Seems only yesterday we trooped miserably away from the Pilot Field after that 0-1 defeat at the hands of the Stains on 5 February. They loved it - remember? - all those smart arse comments on the websites and in the Observer - Terry White's probably the pick of the lot - all the accusations of sour grapes regarding George's comments about the state of the pitch which is still recovering from the decision to play that game - and we had to take it on the chin and wait - and pray - for April 1st to come round and with it, the opportunity to put matters right.

And didn't the lads do us proud. The bad weather forecast never materialised - the afternoon was fine - very similar to conditions for the Sittingbourne game on the Saturday. Having said that - the Fort Fun pitch did look bloody awful as usual - dry perhaps - but rutted and uneven with odd bounces fooling both sides on occasions.

The local derby atmosphere was flavoured nicely with all the ex Town players in Stains colours - Smudger Smith, Phil Henderson (who played a huge part in our 91/92 promotion campaign), Richard Callaway (who played an equally vital part in keeping us in the Premier in 93/94), Simon Fox, Jimmy Elford, Danny Whyman and Graham Webb (rumours doing the rounds incidentally that Webbie wants to come back to The Pilot Field) - but no Terry White. As to the game - Town were in charge for the whole 90 minutes with their only real concerns being what Des Boateng might get up to - Boateng is the only quality player they've got at Fort Fun and our defenders wouldn't have needed reminding of what he can do after his winner on February 5th.

Flanners went so close on 7 minutes to opening the scoring - he headed a Macca free kick so hard down onto the deck that it bounced straight over the cross bar. Town applied pressure down the slope throughout the first half - Tony Burt (back in the side - no Rudds or Nick Hegley - both had picked up foot injuries on the Saturday so Burtie and Tommy O stepped in) fired over, Tommy hit an effort wide and Chris Honey might have done better when well placed - but hit his shot well wide after the ball appeared to bobble.

1-0 on 31 minutes - Jonah heading - yeah HEADING - in a Macca corner - the keeper never moved as the ball flew into the roof of the net to spark of celebrations amongst the Town supporters behind the goal. A minute later it could've been 2-0, Macca picked up a loose ball on the edge of the area and fired in a superb effort that crashed off the cross bar. The only surprise at half time was that Town were only 1-0 up - their domination had been complete and Dave had had virtually nothing to do.

Stains applied a bit of pressure at the start of the second half - but Town weathered it with no real problems. That crucial second goal came on 57 minutes when Jonah was fouled just inside the box and the linesman's flag resulted in the referee pointing to the spot. Simmo buried the penalty past John Odlum who never moved. Steve Yates had a good effort well saved by Odlum on 62 minutes as Town continued to pressurize the Stains defence.

It all went crazy in three minutes - 71 minutes and Chris Honey blasted a Jonah cross over the cross bar - 73 minutes, great piece of skill by Yatesie who hooked the ball over his shoulder for Chris to run onto and blast Town's third into the roof of the net - and while we were still celebrating an exceptional finish - Mylie did even better on 74 minutes when he spotted Odlum off his line and lobbed number 4 from the corner of the box.

It should have been 5-0 after 84 minutes when Odlum fumbled the ball into his net under a nothing challenge from Jonah - but the referee who made a couple of weird decisions (nothing more so than the sandwich "tackle" by Messrs Callaway and Henderson on Chris in the first half which resulted in "Play on - play on!") blew for a foul. That bit of good fortune fired the Stains up and a minute later King Dave had a fairly routine save to make - the only one of the game.

It's fair to say the majority of the 900 odd crowd were pro Town, quite a few would be the two match a season types - and maybe 100 or so were Stains followers - and it's definite to say a load of Town fans were at the bottom corner to cheer the boys off when the final whistle blew. It was clear the players had enjoyed putting things right as much we did. We had to put up with accusations of sour grapes after we lost the Pilot Field game - I wonder if those that made those accusations were amongst those whinging as we left Fort Fun to make our way down to The Pilot Field clubhouse - comments like "You'll come straight back down" and "You won't last a season in the Premier" etc etc.

