Ed's Eye

2007/8 End of Season Review

A superb season for WMCFL. Not only did we have a great time on the field, with places still fought for right up until the last Saturday but things look extremely healthy off the pitch too. Twenty-two teams competing in WMCFL is our second best number of clubs and we are almost certainly going to beat that in 08/09. We have had eleven enquiries from new teams, nine of whom look likely to get voted in. So we will probably have to increase to three divisions next season.

Division One was pretty much split in four with Clarendon out in front by a massive twelve points, then followed by St Mary's, St Matthew's and Amblecote who fought for second place. Dynamo, Rowley and Sheldon were then in fifth, sixth and seventh. Relegation had threatened Dynamo who picked up towards the end of the year and Sheldon who had masses of games to make up. Then the bottom bunch were City, Chawn and Renewal.

Division Two had two run-aways in Halesowen and St Thomas', who seemed to swap the lead every other week. Halesowen ended the season on top with St Thomas' just two points behind. The battle for third place was almost as intense. King's just pipped Selly Oak after catching up a big back-log. Wolves and Zion Athletic dropped away towards the climax. Walsall, EK and Bilston made up a group at the top of the bottom half, with St Boniface, Sandwell and Brierley Hill bringing up the rear.

Division 1

Clarendon - Congratulations to Clarendon who were worthy Champions. They went through the season without losing a game in the League, scoring 60 goals and conceding just 16. Their 44 point haul was exceptional, winning the title by 12 points second only to Rowley College's 47 in 2002.

I did predict that Clarendon would win the League back in pre-season but revised that to runners-up at the Christmas break on account of their two wins and four draws from their six games played at the break. I should have stuck to my guns; they won twelve of the next thirteen.
St. Matthew's - At this level, it can be very difficult to sustain a consistent side, week in, week out. Whilst St Matthew's were ten points clear at the Christmas break, Clarendon had four games in hand. All of a sudden St Matthew's hit a sticky patch and the season that promised so much ended in disappointment. Having said that, this has been St Matt's best ever season on record, finishing third in the League and quarter-finals in the Cup, knocked out by eventual winners St Mary's. I said second at pre-season and champions at Christmas, so I wasn't far wrong.
St. Mary's - St Mary's are a team who's star continues to rise. They continue to go from strength to strength, winning the Cup in successive seasons and topping that with a runner's up berth in Division One. You could argue that Clarendon are the best team in the League but with St Mary's beating them in the Cup Final to give them one win, one draw and one defeat, there was nothing in the three games they played against each other. Predictions were sixth and fourth, so I was off the mark, although if they'd have lost their last game against Solihull I'd have been right.
Amblecote - Spot on with the pre-season prediction of fourth. Amblecote are losing five players to Champions, including Shawn Devonport who has knocked in 37 goals for them in the last two years. They've known about this for some months and so it could have played on their minds. It was interesting to hear Shawn shouting 'don't get yourself sent off, your suspension will be carried forward to next year'. He is running Champions Church next year and clearly understands his responsibilities. I think the biggest disappointment was the quarter-final exit to Selly Oak from Division Two. I though that maybe it was Amblecote's year in the Cup, having been a bit unlucky in previous years but it was not to be.

Dynamo Kingswinford - Nine points from their last four matches rescued their season. This included two solid victories over Amblecote, eight goals without reply. On closer inspection, DK had a goal-difference of minus three which tells its own tale. They managed six wins, six draws and six defeats. 666!! With Gary Lamsdale standing down from the helm, DK will need a new leader going into the new season.
Rowley College - I put Rowley down as third at the start of the season and modified it to seventh at the break. PB said fourth, so all guesses were inaccurate, although I will claim the prize as I got closest. After the ignominious drop into Division Two, Rowley have enjoyed a good couple of years, firstly by returning undefeated as Champions last season, followed by a reasonable run this year and another Cup semi-final appearance.
Sheldon - The team that stopped St Matthew's in their tracks. After watching Sheldon play in pre-season, I thought they looked weak and suggested they were going to get hammered. They opened up their campaign with a 0-7 defeat and the writing was on the wall. Maybe my prediction and that battering (on paper at least) shook Sheldon into action. They certainly could do with a few more goals, scoring just 30 in their 18 games. Every team above them scored more. They spent much of the season in the relegation zone but as it turned out they were always playing catch up with their fixtures. Tim, it's all your fault for getting married.
City Church - I should have stuck to my original guess, which was correct. City had a hard time resultswise before Christmas. There were some good performances but little to show from it. They took a couple of thumpings, losing 8-1 to St Matthew's and conceding ten against Clarendon but incredibly drew 2-2 with St Matt's and then lost by just one to Clarendon later on. It took them until 23 February to win a League match and turned the corner with some much better results but it was too little, too late and finished eight points adrift.
Chawn Hill Church - A disappointment by Chawn's standards. Chawn are easily the most successful WMCFL club with five Division One titles and four League Cup wins to their name. Again, like Sheldon goals scored were Chawn's achilles' heel. Chawn conceded just 37 goals, only four more than St Mary's in second place. They did however manage to beat Clarendon in the Cup Group Phase, winning 4-2; one of just two losses for Roger's team.
Renewal Solihull - No dramatic last dash to the line, despite the inclusion of Dennis Bailey towards the end of the season, the gent that he is. Just three wins from the eighteen played is just not enough. Solihull looked the ticket last year but injury, suspension and unavailability has paid the price. Solihull remain the only club in the League to play in the afternoon and I think that has also lead to difficulties. I think they may lose players to new team Birmingham International, but we will see.

