just in time to play against us. After the game I noticed that for the first time Cambridge City had pushed themselves into a playoff spot ahead of Newport County who had hit a rough patch of form.

We then travelled to East London for the return leg against Dagenham & Redbridge which we won 1-0 thanks to a 57th minute goal from Appleby. Unfortunately during the game both Hejazi and Appleby were injured and after the game Horsley hurt himself in training. Horsley and Appleby would both be out for a week or two. The victory over Dagenham got us though to the Final of the FA Trophy and won us £16,000 in prize money. We would play Crawley Town who head beaten Weymouth 3-1 on aggregate.


Wednesday the 29th of March and we were away to 3rd placed Eastbourne Borough, the team that at the beginning of the season I thought would be pushing us all the way. We’d become more dominant while they had started to drop points as the season dragged on. Eastbourne is a town on the south coat in the county of Sussex which is next door to Kent. The journey there was not too long for us and one of the shortest of the season for an away match.


I returned Baker in between the sticks while starting Teymur and Hejazi due to Appleby’s injury and with Hejazi coming back to full fitness. Lemos replaced Brown on the left wing and Gitselov played in the central attacking midfield role with Daniels wide on the right. Smith, Blomkvist, Jones and Sorensen made up my back four. Mitchell captained the side as per usual.


It was Eastbourne who started off strongly winning a corner in the opening ten minutes which did not materialise into any chance but a free kick on the edge of the area five minutes later saw a chance for Fazakerley but he headed wide. A slow build up approach in the 22nd minute saw Eastbourne have a golden opportunity to score.


After some play at the back Ramsay won a ball in the air from Jones after Tuck had played it forward, his header found Crabb to his left who played an excellent ball into the path of Marney. Marney was clean through on goal with just the goalie to beat when Blomkvist caught up with him but Marney wasn’t fazed as took the ball round Blomkvist and shot at goal only for Baker to do fantastically well to get his fingertips to the ball. The ball trickled across the face of the goal six yards out and Fazarkerley pounced on the rebound but miscontrolled it as it fell before Keehan who had a great chance and put the ball away for an early Eastbourne lead.


They were a bit fortunate with the goal but if I was honest, they deserved to be leading as we hadn’t even created a single chance at that point. 31 minutes into the first half and Fazakerley had the ball down in the wide left and crossed for Ramsay but Ramsay pulled his shot wide of the goal. Fazarkerley had his own opportunity a few minutes later when the ball came to him at the far post, from close range he headed at goal but Baker made a great save in the Canterbury goal to prevent what looked like a certain goal and keep the Bishops in the game when the referee whistled for half-time.


It was two minutes into the second half before we created our first real opportunity when Lemos crossed into the area from deep on the left wing and Teymur, running into the box from deep, hit the ball on the volley with his left foot but Hook in the Eastbourne goal tipped the ball wide and it was cleared by a Eastbourne defender before it could go out for a corner kick. Teymur’s missed opportunity looked to have been punished when Hemsley did well to get the beating of Lemos in the air from a ball floated in by Crabb. His header looked destined for the goal but crashed against the woodwork and Baker caught it as it came down.


There were only twenty minutes left in the game when I shouted instructions onto the pitch for an attacking, creative and quick tempo change of tactic and told the lads to get forward and seek out an equaliser at all costs. The only chance we got despite my all out attack was from a Hejazi free kick that we won after Lemos had his shirt pulled by Austin, Hejazi’s effort was going in but for a punched clearance by Hook to keep Eastbourne ahead. The match ended 1-0 to Eastbourne and I was disappointed at such an abject display and our inability to even create a decent chance in the last half hour of the game.


Eastbourne Borough 1 Canterbury City 0
Goals: Keehan 23;
MoM: Kevin Hemsley


Man of the match deservedly went to Kevin Hemsley who was a rock in the Eastbourne defence and kept Teymur and Hejazi quiet for the entire game. Eastbourne had deserved the victory for an outstanding team performance and defensive display which completely shut us down. Eastbourne’s win against us was not enough to move them up to second as Weymouth beat Welling 1-0 to remain ahead by a point.


