Title Winning Victory

It all came down to this; our last league game. We had been on a brilliant run of 10 wins from 11 league games that had put us in a very strong position, but we knew that anything other than a win could open the door for in form JB Rangers.

Manager Matt Gibbins had over 20 players to choose from which lead to some very difficult, arguably agonising decisions to leave players out of the squad for the biggest game of our season. Our squad strength has been key in getting us to this position, but it didn't make life easier for Matt or for those left out.

Worplesdon Rangers started well, as they had done in the first league game and they had the better of the early stages without troubling our backline.

We were the first to go close as Sam Lant was incredibly unlucky to hit the bar with a ferocious 20 yard strike. Sam also fired over in the area when well placed, although slightly unbalanced.

Worplesdon forced Ryan Pardo-Roques into action on one occasion when they got in behind, but Ry did what he does best and emphatically snuffed out the danger.

There were a few half chances at either end, but it was goalless at the interval.

Matt made two half-time changes as Tom Davis and Ashley Britton entered the fray. Both were to be involved in the opener after 48 minutes. Odgie's throw in saw Ash beat the keeper to the ball and his flick header was eventually bundled over the line by Dan Cox to break the deadlock.

Rangers went straight up the other end and a good strike clipped the top of our bar.

We had some decent chances to kill the game, but had to wait until the 72nd minute for the crucial 2nd goal. Simon Grout picked up possession in midfield, clipped a ball through to record scorer Joey Stevens and he found the bottom corner left footed for his 15th of the season.

Worplesdon kept fighting, but with just under 10 minutes to go we secured the title with two quick fire goals. Substitute Tom Frost's first touch found fellow sub Luca Mortellaro on the right midway through our half. Luca played a cracking long ball to Ash who powered past his man and coolly slotted home. It's been a difficult season for Luca with injuries, but this assist was a timely reminder of his qualities.

From the kick off Rangers gave Grouty the ball in midfield and he had acres to run into before passing to Ash who turned and fired into the bottom corner for his 6th goal in 3 games and 10th of the season. That's 3 players into double figures goal wise and this has been vital.

This gave us the chance to really enjoy the last few minutes, playing as Champions. Finally. For a club that has often come up short, we had passed this test in awesome fashion.

Some of us have been here since the very beginning, some have been here over a decade, others a good few seasons and some are new signings this campaign - everyone deserves this. We have been aiming to win a league for the past 5 seasons or so and it was beautiful for that ambition to be realised.

Obviously the 16 there today got to enjoy the moment, but it would be remiss of us not to mention those who couldn't be there to enjoy it with us. It's been a squad effort from start to finish and every single one of you has played your part.

We will celebrate this at the end of the season and the plan is to go big (Rich will be pleased), but for now our focus turns to the 2 cup competitions. We've already achieved the main goal and this will go down as our best season, but are we ruthless or greedy enough to go for more? It certainly won't be easy, but let's go for it.

MoM: stat points for everyone!

A huge thanks to those who came down to support today. We hope you enjoyed it. Massive thanks to Baulds and later Ell for running the line. Finally a big thanks to our kit sponsors Jay and Luigi. M.