Division 2

Halesowen Zion - I stuck my money on red in both predictions and it came up black both times. Well done to Halesowen for winning Division Two. They broke a few records on the way: They are the only club in the League to have won Division Two twice. Also, Tom Doran's 38 goals is an individual high in the 'internet era' of WMCFL. And lastly 92 goals in a season is also a best, equalling Lyndon United's feat in 2001/2. Not much luck in the Cup though, getting beaten by Dynamo and Rowley and trounced by St Mary's. It begs the question: How big is the gap between First and Second?

St. Thomas' Aldridge - Narrowly missed out on the Division Two title but were beaten just once and that was to Halesowen, which turned out to be the title decider. Effectively knocked out of the Cup by Sheldon from Division One.
King's AFC - I said third at the start of the season and that's where they finished. Another club that spent months in arrears in matches completed mainly due to National Cup commitments. They had a wobble or two late on getting beaten by Walsall and drawing with St Boniface but made it over the line. It's nice to see so many people still involved with the club that were there at the birth of the League. They also have a number of second generation players, i.e. dads and uncles who represented the team have sons and nephews appearing. I wonder when we will have a player claiming that his Dad and Grandad played in WMCFL? It may be a while...Any contenders?

Selly Oak Methodist - I said third at Christmas and fifth back in August, so on aggregate I got this one correct. A brilliant season for this club on reflection. Ninth out of ten in both their previous seasons, so fourth out of twelve and a Cup semi final appearance was a major success for Selly Oak. After their famous 3-0 win in the quarters, it all went wrong for a little while. That win was on 9 February and it was not until 15 March that they won again. It goes to show how difficult it is to sustain success in both major competitions.
Wolverhampton & Perton Churches - I went to watch Wolves play late on in the season. They had already missed out on a top three spot and so had adopted a different attitude towards the game. They turned out with a bare eleven but seemed to really enjoy themselves; it was nice to see. A big haul of goals with 80 in 22 games, averaging almost four a match. I would suggest that availability of players cost them. Seven defeats is three more than any of the teams above them with Selly Oak and King's losing just four times each.
Zion Athletic - Not a bad season for results. Zion have quite a selection of quality players with the Allens looking solid at the back. The youth of the side is beginning to flourish. Another team that have scored heavily, seven more than Selly Oak in fact.
Walsall Olympic - A vast improvement on last season's result of bottom with a capital bee. Walsall headed the bottom half of the table this year, with 28 points instead of last season's five. They also ended with a positive goal difference with ten players managing to score. The pick of the crop was Nathan Brain who scored 22 times including Cup goals. Last year Stephen Breese top scored with just six.
EK Corinthia - I thought that EK were going to do better than they did in their debut year. They looked well organised with quite a few decent players but they struggled to adapt. Nevertheless, they still managed to accrue 24 points, which is not bad, avoiding defeat in ten of their 22 games. There are plenty of teams I could mention that spent seasons in the basement before going onto greater things, not least of whom, St Mary's and St Matthew's. Chris Morrison still managed to score eighteen League goals tying him on fourth place in the Leading Goal Scorers. I'm sure they will build on their first year.
Bilston Beacons - Another correct prediction. Bilston suffered a massive exodus of players at the end of last year, with people leaving to St Matthew's and EK in the main. It took them a while to recover but they began to get it together towards the end of the season. Again 23 points is still quite a few, they managed to win seven matches.
St. Boniface - A disappointing result for St Boniface. The year in which Ogochukwu Obiakor played in WMCFL. Obi had played football for Tunisian side Etoile Sahel before a serious knee injury stopped things. He went on to play for an Algerian team USM Blida after using St Boniface as therapy.
Sandwell United - Another difficult year for Sandwell in which they managed just three wins and a draw and conceded 113 goals. They are still a very young side. From what I have gathered, they still put up a fight for about two thirds of the match and then get demolished with a flurry of late goals.
Brierley Hill AOG - Sadly a correct pre-season prediction. Brierley Hill, one of six founder member teams from back in 1979 struggled again this year. A proud moment for big Carl at the back when his son played in the same match.