Well - so far as this website's concerned - it was made perfectly clear after the Pilot Field defeat that all we could do was take it on the chin and the quality of Boateng's goal that night was also acknowledged. This time - it was our turn and the vast, vast majority of the crowd will have gone away knowing there was only ever one side in this game and that 4-0 didn't reflect Town's superiority on an afternoon when we pulled 50 points clear of the Stains who remain rock bottom.

Gloating? Kin right. And how about this for timing - Stains supporters have a song based on the Jingle Bells tune - "Jingle bells, Jingle bells jingle all the way - oh what fun it is to see St Leonards win away - HEY!" - and we heard that at The Pilot Field in February. We came out with a similar version with "Hastings" substituted for "St Leonards" just after Chris had made it 3-0, and just as we shouted "HEY!" - in went Mylie's goal!

While George will be instilling into the players the importance of taking each game on it's own merits, each game as it comes etc etc etc, there was no doubt in anyone's mind this would look like the toughest of the last five games of a long season. Histon have been there or thereabouts all season - Grantham and Dorchester hadn't done too well at The Bridge and this was going to be a big test of the division's best away record P 18, W 12, D 5. L 1 against one of the best home records - P 18, W 14, D 2, L 2.

The game kicked off with various mobile phones ready to key in the Grantham number for a half time score - they were at home to Erith while, oddly, Dorchester had no game. Histon started off well and dominated initially on a rock hard, bumpy pitch with conditions made more difficult by a swirling wind. No Rudds in midfield - he was still side lined with a foot injury - on the bench were Messrs, Hegley, Restarick and Zahana-Oni (er - what a trio of subs!). Simmo started off in a more mid field role.

Having weathered that initial flurry of home pressure, Town started to play a bit themselves and Macca who was to have a fine game went on one of those runs he specialises in and went past four defenders only to scuff his shot at the crucial moment. Soon after a Histon effort had gone narrowly wide - a fine move saw Simmo released down the right and his pinpoint pass found Tommy O who never got any direction or power on his shot. As the game went on so Town got better and Jonah was denied on 21 minutes by Paul Barber in the home goal who got just enough on Jonah's shot to divert it against the crossbar and out.

It came right out of the blue when Town found themselves 0-1 down on 29 minutes. Flanners appeared to have dealt ok with a lofted pass - he gave the ball to Stuart Playford who's clearance fell right to the Histon left back who let go from a good 25 yards and with what might've been a bit of wind assistance, the ball dropped over King Dave into the net as Town found themselves a goal down against the run of play.

They were to lose their way for a while after that blow and moves frustratingly came to nothing as halftime approached with Histon having taken the upper hand and Dave having to be alert on a couple of occasions when the deficit might've gotten worse. Dave Moore got on his telling bone to Grantham - surprise, surprise - they were 3-0 up at half time. We knew we were up against a decent side - and football supporters being football supporters - the more pessimistic ones resigned themselves to the lead being down to 4 points come 5.00 pm, the true doom-mongers said it would be even worse when Dorchester won their game in hand on Tuesday night (at Eastbourne Boro) - while others said a point would be perfectly acceptable.

But the people with the fate of 2001/2002 in their hands - the players - came out reinforced by tea and Wakeling's Words of Wisdom and within 5 minutes had levelled the score. Macca saw a shot deflected for a corner - when the corner came in it wasn't cleared properly and after a goal mouth scramble there was Simmo to blast the ball home with the help of a deflection to the delight of the fair number of Town supporters behind the goal.

The game was fairly even after that with neither side creating much - Histon were to make their only decent chance of the second half on 58 minutes when a lofted pass was headed just wide of Dave's right post. 68 minutes gone - a corner was put out by a Histon defender even though there seemed to be some dispute about who'd got the final touch. No matter - Mylie took the second corner and there was "George" at the near post heading home the winner and making up for his poor clearance that had set Histon up in the first half.

