Saturday 4th April 2015 Biggleswade United FC V Stotfold FC
The Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division Saturday 4th April 2015
Biggleswade United
v
Colours: Red / Navy
Stotfold Colours: Gold / Black
1
Grant Beckwith
1
Adam Harpur
2
George Melrose
2
Ryan Ellis
3
Adam Drakulic
3
Jaiden Irish
4
Martin Russell ©
4
Mark Ellis
5
Ollie Peters
5
Aaron Browne
6
Lee Bilcock
6
Adam Pennington
7
Jason Darvall
7
Sean Herr
8
Enrique De Lucas
8
James Smith
9
Tom Cookman
9
Kier Boyd
10
Nyasha Sagwete
10
Thomas Gornall
11
Tre Grant
11
George Bates
12
Brett Leader
12
Mokbul Ali
14
Hector Bateller
14
Luke Holt
15
Stuart Richardson
15
Reece Louden
16
Jake O’Neill
16
Charile Joy
17
George Melrose
17
Billy Welch
18
James Chisholm
18
Ben L’Honore
19
Ryan Dobson
19
Michael Simpson
20
Jude Eboji
20
Jake Long
Manager: MICK REARDON
Manager: ROB BATES
Assistant: MARK ROYAL
Assistants: MICHAEL PARKIN
Physio: VANESSA FOUCHER
Physio: MATT SWALLOW Match Officials
Referee: Mr A Rayment: Assistants Mr S Beardon and Mr J Campbell
Welcome to Second Meadow Good afternoon and welcome to Second Meadow for today’s special Media Day Event. I am very pleased to say that we have Anglia TV Sports Correspondent, Donovan Blake and Matthew Mesiano from Three Counties Radio reporting on today’s match with the possibility of other local and national press joining us. We are also pleased to extend a very warm welcome to the players, officials and supporters of STOTFOLD FC for this Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division local derby fixture. We also welcome our three match officials and hope that you all enjoy your short stay with us. The afternoon also sees the first home appearance of former Espanyol, Chelsea and Spanish Under 21 International, Enrique De Lucas (pictured) who signed for United back in February and made his debut at AFC Dunstable. Enrique enjoyed it so much – although we lost 2-0 -he is turning out for us again today and adding even more sparkle to the day. I am sure all supporters from both sides will make him feel very welcome. Over the past week Guillem Balague, our Director of Football, has been working hard to further promote the club and setting out how he wants to take the club forward. His interview on Talk Sport certainly brought about a flurry of interest in what is happening at the club and, in particular, our search for a new Head Coach / Manager for next season following Mick’s decision (made at the start of the season) to hand over the reins. Mick has made it clear that he is staying on within the club as a member of the Board. There will also be breaking news in the next few weeks about a massive kit sponsorship deal and of course we will be busy promoting our Awards Nights which will be held at George’s Hall, Biggleswade on Thursday 7th May. Guillem has also agreed to write a weekly column in the Biggleswade Chronicle and will have a column published on a monthly basis in the national Non League Paper. Let’s hope for an enjoyable and exciting game this afternoon.
Tracey James – Secretary and Programme Editor
CURRENT LEAGUE TABLE
THE HISTORY OF BIGGLESWADE UNITED (2)
2014-2015 Season Spartan South Midlands Football League Premier Division P
W D
L
F
A
Pts
1 Kings Langley
35
28
3
4
109
31
87
2 London Colney
34
22
5
7
62
22
71
3 AFC Dunstable
35
21
8
6
76
47
71
4 Sun Sports
36
23
2
11
76
49
71
5 Harefield United
38
21
6
11
88
63
69
6 Wembley
34
21
4
9
74
49
67
7 St Margaretsbury
34
19
9
6
79
38
66
8 Berkhamsted
35
20
3
12
84
58
63
9 Hadley
37
18
4
15
69
64
58
10 Tring Athletic
36
17
6
13
66
48
57
11 Hertford Town
34
16
6
12
72
57
54
12 Oxhey Jets
36
16
6
14
72
63
54
13 Biggleswade United
37
14
7
16
68
71
49
14 Colney Heath
37
11
9
17
64
64
42
15 Cockfosters
36
11
4
21
41
78
37
16 Leverstock Green
37
10
6
21
54
86
36
17 Stotfold
35
8
9
18
51
84
33
18 Hoddesdon Town
36
9
5
22
46
83
32
19 London Tigers
35
7
9
19
53
83
30
20 Ampthill Town
36
7
5
24
38
102
26
21 Holmer Green
34
7
3
24
43
94
24
22 Hillingdon Borough
37
2
9
26
56
107
15
The next eleven years saw the first team led by Steve "Snowy" Wright and under his management the club continued to enjoy a very high level of League and Cup success ultimately achieving promotion to the Molten Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division and with it the opportunity to compete in the FA Cup. And under Snowy the club made three Beds FA Senior Challenge Cup final appearances, winning two of the three with victories over Stotfold (4-1) and Leighton Town (1-0) but missed out in 2006/07 going down 2-0 to Dunstable Town. Snowy's other cup successes came in the form of the Hunts Premeir Cup, North Beds Charity Cup, Hinchingbrooke Cup, the SML Division One Cup and the SML Special Achievement Award once again. The end of the 2006 2007 season saw Snowy step down as manager with his assistant, Nick Burton taking over the first team reins. The 2006 2007 season marked a crucial time in the club's history with the formation of a youth structure that sees Biggleswade girls and boys aged 7 to 18 able to be part of Biggleswade United. We now have twelve youth teams including three girls teams with a