The loss was only our third in the Conference South all season and meant we were now only twelve points clear at the top of the table, while I was not worried about losing that lead, I wanted to quickly return to winning ways in our next match which was against Lewes. The defeat to Eastbourne also ended our streak of 24 games without defeat.

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After the defeat to Eastbourne I was surprised to learn when I came into the office on the Friday, the 31st, that Phil Knight had requested my attendance in the boardroom that morning. The receptionist informed me as I walked in the entrance. Being a bit of a pessimist when it comes to these sort of things I went along to the boardroom after dumping the stuff I’d brought into work for the day in my office feeling quite worried, even though we were sitting comfortably at the top of the table.

When I walked in Phil, Adam and Keith were sitting round the boardroom table and invited me to take a seat, and once I did so, proceedings began.

“Welcome Edward, so pleased you could join us” began Phil, “The reason we have called this meeting and invited you in here is to discuss the long-term future of the club and where we want us to be over the short to medium term. We want to achieve promotion from the Conference South in the short term before we attempt to survive in the Conference National and then hopefully consolidate there before moving onto better things. Now, in order to achieve this we need a talented manager and someone who is going to be here for the medium term, which is the reason for the meeting we are holding today.”

’Oh God’ I thought, they’re going to bring in a bigger name to replace me, someone with more experience now that I’ve unexpectedly got them to the brink of automatic promotion. It was that or they thought I wasn’t loyal even though I hadn’t applied for any other jobs with bigger clubs or anywhere for that matter.’

Phil continued: “That is why Edward, we have decided at this stage, even before the season is out, to offer you a new three year contract with the club running until June 2009 at £875 a week.”

“Wow” I muttered, stunned, “I was not expecting that, wow, thank you. I really appreciate the show of faith and confidence in my abilities, wow.” I was stuttering and mumbling, completely lost for words.

Adam now started to talk: “What we propose, in addition to the three year deal at £875 a week, £45,500 per annum, is a transfer budget of £70,000 and a wage budget per week of £10,750 a week, now at the moment the club’s wages are £11,250 a week and this will need to be reduced to below £10,750 if you want that transfer budget of £70,000. We are of course open to some flexibility and if you want a bigger wage budget we can accommodate that but it would mean that you’d have less money to spend, a lot less in fact. If you wanted £11,750 a week budget for wages you’d only have £15,750 to spend so it really is up to you.”

‘I was going to get a transfer budget! Wow, didn’t expect that considering the club’s financial state. I decided there and then I’d take the £70,000 budget and plan not to spend it but also keep wages below the £10,750 mark which I envisioned would be easier once Stiel and Maddison left at the end of the season.’

“I am happy to sign the contract as is but I would like assurances that the training ground will be improved.”

“We cannot do that Edward, we do not have the money at the present time and if we did do it, we’d be in dire financial straits.”

“Very well then, I want assurances then that when money does become available you will improve our facilities, it is vital for the long-term future of the club that we have good facilities and eventually some sort of youth system to develop local players that will eventually someday play for our first team.”

Phil responded to that one: “I completely agree with you Edward and when we have the funds, we will do exactly that as we understand what is required to have a successful football club in the long term.”

“Very well then” I said as I signed and agreed to the contract. “I hope to have a long and successful future here”

When I went home that evening I was dancing jigs of joy as my year of earning about 60% of what I was had just changed and I was now earning more than I was on in my previous job. When I got home and told Louise she was as excited as I was as we knew that meant we would be able to afford to purchase a house in the area, the prices had skyrocketed in Canterbury and we’d now be able to afford a nice size family home. I took her out to dinner that night at Marlowes in the heart of Canterbury, I only had a couple of people come up to me to tell me what a great job I was doing and we were mostly left alone. Marlowe’s is a little restaurant at one end of the pedestrianised high street in Canterbury, near the Westgate, and one of my favourites. We celebrated as I had a marriage which is a half rack of ribs with quarter of a chicken, while Louise had Spaghetti Carbonara.

