New Manager Announcement and Pre-Season Round Up

Following Aaron Jaffery’s decision to step down at the end of last season, Burnham Beeches are pleased to announce the re-appointment of Peter Murtagh to lead the Beeches Premier Division campaign in the 2010-2011 season.

Peter, who led Burnham Seniors to unprecedented success, has been coaxed out of retirement by the prospect of re-establising a young Beeches team in the East Berkshire Premier Division.

Peter’s reign has started with a positive pre-season campaign, starting with a loss to Burnham FC Reserves, and culminating with draws against high-quality Hellenic league opposition.

Pre-season results:
Burnham Beeches 2 – 5 Burnham FC Reserves
Burnham Beeches 2-1 Burnham United
Holyport Reserves 2-2 Burnham Beeches
Ascot Utd Reserves 2-2 Burnham Beeches

The new season kicks off this weekend, with Beeches away to new-comers and former Hellenic league side Eton Wick.

Constitution for 2010 / 2011

The league constitution was agreed last night at the League AGM. Here is Premier Division:

1 Admiral Cunningham
2 Burnham Beeches
3 Chalvey (WMC) Sports
4 Iver Heath Rovers
5 FC Beaconsfield
6 Orchard Park Rangers
7 Slough Heating
8 Slough Laurencians
9 Stoke Green
10 Waltham
11 Windsor Great Park
12 Wraysbury
13 Eton Wick

Promotion! And the most Sporting team to boot!

Congratulations to all the team, our 2nd place finish ensured we are PROMOTED to the Premier Division next season! We were also voted winners of the Sportsman Award in Division 1 for last season, so a great season all round! Thanks to all!

And finally…

So the weeks passed since our last game, and we sat and watched the results come in.

The first to fall were Eton Wick, with a 1-0 defeat to Datchet which meant that they could not finish above us due to our superior goal-difference.

And then Britwell were surprisingly beaten by an improving Falcons side, and with Stoke Green and Datchet choosing not to play them, it meant they had to beat Cippenham Sports by 7 goals to finish above us… which they failed to do, only winning 6-4!

All this means that we wrap up a fine season with a well-deserved 2nd place, and possible promotion to the Premier Division. We’ll find out more about this in a few weeks, but promotion or not we can be proud of our seasons achievements.

Thank you to everyone for making this season so enjoyable for me. Roll on 2010-2011 for Burnham Beeches FC!

The final league table can be seen on both the FA’s Fulltime website, and Football Mitoo.

Presentations and… Promotion?

When the football finished, the fun started on the 17th April. Off into Windsor we went for an extremely well attended presentation night at the Jasmine Peking… Thank you to all of you who attended, and here is the seasons roll of honour:

Most Improved Player of the Year – Simon Oatley
Clubman of the Year – Daniel Orme
Player of the Year – David Hyde
Players’ Player of the  Year – Jointly awarded to Carl Young and Simon Murtagh

Top Goalscorers:
1. Kieran Poff – 23 games / 16 goals
2. Robin Mallinson – 21 games / 9 goals
3. Nathan Christian – 16 games / 8 goals
4. Simon Murtagh – 27 games / 8 goals
5. Carl Young – 28 games / 7 goals

League Season Record:
Played  20, Won 11, Drawn 4, Lost 5, Goals For 52, Goals Against 28, Total Points 37.

Congratulation to all the winners… all very well deserved!

And now for the wait… to see if Eton Wick and Britwell could pip-us to the post for 2nd place.

Ending the season in style…

And so we stepped into the last two games of the season knowing that all we could do was get points on the board and then play the waiting game to see if Eton Wick and Britwell could catch us. We were finishing the season in a decent run of form, and wanted all 6 points from our final two games. Here, at last, are the final two match reports:

Wednesday 14th April – Burnham Beeches 1-0 Old Windsor

Midweek games are always difficult to get a side out for, and for this our final midweek game of the season we had a bare 11, plus manager / goalkeeper Aaron Jaffery as our only sub. None-the-less, as per with all games this season, even with a threadbare squad we still had a strong team. Old Windsor had been drubbed 10-0 at the weekend by a rampant Britwell, and there is nothing more dangerous than a wounded beast so we had to make sure we were up for the game from the start.