well established youth committee. The profile of the club as a community club is very much boosted by the association with such a well organised and well structured youth set up. January 5th 2009 saw the club embark on further ambitious ground improvements. With financial backing from Biggleswade Town Council, Mid Beds District Council and the Football Foundation we installed a 260-seater stand, fully enclosed the ground with a double turnstile entrance and players' secure walkway which raised the ground to Grade E status. After several years of stability in terms of first team managers the next six years saw a regular turnover of first team and reserve team managers with Nick Burton, Dave Elkin and Phil Childs all taking over the first team reins for a time. At the start of the 2013 2014 season we appointed Mick Reardon and Mark Royal as first team managers both of whom have enjoyed success as coaches at the higher levels of football. Their disciplined approach was quickly adhered to and responded to by the players. The new 2014 – 2015 season has seen the arrival of several new young players to the club following the club’s positive decision to introduce a side that will compete in the Suburban League as well as continuing to compete in the SML Premier Division. The Suburban side will be managed by Gary Burkett who enjoyed success with Shefford Saints Under 18s and many talented young players will be part of the United Squad. Gary will be assisted by former Bushey Met Police manager, Tony Jones. In November 2014 the club took a further positive step to realise our ambitions with the appointment of Sky Sports Presenter and renowned author, Guillem Balague as Biggleswade United’s Director of Football. The club has certainly come a long way in relatively few years but we could not have done it without the help of a very supportive Town and District Council who clearly understand the benefits of having a community based club in Biggleswade. Our success is also very much down to a very hard working committee who throughout the year - not just the football season - continue to volunteer their time and commitment to the club, to help it continue to thrive and be a source of enjoyment for our supporters and the Biggleswade community.
BIGGLESWADE UNITED : OUR HISTORY SO FAR Biggleswade United Football Club was reformed on the 16th July 1959. However, local history records indicate that there was a Biggleswade United side playing at Second Meadow as early as 1929. Our first season (1959/60) saw us competing in Division Three of the North Herts. League (NHL). After 10 successful years in the NHL the club made the step up to South Midlands League (SML) football. But towards the end of a 15-year association with the SML the club began to struggle and after three years of finishing in the bottom three of Division One we sought fresh fields. The club joined the Herts. Senior but club continued to find the going tough. In 1986 we elected to return to local League football, joining the Bedford and District Football League and began to build again. The appointment of Brian Swords as first team manager in 87/88 proved to be the turning point in the club's fortunes. During the next ten years the club achieved a tremendous amount of success on and off the football pitch. Our record of League and Cup honours speak for themselves but aligned to this a great deal of work went on behind the scenes to match the on-field success. The club now boasts one of the best clubhouse and ground facilities in the Mid-Bedfordshire area. The success of the club has also attracted many new players as well as commanding a great deal of loyalty from those players who helped the club progress from Division Three of the Bedford and District League to County Senior Club status in just 15 years. The 1995/96 season was the most successful in the club's history - winning five major honours; the Beds Intermediate County Cup, Bedford and District League Championship, League Cup Championship and as the League's representatives the club won the Beds. FA Centenary Cup. Having won every major Bedford League honour the club felt it was time to move on and made the decision to make the step up once again and returned to Division One of the SML. In an exceptionally successful first season we celebrated a Division One "double" by winning the Championship and the Division One Cup. We also retained the Beds. FA Intermediate County Cup, only the second club in the competition's history to achieve this feat. To crown our success the club were awarded the SML Special Achievement Trophy in July 1997. In the season 1997/98 we finally achieved Senior status. This was achieved not only through the endeavours of the players on the field but ultimately as a result of an extremely hard working committee. With the help of the Biggleswade Town Council a new stand was erected and perimeter fencing installed. And two seasons later the club erected floodlights and on the evening of 26th October 1999 we played our first-ever floodlit game at Second Meadow, Ryman League side Leighton Town were the visitors in the Bedfordshire Premier Cup.