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It’s April Fools Day and despite that I was feeling in a good mood after just signing my new contract and so I released a comment to the press saying that a win against Lewes on Saturday will go a long way towards securing promotion from the Conference South. I was respectful to Steve King when I also said I knew they’d make it difficult but I was fully confident my team would come away with the points.


There was a lot of talk in the press on the 1st April, as I picked up the papers, about me signing the new contract. Phil Knight had declared himself delighted that I’d agreed to renew my contract and felt I’d shown fantastic commitment to the club which he is sure will please the players and fans. One of my players, Peter Gitselov, was quoted as saying that he was pleased Canterbury City had seen sense in retaining a manager who he believes is capable of great things and said that I had proved myself to be an accomplished manager and that he was delighted I would be staying at Marlowe Road. I was very flattered by all the talk about me and all the positive comments but I couldn’t dwell on them for long as I had a game that afternoon against Lewes.


For the game against Lewes I put Pidgeley back in goal and returned Brown to the left wing, moving Lemos to the centre and Gitselov out wide on the right, as I rested Daniels who was feeling a bit worse for wear. The game started off with us applying some pressure to their defence and some good play from Teymur down the right saw a cross that Brown took a pop at goal from, it got deflected and went behind for a corner but unfortunately nothing came from that. Hejazi had a good chance on the edge of the area on 27 minutes but skied his shot over the bar.


A clearance from Puncheon only went as far as Jones who played it forward for Lemos who turned on the ball and weighted a ball into Teymur who had some room in the 35th minute and despite protests of offside he pushed the ball wide of the keeper and into the goal, Wilkerson in the Lewes goal could not get down to stop it in time. We were playing some good football and only four minutes later Lemos played a lofted ball down the right hand side, between their centre back and left back for Teymur to run onto, only the left back, Scott, got there first and hit the ball back to Wilkerson the Lewes goalkeeper. The only problem was he hadn’t noticed Hejazi lurking on the edge of the box and as the keeper came out to meet the ball Hejazi got to it first and poked it past Wilkerson as he came out and into the goal for a two goal lead for Canterbury and his 25th goal of the season.


Half-time came and I told the lads I was pleased with the way we were performing, especially after the disappointing result against Eastbourne in midweek. The attendance of 1,027 was announced as we ran onto the pitch for the second half and the fans sounded their appreciation for the team. The city of Canterbury were really starting to get behind their team and after last year’s poor league position and declining attendances, we were starting to develop some long-term fans and a bigger following in the local area. I’d noticed as the season went on that the local papers were also devoting more print space for stories about our exploits which was a comforting and welcome sign of progress.


The match was a bit more even after half-time as both sides had some chances and had good passages of play but a pass from Lemos found Teymur wide down the right in the 63rd minute and he brought it forward before cutting inside at an angle and beating the man in front of him before firing what I thought was a cross but was in fact a shot on goal. It went careering towards the goal with venom and Wilkerson made a brilliant effort at keeping it out and turned the ball away, unfortunately for him Brown was waiting and pounced, turning the ball into the goal at the far post for a three nil Canterbury lead. Mitchell was off the pitch receiving treatment for an injury when Brown found some space down the left of the pitch in the 72nd minute and swung a ball into the box, it was about hip height as it came towards Teymur and so Johan launched himself at the ball with a diving header and connected. He couldn’t get enough on it however and the ball went behind for a goal kick wide of the goal.


With only five minutes to go Sorensen cut inside on the Lewes right winger before shaping for a cross into the box from a slight angle, his ball floated into the area towards the penalty spot from the left and found Lemos unmarked but he could only get his head on it and it went over the bar for another goal kick. The match ended 3-0 and one could not be unhappy with that performance as it was pleasing to see the team bounce back and win against a team riding high in 7th position in the league. There was good news the next day, after the game, as Steve Harkness came in to say that he would agree to the contract extension I’d offered him, it was a for an extra two years after this year and would also see him accept lower wages, saving £150 a week which over a year is just under £8,000.


