For those of the guys who were there and equally for those that were not. I have got the photos I took from our Presentation Night here for you to check out. The overall winners of prizes were Sean Kirk, who won the "Most Man of the Matches", "Players Player of the Year", "Most Consistent" and "Manager's Player of the Year" awards. Tristan Thornton who finished as "Top Goalscorer" with 19 goals. Craig Magee who won the "Most improved" award. Martin Ellis with the "Best Goal" award. Chris Benson (me!), who won the "Clubman of the Year" award and finally Les Clay who won the "Captain's Player of the Year" award. Well done to all the winners and again congratulations to the lads for securing us promotion for next season.

I hadn't realised that I didn't update the results page with the links to the pictures from our last two games of the season at home against Luddites and Queens Hotel, so I have corrected this and you can now see the pictures by heading over to the Team Results page and then clicking on the camera icon next the game in question to view the pics for that match. Alternatively since I've been so lazy and not updated the site in a while I created the links to those pics above so by clicking on the team names above you can view the pics that way instead!,
Why not take a look at the team photo from this season as well - Click here to view it.

We finish the season with a fine 4-2 win against Queens Hotel which secures us third place in the table. We finished five points adrift of eventual winners Morley Celtic and level on points with Commercial, although they only pipped us to the runners-up spot by virtue of them having a slightly better goal difference than us. If only Rothwell hadn't had folded and those 15 goals we put past them had counted! One person who might feel slightly aggrieved about that could be Lee Metcalf who scored five in that game but after having them taken from him ending up finishing two goals shy of top scorer Tristan Thornton who bagged an impressive 19 goals in his return season.

We were a bit slow getting going in the game itself and had an early scare when they had a goal chalked off for a marginal offside call. We didn't take the hint though and Queens continued to press and took the lead with ten minutes gone. Their big center-forward shrugging off a tackle and breaking clear of our defence before squaring the ball to give a team-mate an far post tap in. After about twenty minutes we finally seemed to wake up and Lee Metcalf had a shot saved from outside the box before going one better a few minutes later when he turned in a cross at the near post after some good work down the left wing from Craig Magee. Despite a couple more nervy moments when their big center-forward, (who caused us some problems throughout the game), managed to play his strike partner in a couple of times but thankfully his finishing wasn't as good as the build up play and we survived. Despite being under a spell of pressure as we approached half-time, we managed to break out and a good move culminated with a fine ball picking out James Cunningham on the edge of the area and he controlled before firing a low shot beyond the keeper into the far corner to give us a slender advantage at the break.

We couldn't have asked for a better start to the second-half when barely a few minutes in, a good ball picked out Lee Metcalf just inside the box and he placed a excellent first time effort wide of the keeper and just inside the upright to make it 3-1. Any thoughts of now taking it easy though were soon put paid to when their big lad up front bamboozled a few defenders and waltzed into the box before finishing past Booth in goal. Cue time for Tristan Thornton to come on and he didn't take too long to make his presence felt when he collected a through ball and tucked a tidy finish under the advancing keeper. He nearly repeated the trick five minutes later but this time opted for power and sent his effort just over the bar. So 4-2 it finished and it wasn't too bad a way to bring the curtain down on what has seemed a long, but for the most part, enjoyable season. Thanks for the efforts lads and see you all at the presentation night!

A fairly comfortable match was decided by a goal in each half for Lee Metcalf, one from the penalty spot and another a sweet left footed volley, sandwiching a close range finish from Stephen Evans.

Despite one or two scares - a header which came back off the post in the first half and a one-on-one stop by Rick Evans in goal in the second - we were pretty much in control and the margin of victory could have been greater had the Luddites keeper not pulled of string of vital saves, including a great double stop where he flung himself to the left to deny Lee Metcalf a second goal from the spot and somehow managed to then push the follow up around the post. Martin Ellis saw one effort hit the bar and had a couple of last-ditch blocks deny him a goal and Stephen Evans had several good chances before grabbing his goal, (albeit at the second attempt after fluffing his first effort!), but three goals was all we got and it was enough on the day to record our 10th league victory of the season.