The first half was mostly uneventful. Neither side got hold of the game, and Old Windsor did not look like a side which had been beaten so comprehensively at the weekend. Chances were few and far between, with the only clear cut chance falling to Old Windsor when we failed to clear a long throw, with keeper Simon Mines making a smart save.

A sharp half-time talk from the Gaffer, and the work rate in the second half was stepped up all over the pitch. Old Windsor were forced to change their keeper too, and the final 45 minutes were all Burnham. We created chance after chance, with Scott Shelford, Andy Oakman and Nathan Christian looking threatening on every attack, and Daniel Orme, Kieran Poff and Simon Oatley keeping the ball ticking over whenever an attack broke down. Poff hit the crossbar with a thundering drive, Oakman brought a good save from Old Windsor’s stand-in keeper when he chased down a poor back-pass and it was only a matter of time before we got the goal we deserved. Shelford was put clear down the right hand side by a pass from Orme, and his driven cross could only be turned into his own net (via the crossbar) by an Old Windsor defender trying to clear the ball.

Burnham dominated for the rest of the game, with any attacking play from Old Windsor swiftly snubbed out by David Hyde and Stuart George. Carl Yong and Simon Murtagh were getting forward at every opportunity from full-back, and the only downside came when Murtagh had to go off injured, forcing Jaffery into his second cameo performance of the season at left back.

So one of the most one-sided 1-0 wins you are going to see, and we went into the final game of the season with nothing to lose.

Team: S Mines, C Young, S Murtagh, D Hyde, S George, D Orme, K Poff, S Shelford, S Oatley, N Christian, A Oakman

Sub: A Jaffery

Saturday 17th April – Burnham Beeches 5-1 New Hanford

The last game of a hugely enjoyable season was played out on a beautiful Spring afternoon on a still excellent Cherry Orchard pitch. It pitched us against another bogey team of previous years, and New Hanford had beaten us earlier in the season too. Three more points would mean that Eton Wick and Britwell could not afford any slip-ups in their final games, and we were determined to make it as difficult as possible for us to be overhauled from the second position we occupied.

We started with a mostly settled side, with the only change bringing Robin Mallinson in for Andy Oakman, and were very positive from kick off. New Hanford play an physical style of football, and they soon started peppering long balls towards our centre-back partnership of David Hyde and Stuart George. This paid dividends from a dubiously awarded freekick, which was drifted into the box, and when we failed to clear the header they capitalised by scoring from the second ball. The incident also cost us Stuart George with an injured shoulder, and within five minutes Simon Murtagh also was withdrawn from the game with a twisted ankle. Simon Jaffery and Shaun Gray replaced the injured duo.

We picked ourselves up, were level shortly after with Kieran Poff getting our crucial equaliser for his 15th of the season. 1-1 at half time, and we felt New Hanford would tire as the game went on. We were looking exceptionally dangerous in wide positions, and we needed to keep supplying the ball into these areas.

As per the midweek game, we were vastly improved in the second half and dominated from start to finish. After several half-chances, we finally took the lead when Nathan Christian, who again was excellent up-front, found himself 1-on-1 against the keeper and unselfishly squared the ball for Simon Oatley to score his first goal of the season.

At 2-1, the game could potentially go either way, and we suffered another injury set-back when the exceptionally influential Carl Young had to go off, giving Aaron Jaffery a 3rd consecutive run-out at full-back. However, as Jaffery was preparing to come on Kieran Poff again pounced on a lose ball in the box to make the score 3-1 with his 16th of a productive season. Jaffery replaced Young, which meant that 3 of our 4 starting defenders had been replaced.

Poff’s second of the game broke New Hanford’s spirits, and shortly after we made it 4-1, when Oatley scored his second of the game and of the season, with a cute finish at the far post after a good ball from Scott Shelford. We wrapped up the game when Shaun Gray, who also scored his only previous goal of the season against the same opposition earlier in the season, drifted a 45 yard freekick towards the far-post, it beat everyone and made the final score a comfortable 5-1.

So finally we exorcised the ghost of New Hanford, with a comprehensive victory which summed up the teamwork ethic of the season. Coming from behind against a physical team, playing our brand of positive, attacking and fluid football and finding the net from 3 different sources on the day, as well as digging deep into the squad to field a winning side.