Canterbury City 3 Lewes 0

Goals: Teymur 36, Hejazi 40, Brown 64;
MoM: Peter Gitselov

retired_richcoble

On the Tuesday Leigh RMI hired a local ex-professional as their new manager, Gary Walsh, the former Man Utd keeper, was to take over at Hilton Park and reports indicated he was going to be paid £3,000 a week to do so. Perhaps I should of asked the Canterbury City board for more money!


Tuesday was also the day of what is now undoubtedly the game of the season for us, it was against Weymouth, at home, and if we won it we would go fifteen points clear at the top with six games to go, we’d only need one move after today to be assured of the title due to our superior goal difference but first we had to win the match against Weymouth.


Our previous meeting at their ground ended in a 1-0 victory for them back in December and I was determined not to have the same result this time around. I decided to stick with Pidgeley in goal as he’d yet to concede in eight games in goal and apart from Daniels coming back on the right wing I named an unchanged lineup from the team that faced Lewes on Saturday.


It took 30 seconds for the first goal of the game to be scored, thankfully it was my team that scored it. Straight from the kickoff we had the ball and as it went out left Hejazi hit it forward for Teymur who flicked it on for Gitselov who had run in behind him, Gitselov was clear on goal and made no mistake as he buried the ball in the bottom corner of the goal, the Weymouth keeper didn’t have a chance.


Following this, a period of even play occurred before we won a corner in the 20th minute which Daniels took and aimed it for the near post where Teymur took it with his chest and turned to his right with it using his left foot but it ran beyond him and Gitselov was there and spun as he hit the ball and it went through a mass of bodies, along the floor, into the far corner of the goal for his second of the game.


The teams went in at half-time with Canterbury holding a two goal lead in the match. A few chances fell to Teymur and Hejazi to make it 3-0 but neither could convert their chances into goals and during the second half Teymur picked up a knock which he was struggling with, so I took him off and sent Yalcin on his place. The effect was minimal as my team played out the rest of the game out for a comfortable victory, Weymouth threatened sporadically and the game finished with a nice 2-0 victory for my team that virtually guaranteed us automatic promotion. We needed 4 points from our last six games, if Weymouth lost once, we’d only need a solitary point to be assured of the championship.


Canterbury City 2 Weymouth 0

Goals: Gitselov 1, 20;

retired_richcoble

Our next match was away to Farnborough and they opened the game strongly putting my defence under extreme pressure and only the agility and reflexes of Pidgeley was keeping us in the game but that only lasted for 9 minutes before McKay headed on a ball from deep that fell to McBean on the edge of the area and he struck the ball with some force and it nestled in the far corner of the goal. Our response was immedtate, a Mitchel ball into Yalcin found him with room as he beat his man and faced with an acute angle, squared it for Hejazi but the ball deflected to Lemos who just knocked it forward towards the goal but it was going wide. Hejazi got to it before it could and turned it inside the post for the equaliser just three minutes later. What followed was a long period of even play and few clear cut chances as both sides reassessed each other and my defence got some shape and kept it tight after the onslaught it suffered in the opening ten minutes of the game.

In the 37th minute and Lemos had the ball down the left wing, he took it inside the penalty box before crossing the ball square, there was a mad scramble involving three of my players and two defenders plus the goalkeeper but it was the goalie who got to the ball and parried it away where Daniels recovered it on the penalty spot, spinning and shooting but Scriven made a save to his left to prevent it going in. The ball fell to Yalcin who had space and he just knocked the ball into the goal for his first ever senior goal. We were now 2-1 up with under ten minutes until half-time. It looked like we would go into half-time as they were until Mitchell got injured badly in a challenge with McKay, it had to be bad if Mitchell was saying he couldn’t continue and I reluctantly brought Brown on to replace him, moving Lemos into the centre of the pitch.