Up against the league leaders it was important that we made a good start to the match and we did just that. Despite only playing with one up front we were managing to cause them problems with Lee Metcalf proving to be a real handful for the Morley defence. Lee showed good strength to work himself two decent half-chances but alas they went just wide or over. You couldn't say we were in control however as Morley too were giving as good as they got and could have scored a few themselves in the an open first twenty minutes but it was us who managed to strike first. Alan Woolley picked out Darrel Brown's run down the right with a great ball in behind the Morley Defence. Darrel raced on towards goal and managed to round the keeper before firing a low shot goalwards which the covering defender could only divert into his own goal. The goal spurred Morley on and they managed to waste several more good opportunities before finally grabbing an equaliser five minutes before the break when their number eight rose up at the near post to beat Stephen Evans to the ball and power a header past Booth in goal.

One-all at the break and we still had high hopes of taking something out of the game. These would soon be dashed however within minutes of the restart as they took the lead when a Morley head again rose highest to head home a corner. A third for Morley arrived not long after though this time there was an element of good fortune (for them) about it. First Sean Kirk slipped after accidentally standing on the ball to concede possession about midway into our half and then the Morley strikers' shot took an awful bounce just before reaching Dean in goal to squirm past him and trickle in. Still they all count and Morley won't be complaining. Yours truly came on for a rather eventful last 15 minutes and promptly found myself in the thick of things, coming off worst after an accidental collision with our keeper and then getting another knock in a goal line scramble for the ball. A goal was scored by Morley on both occasions so I'll leave you guys to determine how much use I was!. By the way I'm still limping and had to pay good money for the privilege as well. Don't you just love Sunday morning football?!

We gained revenge for our 3-1 defeat earlier on this season with what on the face of it looks like a pretty emphatic 5-0 victory, however this was anything but a one sided game and in truth the scoreline could have looked oh so different had New Merlins finished off all the chances they created. We were more clinical in front of goal and that along with another outstanding performance from Dean Booth in our goal was the difference between the two sides. Alas no pictures from today's game as I forgot to recharge the battery on my camera. A bit of a shame really as it would have been nice to capture some moments from an entertaining game.

After a slow start Merlins began to apply a bit of pressure and had a couple of good opportunities to score after hitting us quickly on the break. Thankfully one effort was blazed wide and another was tipped round the post by a superb save by Dean in goal. Despite seeing plenty of the ball we were not really doing anything with it, well apart from giving it away cheaply with some sloppy passes which when we had all piled forward enabled them to hit us quickly on the counter. Chances for us were few and far between, our best perhaps fell to Tristan Thornton who got through on goal but a little nudge by a defender put him off balance and the chance was gone.

Goalless at the break but we started the second half in better form and took the lead ten minutes in when a great through ball by James Cunningham split the Merlins defence and put Lee Metcalf clean through. Lee calmly took the ball round the keeper and despite being pushed a little wide by a chasing defender managed to side foot home to give us the lead. Twice more Merlins came close to scoring when their forward latched onto a loose ball some eight yards out but with the goal at his mercy spooned his effort over the bar and a couple of minutes later Dean came to our rescue again with an excellent close range stop. With about twenty five to go Les Clay came on for Rick Evans and with one of his first touches managed to work his way past a Merlins defender and whip in a cross to the near post where Mark Aspin planted a firm header past the keeper to make it 2-0. Things got better five minutes later when Tristan Thornton met James Cunningham's corner and buried a header into the roof of the net to make it three. Despite this Merlins kept on battling away and still managed to carve out a few more chances but once again they were undone by a lack of composure in front of goal. A slip by Dean coming out to collect a through ball nearly handed Merlins a way back into the game but thankfully Sean Kirk was there to deflect their striker's effort round the post for a corner.

With a quarter of a hour left, three-nil became four when Les Clay won the ball out on the left and played a great through ball for Lee Metcalf to run onto. Lee was just beaten to the ball by a defender chasing back, but all he could do was knock the ball past his on-coming keeper and into his own goal!. A fifth just before time when Lee Metcalf turned a defender inside out and his ball across goal was turned into the net by Stephen Evans's, *ahem*, "nether-regions" completed the scoring and sealed the victory.