BIGGLESWADE UNITED DEVELOPMENT TEAM 2014-2015 Season Suburban Football League North Division P W D L 1 Berkhamsted 17 13 1 3 2 Binfield 17 12 2 3 3 Northwood 18 10 1 7 4 Farnham Town 18 8 2 8 5 Camberley Town 17 8 1 8 6 North Greenford United 17 7 3 7 7 Leverstock Green 16 6 5 5 8 Harefield United 16 6 2 8 9 Biggleswade United 19 3 5 11 10 Hartley Wintney 16 3 3 10 11 Newport Pagnell Town 13 2 3 8
F 52 53 32 35 30 49 40 25 31 30 29
A 17 26 38 34 41 33 41 24 55 53 44
Pts 40 38 31 26 25 24 23 20 14 12 9
STOTFOLD PAST AND PRESENT
The first recorded football within Stotfold was in 1904, however it is certain that the game was played for a number of years before. Our present ground was first used in 1911 by Stotfold Athletic when it was just a meadow named 'Roker'. We were delighted to move back some 43 years later in 1954 from the Hitchin Road Recreation Ground. For the first twenty years of the clubs history, we played in the Biggleswade and District League. This was followed by a spell of nearly 30 years in North Herts Football. The clubs first trophy was won in 1911 when we beat Potton 1-0 in the Biggleswade and District Championship. In 1951 we joined the South Midlands League Division 2 and in 1953 were promoted to Division 1. In 1955 we were promoted to the Premier Division, where we stayed for 30 years winning the championship in 1980 and were runners up no fewer than 9 times. The club joined the United Counties League in 1984/85 season with our best placing as runners up in 1993/94and 1995/96 under the guidance of ex Arsenal player Ian Allinson. During 19982000 the club won The Beds Senior and Premier Cups, UCL League Cup, and the Hinchingbrooke Cup as well as being runners up and finalists in two North Beds Charity Cups. The club also reached the last 32 of the FA Vase and the 3rd Qualifying Rd of the FA Cup in 2000 under Phil Pateman's management. Kenny Davidson took over the side in 2001, reaching the final of the Beds Senior Cup but resigned in Dec 2002.
BIGGLESWADE UNITED 3 OXHEY JETS 2 If there was a day that engendered the value of having a strong team of substitutes to call upon then for United manager, Mick Reardon, this was to be one of those days as his timely replacements celebrated a final minute winner to take all three points at Second Meadow on Saturday. With the clock ticking down newly signed Spanish player, Hector Perez Balleter, set up fellow bench man Brett Leader in the 93rd minute and the local lad stunned the visiting Oxhey Jets with a wonder strike from fifteen yards out to see United finish 32 winners. Despite a strong blustery wind both sides tried their best to entertain the 70+ crowd. And leading strike man, Lee Armitt, took full advantage of a trailing wind when he unleashed a superb strike from 25 yards out that curled away from United’s Grant Beckwith for 1-0 in the 21st minute. However, their lead was held for just seven minutes as Jets’ defender Jordan Gutteridge’s attempted clearance saw him handle and a cast iron penalty saw Tom Cookman (pictured) level from the spot. Nyasha Sagwete went close for United in the 33rd minute but Jets Will Baker managed to turn the ball around his post and a slick move down the right flank involving George Melrose, Cookman and Tre Grant saw the latter flash a strike across the face of Baker’s goal.
In 2012 Gordon Bickerstaff stood down and Steve Young took charge of first team duties supporting by Roy Ryall. During the close season the club reappointed Steve Young as Manager but the club were left stunned and when Coach Tony Lamacraft collapsed after an abandoned first team friendly caused by the double leg fracture of one of the Stotfold players Wells. Despite the valiant efforts of club officials and paramedics including an air ambulance crew Tony passed away. Over 500 attended his funeral and Tony is sadly missed not just by Stotfold but the whole of the local football community.
Going in all level at the break was about the right result as both sides seemed to be cancelling out each other’s strengths and not exploiting weaknesses. The second period saw United start with a purpose and in the 59th minute Cookman celebrated his brace latching on to a defence splitting pass from Adam Drakulic and tucking the ball under the body of the advancing Baker.
Steve has promoted within with Michael Parkin and Matt Endersby stepping up and the club have also appointed Rob Bates as the Under 18 Academy Manager. Rob played professionally for Colchester United and was the Academy Manager for Biggleswade Town last season before resigning his position in the summer, with most of that academy side following him to the club after a hugely successful 2013 season.
Like the first half though the lead was held for only a brief spell and it was the Premier Division’s leading goal scorer that drew them level once again. United were caught square and Armitt made merry by sending the ball to the far corner for 2-2.
Having finally been granted a move to the Molten Spartan South Midlands League in 2010/2011 the Eagles struggled to adapt until the new year and eventually finished mid table. The first team reached the final of the NBCC losing to Biggleswade Town 2-1.