Half-time came and I found out that Weymouth were 1-0 up against Lewes thanks to a goal from Harris while Eastbourne Borough were beating Eastleigh 2-0. Only two minutes into the second half and Gitselov had two chances in a matter of seconds as he had the ball come to him from a cross only to be denied twice in quick succession by the shot stopping exploits of Scriven in the Farnborough goal. Ten minutes later and Hejazi was on a marauding run as he beat player after player, he continued into the box and skipped past Pooley before shooting at goal, Scriven pushed the ball away but it was still heading for the goal and over the line before Flynn hacked it clear with a humungous boot to clear it on the line. We’d almost gone three goals to one up and established some breathing room but it wasn’t to be.

Hessenthaler came close on the hour mark as his header only narrowly went wide of Pidgeley’s goal, and it was clear that Farnborough were still in the game as they continued to demonstrate, only some stout defending and good goalkeeping was preserving our lead. In the 80th minute Scriven made a stunning save from a wide open Hejazi after a superb cross from Yalcin, Hejazi was offside but it was still a fantastic reflex save. A goal came about with only few minutes from time as Lemos rose from a Blomkvist corner to head towards goal, it crashed against the post before going over the line to make the game 3-1 and put the result beyond doubt. Meanwhile Weymouth had gone up 2-0 at home to Lewes, which meant the title would have to wait another game.

Farnborough 1 Canterbury City 3

Goals: McBean 10; Hejazi 12, Yalcin 38, Lemos 87;
MoM: David Blomkvist

I knew I would really miss Lemos when he made his big money move to Aston Villa as he’d served me excellently during his time at the club, he’d made 11 assists, scored 4 goals and won 4 man of the match awards thus far which was a superb season. I made an effort of going out of my way to let it be known that I thought Stuart Watkiss, the Farnborough manager, was doing a good job and that my opinion of him has greatly improved. His team had given me a good and challenging game and he deserved praise for the way his team took the game to us so often during the course of the match.

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Conference South Game 38: Eastleigh

I was surprised to read in the papers Monday that Watkiss had responded so well to my comments, saying that he felt the better team won and that he was in admiration of my tactical skills. Anyone who flatters my ego is good in my books.


The next game of the season was against Eastleigh, who of course had just played Eastbourne Borough, and if we won or drew this game, we’d have won the title and secured our promotion to the Conference National.


Appleby and Malmstrom were fully fit so I recalled them to the starting line-up, Yalcin had picked up a knock and so couldn’t take part while Teymur was still struggling with his injury. The injury Mitchell sustained meant he had up to a 3 week layoff and as a result Yemane, who was grumbling to others about his future at the club for some unknown reason, got the start in the centre of the park.


Five minutes into the match and Malmstrom requires the physio on, honestly, the boy seems to be made of glass the amount of injuries he seems to be getting. Fortunately he was able to continue and shrugged off the knock he got. The game was meandering along and I thought we were destined for a boring game of football when with only five minutes left in the half Gitselov got on the end of a header from Jones, cut inside and passed it to Hejazi ahead of him who was outside the box, Hejazi took one touch with his left foot before unleashing a wicked curling powerful effort at goal that went crashing into the top corner of the net for a 1-0 Canterbury lead. It was a goal of pure quality and seemed to come from absolutely nowhere, the roar from the crowd was huge and I was off my feet pumping my fist in celebration as the team all congregated on Hejazi.


At half-time it was a case of letting them know to keep their heads, keep focused and play the game as we had all season to secure a victory and the title. The second half was much like the first in so many respects. Hardly anything exciting happened and with only five minutes to go Hejazi put Appleby through and he scored, but this time it was ruled offside, quite rightfully as he was yards offside, but we won the match 1-0 in front of twelve hundred of our supporters and were now champions of the Conference South! We’d achieved promotion in my first season in charge and I couldn’t have been happier.