Town's defence held on reasonably comfortably for these three vital points - Histon had corners and free kicks but never really threatened and it could so easily have been 3-1, a great effort from Mylie who's long range shot dipped at the last minute but not quite enough. Nick Hegley came on in that second half - only to be substituted with what we assumed was a reccurence of his foot injury. Landry and Resters also got a run out as Town emerged from a tough fixture - just about deserving winners.

Macca got a yellow card - it looked a deserved caution - but yet again, refereeing inconsistency reared it's ugly head in that a matter of minutes earlier, the Histon 5 who'd been bloody lucky not to see red for a bad foul on Macca in The Pilot Field game, only had a few words directed his way by the referee for another nasty foul on Duncan.

Other interesting results:- Grantham:- 4 Erith & Belvedere:- 2, Eastbourne Boro:- 2 Stamford:- 0

Yeah - Tony Kessell is back till the end of the season as goal keeping cover for King Dave. Apparently his contract at Dartford was torn up after he was spotted playing in a Sunday League game. Good to see you again, Kess.

SS

March match reports now archived

KH

Yeah - the town came up to The Pilot Field in their droves for what might have been a promotion deciding game - NOT. What a truly shite attendance. Even if wins for Grantham and Dorchester meant Town still need a point from their remaining three games - we have a team here that's been on an exceptional run playing a lot of decent football - a team that's now won 12 of it's last 13 league games - a team that's taken 37 points out of 39 from those games - and still the people of an 80,000 odd population town, largely, don't want to know. 574 is good for the Eastern Division - some clubs need four or five games to accumulate that number of spectators - we do have the two team in Hastings factor - but that 574 is a dross gate.

Oh yes - the game. Town kicked off on a bumpy, dusty pitch minus Stuart Playford and Nick Hegley - Stuart with a badly bruised leg and Nick with that foot injury that saw him subbed at Histon last week. Rudds stepped into Stuart's No 4 shirt and was to perform more than adequately as he once again showed what a versatile member of the squad he is. Town had to rejig the defence still further when Tony Burt had to go off with a cut eye after just 20 minutes - he was replaced by Landry (what an intriguing substitution that was!).

The game was a poor one frankly - too much tension - too much hinging on it and everyone was probably focused on Dartford and Corby where Grantham and Dorchester were in action. Town never looked anything than comfortably in charge of proceedings and it has to be said that referee Sean Pryor's performance was the main talking point - especially regarding an absolutely abysmal challenge by Glen Cook on Landry that deserved an instant red - a challenge that was made right in front of Pryor who unbelievably deemed it only worth a yellow card. There was a string of frustrating decisions throughout the game that left Town supporters mystified and very pissed off - Pryor really was that bad. Give him a couple of years and he'll no doubt emulate that other icon of incompetence from not many seasons ago - Barry Knight - who we now see on TV "officiating" Premiership games.

There wasn't to be much in the way of penalty box action - but what there was took place at the Chatham end. Macca - a fine game - was involved throughout - he went just wide with a free kick, brought a good save out the Chatham keeper, nearly caught him off his line with another effort - and got booked again. 1-0 on 36 minutes - Mylie went on a weaving run in the area - the keeper parried his effort and there was Monster to grab yet another goal from an inch out to add to his other recent short range thunderbolts against Erith, Spalding and Banbury. Micky taking apart - Chris had a fine game and it's amazing that there are still people amongst the supporters who get on his back.

Half time arrived with the good news that Dorchester were losing and Grantham drawing - and, indeed, late in proceedings we heard that Dorchester were 1-2 down at Corby. That combined with Steve Restarick heading Town's second on 84 minutes had us thinking we might get our promotion party a tad earlier than we'd expected. Restarick's goal was created by Monster who left two defenders for dead and fired in a cross for the unmarked Resters to wrap up proceedings. Town had dominated that second half much as they had the first - Mylie sent in a long range special that swerved just wide and when the keeper dropped a Macca free kick it took swift intervention to clear the ball.

