BLOG Dated 3rd May 2010

END OF SEASON REVIEW Part One

Apologies for the delay since my last Blog, but as I have said before I am not going to settle on a regular publishing schedule, I will just Blog when there is sufficient material to make it worthwhile.

There are some outstanding matters from previous Blogs and these will be picked up again in my next Blog.

Included below is part one of my review of the season. As well as the usual stuff my summer Blogs will be looking back at the season just finished and we start by looking at appearances and goalscorers and home league attendances.

THE CHELMFORD CITY HISTORIAN

It had been my intention to publish the first issue of this quarterly magazine before the end of the season, but unfortunately this has proved impossible. Rest assured though that the launch issue of the magazine is almost finished and I now intend to publish when the pre season friendlies come around. Just to whet your appetite the first issue will include in interview with former Chairman and current Director Trevor Wright looking at some of the things that happened between 1994 and 1997, a statistical focus on the 1938-1939 season, including the full line ups, a look back on how the Essex Chronicle reported the Club’s first ever AGM and putting some historical context on a significant game in the Club’s history, as well as an extract from former Chronicle man Martin Rogers’ autobiography, and of course much much more.

APPEARANCES AND GOALSCORERS 2009-2010

Being away in the Middle East on holiday did mean that I missed the home playoff games against Bath City, but it has given me the time and an early opportunity to audit my statistics for the season just finished and to get this Blog written up. Below is the list of appearances and goal scorers, including the players career records for the Club. In the interests of completeness I have included players who were named as substitute but did not get any playing time.

APPEARANCES AND GOALSCORERS 2009-2010 SEASON

LGE CUPS TOTAL CAREER
APS GLS APS GLS APS GLS APS GLS
BATCHFORD Lewis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
BATCHFORD Ryan 0 0 3 0 3 0 3 0
BERQUEZ Oliver 22 1 11 1 33 2 237 70
BRAYLEY Bertie 1 0 0 0 1 0 96 30
BROWN Josh 2 0 3 0 5 0 7 0
BUNCE Danny 8 0 0 0 8 0 8 0
CAROLAN Ryan 2 0 0 0 2 0 2 0
CLARK Steve 24 0 9 0 33 0 44 0
CLARKE Pearce 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
COOK Anthony 37 7 13 4 50 11 50 11
COOPER Grant 2 0 2 0 4 0 4 0
EDMANS Robert 35 8 12 6 47 14 47 14
ELAD Chris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
EYRE Nick 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FATAI-SOMUNYIWA Junior 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0
FINN Anthony 8 0 0 0 8 0 8 0
GLOVER Simon 10 0 4 2 14 2 14 2
HAINES Mark 26 0 7 0 33 0 33 0
HALLETT Jason 5 2 0 0 5 2 95 29
HAND Jamie 7 1 0 0 7 1 18 2
HARRISON Ashley 26 0 11 0 37 0 73 0
HASWELL Michael 16 0 11 0 27 0 86 0
HOCKTON Danny 14 5 2 0 16 5 57 20
HOLLOWAY Craig 17 0 4 0 21 0 21 0
HOLMES Ricky 40 15 15 6 55 21 215 66
HORWOOD Paul 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
JOHNSON Max 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
LATIMER Stuart 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
LOCK Matthew 38 2 13 1 51 3 51 3
MARTIN Ben 22 1 8 0 30 1 30 1
MARTIN John 31 1 11 0 42 1 42 1
MAYER Joe 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0
McBEAN Warren 6 4 2 0 8 4 8 4
MODESTE Ricky 28 2 14 3 42 5 46 5
MURRAY Antonio 14 3 7 3 21 6 21 6
NUNN Ben 5 0 1 0 6 0 6 0
OKAY Erkan 4 0 0 0 4 0 10 0
PATTERSON Marlon 19 1 3 3 22 4 22 4
PAVETT Jason 3 0 0 0 3 0 3 0
RAINFORD David 35 7 11 6 46 13 98 34
SCARLETT Tyrone 1 0 1 0 2 0 2 0
SINFIELD Taylor 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
SMITH Lewis 3 1 0 0 3 1 3 1
THOMAS Simon 3 0 1 0 4 0 4 0
WARD Steve 30 0 12 0 42 0 165 0
Own Goals 0 1

Congratulations to top scorer Ricky Holmes who netted 21 times, although it could be argued that during the season City missed an out and out striker who could score 20 goals and would have complimented Ricky’s goals, scored predominantly from a deeper position. Ricky also topped the appearances chart playing in 55 of the Club’s 57 games, missing only the trips to Newport County and Havant and Waterlooville.

HOME LEAGUE ATTENDANCES

Below is a chart showing the breakdown of home league attendances for this season.