Canterbury City 1 Eastleigh 0

Goals: Hejazi 42;
MoM: Danny Smith (Eastleigh)


We’d won the title and the celebrations started with four games to spare! I had quite a few journalists approach me after the game, one asked about Malmstrom and whether he should move to a bigger club to which I said I wanted him to stay. The best question I got was from the Gazette…


“Someone once famously said that you can’t win anything with kids but your title-winning first team squad has an average age of just twenty-two. What is your response?”


I was in shock, I hadn’t realised just how young my team were, an average age of 22! I wonder if Jorg Stiel was included in that, he was 37, yikes. I got a bit caught up in the moment as I declared:


“Who said that? This team are young, talented and I believe they can win anything!” which was reported as me having absolute faith in my title-winning youngsters.


The board praised me, announcing that everyone at the club was looking forward to seeing the team play at a higher level next season and spokesperson said that praise had to go to me for ensuring a club like Canterbury City would no longer be playing in the Conference South. The fans were also ecstatic and praising me like anybody’s business. The phone ins at radio stations were full of praise for me which was gratifying and pleasing at the same time.


Weymouth’s and Eastbourne Borough’s victories ensured that they had achieved a playoff spot with 4 games to spare, leaving what looked like Cambridge City, Bishop’s Stortford, and Newport County to battle for the last two spots with only two points separating those three teams.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Info Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag GD Pts1st C Canterbury City 38 30 5 3 82 12 +70 952nd Pl Weymouth 38 22 12 4 71 30 +41 783rd Pl Eastbourne Boro 38 22 11 5 69 32 +37 774th Cambridge City 38 18 9 11 59 45 +14 635th Bishop’s Stortford 38 18 8 12 52 45 +7 626th Newport County 38 16 13 9 47 39 +8 61</pre>

retired_richcoble

Now I must apologise as the next few games are not as detailed in their match reports but I was too busy celebrating and concentrating on next season.


The main difference in this match was a wonder free kick from Hejazi and then a powered effort from John Cooper, a young defender who I was trying to sell and was playing for experience purposes and to try and get offers for him.

Canterbury City 2 Dorchester 0
Goals: Hejazi 32, Cooper 84;


Hejazi got in front of a defender from a long pass from Gitselov to chest it down and knock it past the keeper for a one goal lead before a Flatts volley three minutes later levelled the scores. Paul Tait scored a second for Maidenhead in the middle of the second half and my youngsters could not respond with none of them impressing. Pidgeley conceded two goals for the first time while none of my youngsters really impressed.

Maidenhead 2 Canterbury City 1
Goals: Flatts 22, Tait 65; Hejazi 19;


A stunning goal from Teymur from the edge of the area from a cut back Daniels cross gave us the lead in this match. Appleby missed a penalty on the half hour mark which could of made it two goals. Only the crossbar prevented Teymur from making it a double five minutes later as his header crashed against the bar. Appleby took a knock and was struggling just before the half so at half-time I replaced him with Hejazi and him coming on meant Poore got himself sent off for Thurrock for a professional foul that denied Hejazi, he’d been booked for conceding the penalty but that didn’t stop the referee from issuing a straight red. Hejazi later scored just after the hour with a shot he squeezed in at the near post after getting past the defender. When Hejazi’s free kick crashed against the crossbar in the 90th minute it fell to Yemane, playing instead of Mitchell, and he converted an easy chance for a 3-0 lead and we’d condemned Thurrock to relegation from the Conference South.

Thurrock 0 Canterbury City 3
Goals: Teymur 21, Hejazi 65, Yemane 90;


For my next game I named a line-up of mainly youngsters again with only Teymur, Pidgeley, Blomkvist, Gitselov and Jones having featured throughout the season. Despite this, we dominated the opening proceedings of this game and were unlucky not to go in at half-time with a lead against Hayes, a team that were already relegated. The fact that we had already won the championship, that I was playing youngsters, and we were playing a team already relegated meant only 800 or so souls turned up for our final match of the season. A quality ball from one of the youngsters, Taylor, down the right for Teymur saw a cross into the box for Yalcin but before Yalcin could get on the end of it he was pushed over and the referee awarded a penalty, that Gitselov stepped up to take. He put the ball just to the keeper’s left and scored, the keeper got a hand to it but couldn’t keep it out.