As the players trooped off at full time there was frantic tapping of the Corby number on mobiles and the news eventually got out that Dorchester had won 4-2 (as had Grantham) - so we go to Dartford on Tuesday night needing a point. The game might not have been much of a spectacle - but an important result none the less - just a shame more Premiership addicted locals couldn't be bothered.

One of those nights when absolutely everything that could go wrong - most emphatically did. Poor marking gifted Dartford their first goal, referee Bottomer (who we've suffered on previous occasions) played a big part in the second and we were caught out by a quick break for the third - and even then Dave was a tad unlucky seeing a rebound from a decent save fall nicely for the ball to be buried past him. Two lots of icing on the cake - Macca's temper got the better of him yet again and he was sent off in the 85th minute - and Grantham's 1-0 win at home to Rothwell stirs the blood pressure up for our long haul to Wisbech on Saturday.

Yet - it all started off so promisingly with Town having by far the better of the opening exchanges and pinning Dartford back in their half in the first 20 minutes or so and giving the large number of supporters who'd gone up to Gravesend every reason to think promotion would be confirmed. But Dartford weathered the storm as Town failed to actually create any solid chances despite their initial domination. Best opportunity fell to Flanners but his effort was well blocked by a defender.

0-1 on 37 minutes - where was the marking as a free kick was launched into the Town box for the Dartford 9 to slot home with little trouble at the far post. Dartford had already given indications that they were capable of giving our defence problems (No Tony Burt - but Stuart Playford was back in) as a cross flew across Dave's goal mouth with nobody there to tuck it away a few minutes before they went ahead. The Dartford keeper somehow got down to a shot on his line as Town pressed for the equaliser - didn't see who hit it - but there was disbelief it didn't go in as the ball rebounded off the keeper to be hacked away. Big shout for hand ball when a cross seemed to be handled - but several looks at the video are inconclusive on that one.

Town came out looking well up for it in the second half and there was another shout for a penalty when Tommy O's shot was obstructed. Jonah and Yatesie had left their shooting boots at home - both had reasonable opportunities as Town pressed - Jonah over the bar and Yatesie scuffed his effort wide. Another big scramble in the home area on 59 minutes which unbelievably saw the ball cleared off the line twice in rapid succession - surely that equaliser was a matter of time?

But referee Bottomer (yeah that's his real name folks), having already shown he was probably on a par with Mr Pryor who we endured on Saturday, played his ace by waving play on after another clear foul on Macca* (not Yatesie as previously said), Dartford broke quickly, caught our defence napping again and their 9 knocked in his second. Well taken goal - but instead of us preparing to take a free kick just outside the Dartford box - we were instead kicking off 0-2 down.

Landry replaced Jonah on 67 minutes as Town tried to get back into the game but a matter of 5 minutes later - to the delight of the home supporters, it was 3-0. Another quick break from half way - nice exchange to the edge of our box, Dave pulled off a great one handed save but could do nothing as the ball rebounded just right for it to be hammered into the roof of the net.

Town's play became frantic and the game just got more and more frustrating as the minutes ticked away. Yet - despite the scuffed shots, the over hit crosses, the Dartford defender always in the way and Bottomer doing his bit - chances were still there. Landry turned and fired a shot well wide - Nick Hegley's well struck effort was straight at the keeper - Landry fired high and wide as did Macca - it was just not going to be our night - and Dartford's lively forwards were always looking ready to add to their score.

85 minutes gone - Macca who'd already come in for some rough treatment - none of which resulted in yellow cards for those dishing it out - was upended again - just outside the box - and as he and the Dartford 2 got to their feet virtually face to face - Duncan lost the plot and shoved the 2 away - and sure enough that resulted in the old nonsense of a dramatic collapse clutching the face. The Dartford guy got up straight away for a yellow card - Macca saw red and off he went. All this happened right in front of Bottomer - nobody was in the least bit surprised the red card came out - Duncan should've known better - but - BUT - there's no way he hit the 2 in the face - he pushed him away with hands on the other guy's chest and the play acting did the rest.