With the game slowly meandering along it seemed that both sides were content to share the points. But United’s recent poor showings required them to conjure up some magic ahead of the final run in and Reardon’s Replacements did the trick. Balleter snapped up a loose ball in the middle of the park and spotting Leader wide on the right he planted a long pass straight in to his path. With three perfect touches Leader let rip with a strike that tucked itself between Baker and post to send the United contingent in to long awaited revelry and left Jets deflated.
RESULTS Premier Division – Tuesday 31st March 2015 Cockfosters Hillingdon Borough Holmer Green Kings Langley London Colney London Tigers
0 0 2 4 1 1
3 2 1 1 1 3
Oxhey Jets St Margaretsbury Stotfold Berkhamsted Wembley Sun Sports
FIXTURES Premier Division – Saturday 4th April 2015 Ampthill Town Biggleswade United Hadley Harefield United Hertford Town Hoddesdon Town Holmer Green Kings Langley London Colney Sun Sports Wembley
v v v v v v v v v v v
AFC Dunstable Stotfold Cockfosters Hillingdon Borough St Margaretsbury Colney Heath Berkhamsted Leverstock Green Oxhey Jets Tring Athletic London Tigers
Premier Division – Tuesday 7th April 2015 Berkhamsted Hertford Town Hoddesdon Town Leverstock Green London Tigers Oxhey Jets St Margaretsbury Stotfold
v v v v v v v v
London Colney Kings Langley Tring Athletic Biggleswade United Holmer Green Hillingdon Borough Sun Sports Ampthill Town
With Guillem Balague Jim White Gaizka Mendieta Enrique De Lucas And auction of football memorabilia
Tickets on sale soon
Biggleswade United Goalscorers All Competitions
Sub Used? Played
Boyd J Nair S Cookman T Eboji J Hunte J Bilcock L Russell M Carbon R Peters J Cleghorn J Grant T Murray S Cole C Darvall J Drakulic A Leader B Melrose G Peters O Richardson S Threadgold N Wright W
Biggleswade United Appearances
Games
41 40 32 40 16 44 21 24 10 5 25 8 36 22 14 4 6 27 17 12 22
All Competitions
Goals
33 34 22 29 13 40 21 13 10 3 14 5 32 17 13 1 4 22 14 9 22
No
8 6 10 11 3 4
1 1 2 1
11 2 11 3 4 5 1 3 2 5 3 3
2 3 1
3
6 5 2 5 2
Sub Used? Played
Started Yes
Games
Started
Biggleswade United Bataller H
25 12 11 11 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1
Beckwith G
26
No
1
1
26
1
Boyd T
0
Burkett L
0
Butler R
8
7
1
21
18
3
Clark R
9
4
5
2
De Lucas E
1
1
Dobson R
5
5
1
Donald P
4
Chisholm J
Adam Drakulic
Yes
Gavin G
1 1
2
2 1
2
1
19
19
Grundy D
1
1
Holyoak A
1
1
Ikenga C
2
Goncalves R
1
2
Jones L
13
12
1
2
Lamptey J
12
4
8
2
Llewellyn D
12
10
2
5
Lunt J
0
Mitri A
2
2
1
O'Neill J
28
26
2
3
Randall A
29
26
3
7
Sagwete N
6
5
1
Samuda T
3
1
2
2
Brett Leader
Grant Beckwith
1
George Melrose Lee Bilcock Celebrating the winning goal Nyasha Sagwete
1
SUBURBAN LEAGUE 2014-2015 Season Suburban Football League North Division P W 1 Berkhamsted 16 12 2 North Greenford United 15 9 3 Binfield 14 9 4 Farnham Town 18 8 5 Camberley Town 17 7 6 Leverstock Green 13 6 7 Northwood 14 6 8 Hartley Wintney 14 5 9 Harefield United 11 4 10 Biggleswade United 14 2 11 Newport Pagnell Town 12 2 12 Hanworth Villa 12 1
D 2 3 2 2 2 4 1 2 1 4 3 2
L 2 3 3 8 8 3 7 7 6 8 7 9
F 56 50 48 35 29 41 26 34 17 26 29 17
A 17 20 26 34 45 34 34 43 20 44 43 48
Pts 38 30 29 26 23 22 19 17 13 10 9 5
North Division - Saturday 24th January - RESULTS Berkhamsted Biggleswade United Binfield Harefield United
4 1 5 1
0 1 1 2
Camberley Town North Greenford United Hartley Wintney Leverstock Green
North Division - Saturday 31st January - FIXTURES Camberley Town North Greenford United
v v
Biggleswade United Binfield
With Guillem Balague Jim White Gaizka Mendieta Enrique De Lucas
Tickets on sale soon