Our second goal was a joy to behold for me. Galbraith, a youngster I was playing at left back, sent a logn searching ball up the pitch that bounced in front of the Hayes defender, Benji Hill, who couldn’t control it and it ricocheted off him and bounced beyond him where Teymur pounced on it, he took it into the penalty area before going round the keeper to the right and applying the finish to make the score 2-0 and grab his 30th goal of the season. Yalcin made it two in two minutes when he was found by an excellently clipped ball from Taylor on the right with his left foot that allowed Yalcin to control with his chest and take it away from the defender and put him through against the keeper, he made no mistake, burying the ball into the near corner for our third. The match finished 3-0 and Keith Galbraith was man of the match, deservedly.

Canterbury City 3 Hayes 0
Goals: Gitselov pen 68, Teymur 77, Yalcin 79;



Weymouth had finished 2nd, three points ahead of Eastbourne Boro while Cambridge City and Bishop’s Stortford came 4th and 5th respectively. Bishop’s Stortford go into their playoff game against Weymouth on the back of a 7-1 hiding from Eastbourne Borough which gives Eastbourne a world of confidence as they will face Cambridge City in the play-off semi finals.

retired_richcoble

The first leg of the play-off matches saw Cambridge City beat Eastbourne 1-0 at home, while Weymouth beat Bishop’s Stortford 2-0. Yemane, after complaining of a lack of first team football, request a transfer between the leg’s of the playoff matches and I granted his request as I was bringing in a couple of players at his position over the summer on bosman’s. The second leg of the playoff matches saw Bishop’s Stortford beat Weymouth 1-0 but it was not enough to get through and they went out, while Eastbourne hammered Cambridge City 4-0 to go through to the playoff final.

Weymouth beat Eastbourne Borough 3-1 in the playoff final and that meant they’d be joining us in the Conference National next season.

The final league table:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Inf Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts1st C CANTERBURY CITY 42 33 5 4 91 14 +77 104---------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd P Weymouth 42 24 13 5 79 34 +45 853rd Eastbourne Borough 42 23 13 6 80 38 +42 824th Cambridge City 42 20 11 11 65 48 +17 715th Bishop's Stortford 42 20 9 13 56 53 +3 69---------------------------------------------------------------------------6th Newport County 42 17 15 10 50 42 +8 667th Weston-super-Mare 42 18 10 14 56 46 +10 648th Lewes 42 16 11 15 55 56 -1 599th Farnborough 42 16 11 15 43 49 -6 5910th Yeading 42 15 12 15 51 53 -2 5711th Welling 42 14 11 17 36 44 -8 5312th Maidenhead 42 14 10 18 64 74 -10 5213th Histon 42 13 12 17 47 52 -5 5114th Basingstoke 42 11 16 15 34 44 -10 4915th Eastleigh 42 10 16 16 41 53 -12 4616th Dorchester 42 11 12 19 48 62 -14 4517th Sutton United 42 11 12 19 40 61 -21 4518th Havant & Waterlooville 42 10 14 18 45 54 -9 4419th St. Albans 42 10 13 19 44 59 -15 4320th Bognor Regis 42 10 12 20 51 77 -26 42---------------------------------------------------------------------------21st R Thurrock 42 8 12 12 43 66 -23 3622nd R Hayes 42 8 10 24 40 80 -40 34</pre>

Only seven teams finished with a positive goal difference and this was because of the domination of the league by Canterbury, Weymouth and Eastbourne. Eastbourne had been unlucky to miss out on promotion after their unfortunate loss in the play-off final, I only hoped they'd be able to compete again next year and secure promotion to the Conference National.