86 minutes - and from the free kick for the initial foul on Duncan, Landry struck Town's goal after the Dartford defence failed to clear. Just rewards perhaps - the 0-3 scoreline prior to his goal was a tad unfair. Despite a good 8 minutes of added time - we never looked like getting another goal and duly went down to only our second away defeat of the season. It has to be said there have been plenty of occasions this season when things have gone for us - Erith will testify to that twice, Banbury away, Wisbech at home and so on - this was to be one of those nights when the pendulum swung the other way.

Three goals flattered Dartford as they did us "away" again - but they had a decent set of forwards who looked dangerous on the quick break, their defence got stuck right in and - they got the points.

At last, players, supporters, management, owners were able to breathe a collective sigh of relief as Town finished off the job they started off against the very same opposition at The Pilot Field back in August - and by once again having to come back from behind and run out comfortable winners, it made the results at Grantham and Dorchester of no relevance. Like it says - we're up as champions - and those two can now fight it out over the runners up spot.

Yes - they did run out comfortable winners - but not before Wisbech gave them a real fright in the opening 20 minutes when they hardly looked like a side battling to retain their Eastern Division status. No Stuart Playford - out for the rest of the season, no Duncan McArthur who's suspended, and Jonah replaced in attack by Landry. The perfect start after just 3 minutes when a Mylie long throw was flicked on by Flanners to Paul Ruddy who's header looked to have taken a deflection with the ball squeezing between the keeper's legs for the softest of goals - not that the considerable number of Town supporters behind the goal were complaining.

6 minutes gone and Town were caught napping when a lofted pass into the area found an unmarked Furnell who finished off well to the delight of the Wisbech supporters behind King Dave. Dave was in action again a couple of minutes later as Town's defence was found wanting - but he spread himself well and beat out the shot. Rudds had a long range effort comfortably saved a couple of minutes later - but on 12 minutes it was all happening in the Town box once again as the Wisbech 7 broke away, held off Nick Hegley and fired home from inside the area to put Wisbech 2-1 up a matter of a minute or so after the linesman and referee amazingly failed to see as blatant a handball in the Wisbech area by a home defender as you'll ever see. Collywobbles that had surfaced at Stonebridge Road on Tuesday had resurfaced at Fenland Park just when we didn't want them!

Tony Burt's head wound that he'd picked up against Chatham reopened and he had to go off for a bandage to be wound around his nut and when he came back on he gave a very passable imitation of Terry Butcher all those years ago. Burty - our only survivor from the 91/92 Southern Division championship squad - was magnificent and was to hold things together at the back as Town weathered that Wisbech storm which threatened to overwhelm Town in that opening 20 minutes or so.

2-2 on 26 minutes as Flanners climbed high to plant a Mylie corner into the far corner of the net. And with Mylie having provided the ammunition for the first two goals - he went and completed a hat trick of assists when another one of those long throws was flicked on by Flanners to Landry who had time to rifle the ball into the roof of the net from a yard out to put Town 3-2 ahead.

Wisbech still looked dangerous in attack - in fact both sides looked dodgy at the back in that opening 45 and the home side were to have a couple more decent opportunities - Dave saving well and then a home forward putting a spectacular diving header in which he couldn't direct properly. Town went in 3-2 up at the interval and mobile phones were getting a hammering in no time - Grantham 0-1 down at home to Bashley and Dorchester 1-0 up at home to Rothwell.

Another fright for Town in the opening minutes of the second half when Dave dropped a cross and the Wisbech 6 blazed the ball over the bar when he really had time to control and pick his spot. The sigh of relief turned to massive celebrations a minute or so later - Nick Hegley fed Monster who broke down the left and fired in a cross which took a deflection and looped over the flailing keeper into the far corner to extend our lead to 4-2. As with the opening goal - a distinct taste of good fortune - but once again - no complaints from us behind the goal.