Our form in April of 5 wins in 6 had given us a great chance of taking 2nd place, and secured that the lowest we could finish was 4th. It was now up to Britwell and Eton Wick to catch us. For us, it was on into Windsor for a well-deserved end of season night out!

Team: S Mines, C Young, S Murtagh, D Hyde, S George, D Orme, R Mallinson, S Shelford, S Oatley, K Poff, N Christian

Subs: S Jaffery, S Gray, A Jaffery

EBFL Div 1 – Cippenham Sports 0-4 Burnham Beeches

Beeches bounced back from Wednesday nights disappointing defeat with a comfortable 4-0 win over Cippenham Sports on Saturday. From having an abundance of players on Wednesday, Burnham took a stripped down squad to Mercian Way, but produced some glorious football on a bright Summers day.

Cippenham were level in this game for precisely 13 seconds. That’s how long it took Burnham to get there first goal of the game, as for once we started with real intention. From our kick off, the ball was played to Carl Young at left back. Carl exchanged passes with Robin Mallinson, burst into the box to get onto the return and slid the ball across the face of goal for Nathan Christian to finish at the back post. A pacey, incisive attacking move of the like we lacked on Wednesday, and one of our best of the season. Certainly our quickest! From here on in, Burnham looked in full control and Cippenham rarely looked like getting anything from the game.

Throughout the half we played attacking, positive football and Cippenham struggled to contain us. Mindful of the mistakes we made in the previous game, we went in search of the second goal, which duly arrived courtesy of Robin Mallinson’s ninth of the season. The attack again originated from the left hand side, and this time it was Simon Murtagh providing the service as his ball inside the full-back put Robin in against the keeper, and he powered it home with aplomb. More should’ve followed, as David Hyde was able to keep a corner alive and squared it back across the box, but a far post finish alluded Robin on this occasion.

Two-nil at half time, and we were looking comfortable. However, Cippenham had shown enough from set-pieces to show they were capable of scoring, and we had to be mindful of this in the second half.

We started the second half looking to add to our tally, and we should have done so as Nathan Christian brought a good save from the opposition goalkeeper, who then produced an even better one to deny Muller his first of the season. Burnham continued to dominate, switching the ball from left to right and making Cippenham chase shadows, looking the the third goal. When it came, it came from a more direct source, and it was a cracker! Minesy kicked the ball long for Nathan to chase, and Kieran Poff did enough to put the defenders off, who let it bounce. As it dropped over Nathan’s shoulder, he wound up a sweet volley which beat the keeper all ends up. It really was a beautiful strike from 20 yards, and an excellent piece of skill.

Burnham’s squad was then stretched to the maximum, and Liam Kyley replaced the injured Simon Murtagh, and Aaron Jaffery was forced into a cameo at left back when Hydey’s hamstring gave him problems. However Burnham wrapped up the points when Nathan jinked inside a couple of defenders and beat the keeper comfortably for his hatrick.

And so, a relatively untroubling day for Burnham, despite Cippenham hitting the woodwork on a couple of occasions in the dying stages of the game. We played some excellent football, and scored some great goals. However, not many teams provide you with the amount of space and time that Cippenham did today, and it is a wonder we drew with them last time.

As normal, the league continues to throw up some strange results, as Falcons (who were beaten by Cippenham on Wednesday) beat Eton Wick. Who knows what’s next, but all we need to do is concentrate on getting six more points on the board and then enjoy some post-season drinks!

Team: Simon Mines, Simon Jaffery, Carl Young, David Hyde, Stuart George, Daniel Orme, Simon Murtagh, Simon Oatley, Robin Mallinson, Nathan Christian, Kieran Poff.

Subs: Liam Kyley, Aaron Jaffery

EBFL Div 1: Burnham Beeches 1-3 Eton Wick S&S

Beeches unbeaten home record finally came to an end against promotion rivals Eton Wick on Wednesday night.

Burnham came into the game with their confidence restored following convincing wins against Stoke Poges and Datchet. Eton Wick had suffered a couple of losses in their chase for promotion, and left the door ajar for 2nd spot. This was firmly shut by the time Manchester United kicked off against Bayern Munich.

We were able to field a strong side, despite the bad news that Ben Purcell will be out for the remainder of the season with a hairline fracture in his leg. Liam Kyley and Paul Murtagh came in at fullback, with Andrew Oakman restored to the side in centre midfield.