AVERAGE HOME LEAGUE ATTENDANCES

Date Opps No Att Cum TotalAve. Up or Down
08-Aug Bath City 1 1,216 1,216 1,216 -10.57
17-Aug Dover Athletic 2 1,578 2,794 1,397 3.02
29-Aug Bromley 3 1,070 3,864 1,288 -5.01
05-Sep St. Albans City 4 1,122 4,986 1,247 -8.08
07-Sep Lewes 5 1,137 6,123 1,225 -9.69
03-Oct Woking 6 1,282 7,405 1,234 -8.98
17-Oct Welling United 7 1,048 8,453 1,208 -10.95
31-Oct Havant & Waterlooville 8 1,053 9,506 1,188 -12.37
07-Nov Maidenhead United 9 1,015 10,521 1,169 -13.79
28-Nov Weston Super Mare 10 1,072 11,593 1,159 -14.51
26-Dec Thurrock 11 1,077 12,670 1,152 -15.06
23-Jan Basingstoke Town 12 1,109 13,779 1,148 -15.32
25-Jan Staines Town 13 844 14,623 1,125 -17.05
06-Feb Eastleigh 14 994 15,617 1,116 -17.74
08-Feb Dorchester Town 15 554 16,171 1,078 -20.50
13-Feb Newport County 16 931 17,102 1,069 -21.17
06-Mar Bishop's Stortford 17 982 18,084 1,064 -21.55
20-Mar Weymouth 18 877 18,961 1,053 -22.32
27-Mar Hampton & Richmond B. 19 1,020 19,981 1,052 -22.45
05-Apr Braintree Town 20 1,685 21,666 1,083 -20.11
16-Apr Worcester City 21 963 22,629 1,078 -20.53

You can see from this chart that the average attendance this season of 1,078 was 20.53% down on last season’s figure of 1,324. Much has been written this season about the way the Club calculates its attendance figures and I am not going to comment on that here. However the figures quoted above are based on official figures released by the Club.

The numbers of people passing through the turnstiles in all competitions is also down on last season. Here are the seasonal totals for past five seasons:

2009-2010 29,932
2008-2009 31,793
2007-2008 30,108
2006-2007 29,293
2005-2006 20,875

Interestingly the Club failed to win any of the six games that attracted the highest crowds to Melbourne Park. Games against Stevenage Borough, 1,762, Braintree Town, 1,685, Bath City, 1,650, Dover Athletic, 1,578, Oxford United, 1,347 and Woking, 1,282, were all either lost or drawn. The opening game of the season, when City beat Bath 4-3, was the home game where City won and attracted the largest crowd, 1,216.

By contrast City won both of the away games that attracted the largest crowds. They won 4-1 at Dartford in October in front of a crowd of 1,830 and also won 2-1 at Woking in August when 1,508 watched the game.

It was in front of small crowds that the Club really excelled away from home though, winning nine of the ten games that attracted the lowest crowds. The exception was a 4-3 defeat at AFC Hornchurch played in front of just 370 people.

TRIVIA

Not surprisingly the 2009-2010 was the first season where City started and ended the season by playing the same team at the same venue! Having beaten Bath City 4-3 at home in the opening game of the season on Saturday August 8th they ended the season by losing 1-0 at home to the same team in the second leg of the Play Off semi final.

City’s atrocious form in the Play Offs continues and it is now six games without a win, and just two goals scored. The Club’s complete record is:

3rd May 2004 A Tiverton Town L 0-1
30th April 2007 H Billericay Town D 1-1, Billericay Town progressed on penalties
28th April 2009 H Hampton and Richmond Borough L 1-3
2nd May 2009 A Hampton and Richmond Borough D 0-0
27th April 2010 A Bath City L 0-2
1st May 2010 H Bath City L 0-1

The eagle eyed amongst you will also notice that in three away Play Off games we have yet to score our first goal!

The complete playing record for the season was

Overall - p57 w30 d11 l16 f97 a72
Home – p29 w13 d9 l7 f46 a34
Away – p28 w17 d2 l9 f51 a38

Amazingly, therefore, the team scored more goals away from home, in one less game, than it did in matches at Melbourne Park. It was a season that delivered so much more than it promised at the beginning and it was such a shame that the season ended with four defeats in the last five games.

The 97 goals scored was the lowest total since just 77 goals were scored in the 2005-2006 season under Craig Edwards. Similarly the 72 goals conceded was the highest since 2005-2006 when 73 were let in.

Thanks to the excellent cup runs the 57 competitive games played was the highest since 2003-2004 when the same number were played. That season City also competed in the Eastern Floodlight Competition, East Anglian Cup and the Essex Thames-side Trophy which helped augment the figures. The Club has not played more games since 1996-1997 when 59 competitive games were played.

ST. MARGARET’S FOOTBALL CLUB

St Margaret’s, the local club founded by long time City scribe Martin Rogers in 1960, will stage their 50th anniversary reunion at RHP Sports and Social Club on August 28th. Current Chronicle wordsmith David Ward is a notable former player. Sometime City names who played for the Saints (some briefly, others for longer periods of time) include Tony Butcher, Tommy Coakley, Johnny Carter and Colin Polley.

“It started out as a junior team for schoolboys, and within a few years had become a four-team club with the 1970-71 Sunday League side probably the best we ever had,” said Martin, who is coming over from Australia for the occasion.

Distance obviously is no object as he also made the round-the-world trip to be present at City’s ‘coming home’ first match at Melbourne Park Stadium.

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