That goal effectively settled matters as Town started to knock the ball around with real confidence. They might well have had another three or four goals - two clearances off the line from Monster and then Landry, a couple of very good saves from the keeper to atone for his first half slip with the opening goal - a shot just wide and another just over as Town got those collywobbles good and out of their system. Not to say Wisbech didn't create a couple more good chances - one fired just wide and a free kick that went equally close.

But this was to be our day as all the hard work that had commenced with that narrow 2-1 win over Wisbech in August saw the just rewards against the same opposition eight months and 40 games later. A huge contrast in emotions at the final whistle - the Fenland Park pa announcer sportingly applauded Town's championship, huge celebrations amongst our players while the Wisbech boys trooped off with relegation still haunting them** and then the players coming over to share their elation with the supporters who'd made the 340 mile round trip to see it all come to fruition. And the celebrations continued in the bar afterwards as the good natured locals and our supporters shared a noisy beer or two.

Bloody marvellous. Three years to get back what those DM League rulebook obsessed bozos took away in three minutes - yeah, bloody marvellous. We can all turn up for the Ashford game next Saturday and not have to take blood pressure medication - we can enjoy watching Burty and the boys be presented with the Eastern Division championship trophy and if I can find a telephone directory sized copy of the DM Rule book, I'll give it (anally) to whichever DM official turns up to present the medals etc.

Well done George, Mark, Jack and the boys - we're proud of you.

SS

**I don't reckon two clubs will go down anyway. One perhaps - Corby might well welcome a return to United Counties League football - but when were the bottom two last relegated from the Eastern or old Southern Division? If there aren't enough clubs applying for promotion from the county leagues etc etc - whoever finishes second from bottom might well get away with it - and if Wisbech get that touch of good fortune - then good luck to them.

Didn't bother with this game - even if it was another opportunity to beat the Stains - late turn at work beckoned and having used up a fair bit of holiday for the games that really counted - I gave this one a miss.

Having said that - there was more to this game than usual in that it was played as a joint tribute to local sportsman Andy Sinden who died recently of Motor Neurone disease. A collection was also made during the game.

Town put out what was largely a mixture of reserves and fringe players (including Tony Kessell in goal) while the Stains side seemed to be a few short of their regular line up. Town scored first through Joe Cornwall, found themselves 1-2 down in the second half, equalised with about 5 minutes left through John Neal and won the game with an extra time goal from Nick Hegley.

SATURDAY - BE THERE!

Bloody right. All the gongs and pots will be presented on Saturday - Player of the Season (who'll be Flanners - absolutely no doubt on that one), Goal of the Season, Manager of the Month and after the game - Dennis Strudwick, who's application of the DM rule book played a large part in us going down three years ago - will present trophy and medals to all concerned.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS 2001/2002 - PART 3

JUST GOT THE ASHFORD GAME TO FIT IN PLUS ALL THE PRESENTATIONS AND THEN I'LL GET ON WITH PUTTING TOGETHER PART 3 OF MY DODGY DIGITAL ACCOUNT OF A MEMORABLE SEASON. IT'LL FEATURE ALL GAMES FROM DARTFORD @ HOME UP TO ASHFORD (EXCEPT THE STAINS HASTINGS SENIOR CUP GAME). SHOULD BE AVAILABLE TOWARDS THE END OF THE WEEK AFTER THE ASHFORD GAME.

AS BEFORE - IT'LL BE £8.50 FOR A THREE HOUR TAPE WITH LOT'S OF GOOD MEMORIES CAPTURED - MASSACRE AT FORT FUN, INJURY TIME WINNER AT HOME TO SPALDING, THAT MISSED PENALTY AT ERITH, TRIUMPH AT FENLAND PARK AND ALL THE GONGS AND POTS BEING PRESENTED ON THE LAST DAY OF THE SEASON.

I CAN TAKE ORDERS THRU THE POST - BUT THAT'LL BE £9.50 INCLUDING P&P - DROP ME A LINE AT:-

CALL ME ON MY MOBILE (07979-314171) AND YOU CAN ARRANGE TO POP ROUND TO MY PLACE FOR A TAPE FOR THE REGULAR £8.50 PRICE. YOU CAN ALWAYS ACOST ME AT THE ASHFORD GAME AND PLACE AN ORDER.