Whilst not a fantastic performance this was at least a lot better than last weekends capitulation against Commercial. Whilst that might not have been too hard, finding the back of the certainly was as we had plenty of good chances to score in the match but found a combination of blocks, saves and woodwork in our way.

We had the better of the first half and nearly scored when Stephen Evans flicked a header on at the near post but his effort went just over, likewise did James Cunningham's dipping volley from outside the box. On the half hour mark a close range effort was saved by Armley's keeper and a combination of defender and post kept out the follow-up. Despite the pressure though it would be goalless at half time.

Lee Metcalf had a couple of efforts at the start of the second and saw one drift just wide and another hit the upright. Mark Aspin also had a close range effort turned round the post by the keeper and was denied by a timely block later. As often happens when you've missed a few your opponent has a habit of making you pay and so it proved again when Armley's player beat Dean Booth to a corner to head home ten minutes into the second half. Armley now had their best spell and could have scored a couple more when we played ourselves into trouble and gave the ball away. Twice the same player burst through down the left but thankfully Dean didn't have to make a save as he fluffed both efforts harmlessly wide.

A big shout by Armley for a penalty on the hour mark was turned down and to be honest they should have had one. Possibly the ref was unsighted and so played on but it was a big moment for sure and would prove a turning point in the match as moments later we grabbed an equaliser through the un likeliest of sources. A corner played in from the left went out to the far post where it was headed back in towards the center of goal and there was Richard Evans, in his first out-field start this season, to guide a header past the keeper and into the net for his first goal for six seasons. The match sort of petered out a bit after that, though there was still time for a few feisty challenges going in which did threaten to get a little out of control at one stage but sanity returned soon after and both sides settled for the draw.

"Absolutely shocking from start to finish" could probably be a fair assessment of how we played. We were never at the races and Commercial dominated proceedings almost from the off as we were brushed aside with barely a whimper. The only real surprise was that the margin of defeat was not bigger though this was partly due to some superb saves by Dean Booth in goal. Dean was easily our man of the match and was one of the few people out there for us who could have come off that pitch at the end anywhere near satisfied by their performance.

Apart from maybe one Mark Aspin effort that was saved by their keeper I can't for the life of me remember any other efforts by us at goal in the entire game. I think it's best to draw a line under this one and concentrate on our next games instead.

This was going to be a good test of where we stood in relation to our hopes of success in the league this season, but to be honest we didn't really do ourselves any justice with a fairly average display against a decent Morley side. We weren't helped by our top scorer Tristan Thornton not being available and had lost the influential Les Clay to an injury sustained late on last week, so maybe this was to blame for the pretty dire first half hour when we were all at sea and lacked any shape or cohesion. By the time we managed to get our heads on we were three goals down, but a Stephen Evans effort just before the break at least gave us some hope.

We matched Morley for long periods of the second half and deservedly got back into it when Martin Ellis won and scored a penalty to make it 3-2. Almost immediately though Morley went up the other end and won a penalty of their own. The kick was well struck but a superb save by Dean Booth kept them out and us in the game. This would prove only to be a brief respite however as we got caught pushing too forward on our next attack and a quick break later Morley had won a corner. The ball was floated in deep towards the far post and there were three Morley players queuing up to tuck the ball home. The confidence seemed to drain away from the lads at this point and a late fifth for Morley was not too much of a surprise.

So another big game has passed us by and we have nothing to show for it. What seemed at one stage a promising season is beginning to slip away from us so we must renew our efforts, try to fight back or we'll end up looking back on this year with a sense of huge disappointment.

The scoreline might have suggested a one sided game but for the first 40 minutes or so this was anything but. In blustery conditions Luddites were playing with the wind and kept us for the large part camped in our own half. They had the majority of the play and had several good chances to score but failed to take any of them. This was partly due to some good work in goal from Dean Booth and some poor finishing on their part. Either way we didn't mind, it was still goalless and we would soon have the wind on our side.

With about five minutes to the break we started to get a foothold into the game and create a few chances. Les Clay nearly scored with a close range effort but saw the ball hit the Luddites keeper in the face and bounce clear! This would be only a temporary reprieve though as Mark Aspin and Tristan Thornton combined on our next attack to create a chance for the latter and this time there was no mistake as Tristan calmly tucked the ball under the keeper to give us a rather handy one-nil lead at half-time.