I'LL BE LEAVING SOME TAPES WITH TONY COSENS IN HIS OFFICE AT THE FOOTBALL CLUB - YOU CAN CALL HIM BEFORE HAND ON 01424-444635. TAPES BOUGHT THERE WILL BE £8.50 OF COURSE.

PART 3 WILL BE OF A SIMILAR STANDARD TO PART 2 WHICH IN TURN WAS RATHER BETTER THAN PART 1 WHICH WAS HUGELY AMATEURISH IN MOST RESPECTS. EVERYONE WHO'S BOUGHT PART 2 SEEMS TO BE OF THAT OPINION WHICH IS GOOD - SO YOU SHOULD LIKE PART 3 AS WELL. REMEMBER THE CLUB GETS £3.50 FOR EVERY TAPE SOLD.

FANZINE - "GHOST OF MG 5YP" ISSUE 33

I'LL BE FEVERISHLY WORKING AWAY AT THAT THRU THE CLOSE SEASON AND THE PROMOTION SPECIAL WILL BE AROUND EARLY IN 02/03.

SS

End of season games with little or nothing hinging on them are usually drab affairs - and this one fell into the "nothing" category as our lads had done all the hard work over the previous 41 games, Ashford were clear of relegation and the only interest was in seeing the Eastern Division championship shield being handed over to Tony Burt at around 5.00 pm. The other talking point was the news that it will be Hastings United who kick off 2002/2003 in the Premier Division - yes - the club's name has been changed. More on that later.

We started off with presentations to George - Manager of the Month for March, Duncan McArthur - Goal of the Season (Banbury at home), Duncan - Runner up Player of the Season and Adam Flanagan - Player of the Season by a country mile. Thoroughly deserved - a fine central defender, hardly any yellow cards which is a feat in itself in these card happy days and 14 goals into the bargain. Nice one Flanners. Remember how Micky Taylor - manager of Stains back in August - said Flanners moving to The Pilot Field wouldn't do anything for his football? Ahem ahem - player of the season and promotion........

This game just never really got going even though we were given the benefit of an early lead when Tony Burt's not particularly strongly struck effort was deflected past the Ashford keeper after his defence failed to clear a Mylie long throw on 9 minutes. Ashford reminded us they were also on the same pitch a matter of 4 minutes later when Simon Elliott cut in from the right and beat King Dave with a well hit effort from the edge of the box. And the mini goal fest continued in the 16th minute when Landry got on the end of another long throw from Mylie (How many goals has Stuart created this season with those throws?) and rifled the ball into the corner of the net.

Very little else to report about the first half - it really was that forgettable with the highlight being the query from Simon Elliott who, as he lay flat out waiting for a stretcher to take him off with an ankle injury - asked the Ashford physio - "Is that me out for the World Cup?". Heard in the bar afterwards that it sounded like he'd sprained the ankle - good luck Simon - a sense of humour like that needs to be up and running asap.

If the first half was a non event - even less can be reported about the second as the two sides played out 2001/2002. Two highlights - the Ashford equaliser from way out that flew in off a post and Steve Restarick's superb break from the halfway line holding off two defenders all the way to the edge of the box where he saw his brilliant chip rebound off the crossbar - what a goal that would've been. That seemed to gee Town up and for about 10 minutes they threatened to take control but once that final whistle blew - nobody would have disagreed that 2-2 was anything but a fair reflection of the game.

Big celebrations when Tony led the boys up to collect the shield from Dennis Strudwick. How appropriate that Burty should be first up the steps - the sole survivor from the 91/92 Southern Division title winning squad. Humble pie time - I had big reservations when Tony came back to The Pilot Field after spells at the Stains and Langney Sports - but he hasn't let us down and has played a huge part in seeing us regain our Premier Division place after that traumatic 98/99 season. I take my hat off to you Tony.