Within a few minutes of the restart things got even better as we extended our lead. Tristan Thornton again showing some predatory instincts to react quickest to a flick on and nod home his second of the game. He thought he had a third five minutes later when he stabbed home from close range but this time was harshly adjudged offside. Luddites were now finding life difficult just as we had in the first half and many a long throw-in from our own version of Rory Delap - Gaz Davies, caused mayhem in their penalty area. With twenty minutes to got a third and Tristan Thornton completed his hat-trick when Mark Aspin got onto a through-ball and fired an effort goalwards. The shot was saved but fell back into Tristan's path and he gleefully side-footed home. Two fine late strikes from subs Brendan Baker and Alan Wooley added the icing to the cake and rounded off a good victory for the lads.

We made welcome return to winning ways with a comfortable victory at lowly Bulls Head. A 4-1 scoreline in our favour didn't flatter us in anyway but we did switch of a bit late on and that will be a small cause for concern especially against better sides.

We made the perfect start when with only five minutes gone Martin Ellis picked up the ball just inside Bulls Head's half and strode on ten yards before unleashing a powerful shot that flew into the top-right corner. A fabulous strike, definitely one to be proud of! Despite dominating most of the first half it wasn't until ten minutes before the break when scored again. Sean Kirk had made a good break out from defence and beaten a couple of players before his run was brought to half unfairly just inside the area. Penalty kick! Mark Aspin stepped up and put aside memories of last weekends miss to slam the ball home. Two-nil at half time and despite an initial more spirited showing by Bulls Head in the opening moments of the second half, a quick goal on the break essentially killed them off. Craig Magee was picked out by a good through ball from Stephen Evans. He raced on towards goal and despite being forced a little wide lashed a shot across the keeper and into the far corner. A fourth goal came courtesy of another penalty kick when Craig Magee was up-ended when clean through on goal. Martin Ellis this took over the penalty taking duties and followed Mark Aspin's example from the first half by placing a shot past the despairing dive of the keeper.

After the fourth we went to sleep a bit and got away with three near misses in close succession, through a combination of woeful finishing on the part of Bulls Head and one great save from Dean Booth in goal. Dean was powerless to prevent Bulls Head sneaking a consolation effort near the end though when he saved an effort only to see another player following up apply the finish. All in all a good result which we hopefully kick-start our push up the league.

Heartbreak for the guys as we bow out of the Jubilee Cup at the quarter-final stage, losing three-one on penalties after playing out an eventful 120 minutes and drawing four-all. If we had taken our chances, (of which we had quite a few), and had not shot ourselves in the foot with some poor defending and one or two mistakes then it could have been a different story. To be honest though that's kind of stating the obvious when it comes to analyzing a defeat and I don't think there's a team in the land who wouldn't say as such. Still, we could and should have done a lot better and many of us left the field at the end wondering quite how we managed to lose this one.

For the record, Sean Kirk, Les Clay, Mark Aspin and Gavin Tate all got their names on the scoresheet, but sadly only one of us managed to get that 'green tick' in the penalties scored box, the rest must try harder!. Back to league action next Sunday as we travel down to play Bulls Head.

This was our second appearance in the Semi-Final of the Mawson cup in the last three years, but it would end yet again in disappointment. A final score of 6-2 to Seacroft was a pretty comprehensive defeat and to be honest Seacroft were the better side on the day so good luck to them.

Looking back at it you can reflect on what might have been. Would it have made a difference had we had our first choice keeper in net? Maybe, maybe not. You can't really say for sure, what one person may save another may not and vice-versa. I guess it best to think about the positives. We did play reasonably well in the first-half and we even took the lead, albeit slightly against the run of play, from the penalty spot after Les Clay was fouled. Lee Metcalf stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way to give us hope of an upset and if we could have made it to half-time before conceding then who knows what might have happened.

A goal for Seacroft practically straight from the re-start knocked the stuffing out of us and they never really looked back after that, save for a brief moment of hope when Mark Aspin grabbed our second with ten minutes left. In the end we were well beaten, down but not out we lick our wounds, pull ourselves together and set about the next challenge in facing Headingley Rovers in the Leeds & District quarters on Sunday.