The game started at a good pace, with neither team really taking control. At the back, Stuart George and David Hyde were at their solid best, snuffing out any forward play from Eton Wick who were restricted to long balls from the back. Us in turn had some limited success with the direct ball, with Nathan Christian proving a handful for the Wick defensive unit. However, we were sucked into playing this ball too often, missing out the midfield and not getting the ball wide enough as the half went on.

Both sides struggled to create any clear cut chances, until a corner from Eton Wick was cleared off the line by Carl Young. With the ball going no-where, Paul Murtagh inexplicably stuck his hand out and flicked the ball away. Penalty, and even Paul walked away not knowing why he had such a moment of madness. The penalty was duly despatched, and all of a sudden Burnham found themselves 1-0 down without really giving anything away.

As the first half continued, Wick started to win more of the second ball as we continued to fall into the trap of playing the long ball. Wick then played a nothing ball forward for one of their strikers to chase. Hydey and Minezy appeared to have everything under control… until both hesitated, allowing their striker to get between them and score the simplest of goals. Another silly mistake, and somehow we’d gifted Wick a 2-0 lead at half time.

At halftime we changed things to get more natural width, and a better control of the middle of the park. We went back out with a renewed sense of purpose, and this seemed to work as the quality of our football improved substantially in the second half.

We kept better possession, played the ball wide better, and this almost paid dividends in the first few minutes as Nathan and Scott Shelford exchanged some neat football to release Scott who’s first touch was just a little heavy, giving their keeper the chance make the save.

This buoyed Burnham, who pressed hard for to find a way back into the game, but to no avail as Wick held firm. Then Wick got a corner from a counter attack, and the cross was met with a far post header, and Wick took a 3-0 lead.

To our credit, we didn’t give up. We reapplied ourselves, continuing to play our football and press, but for without finding a way through. Finally, Scott magicked a curling shot which rebounded of the post to Nathan, who struck as clean a strike as you’ll see all season to fizz the ball into the back of the net.

3-1, and our hopes were raised. There was plenty of time to get back into the game. But Wick’s physical game stifled our normal fluid passing game, and the referee gave us little protection which increasingly meant that Wick were able to get away with late tackle after late tackle. This cumulated in a Wick player purposely putting his studs on Liam’s back, only for the ref to only issue a yellow card when he could / should have seen red.

The game continued in much the same vein – Burnham huffing and puffing, Wick stopping each attack, and as the evening turned into night, the game fizzled out and Wick took all 3 points.

It wasn’t that we played badly on the night… just not well enough. Wick wanted the game that little bit more, and their ferocity in their challenges showed it. They won more 1st and 2nd ball’s, but didn’t really create anything from open play. Instead, we gifted them a two goal lead, and from then we were always playing catch up. We got caught playing too direct, which was to Wick’s strengths, and didn’t get the ball wide enough.

None-the-less, it’s been a good season for us. A huge improvement on previous years. We have 3 games left, and 3 wins should see us finish comfortably in the top 4.

Team: Simon Mines, Liam Kyley, Paul Murtagh, Daniel Orme, Stuart George, David Hyde, Andrew Oakman, Carl Young, Nathan Christian, Kieran Poff, Simon Murtagh

Subs: Scott Shelford, Simon Oatley, Kevin Kyley

EBFL Div 1 – Datchet 2-5 Burnham Beeches

Burnham Beeches moved to 2nd in the table with a 5-2 win against Datchet at Churchmead School on Saturday.

Goal scorers on the day were Kieran Poff (2), Nathan Christian (2) and Carl Young. Hatrick hero from the previous game, Andy Oakman, deputised in goal in the absence of both Simon Mines and Aaron Jaffery.

The win, combined with Eton Wick’s defeat to Iver, opens up second spot to numerous teams as the season draws to a close over the coming weeks.

Team: A Oakman, P Murtagh, S Gray, D Orme, S George, D Hyde, C Young, S Murtagh, K Poff, N Christian, S Oatley

Subs: R Seedat

EBFL Div 1 – Burnham Beeches 6-0 Stoke Poges

Finally, Burnham Beeches hit some form in 2010 as we disposed of Stoke Poges 6-0 on a freezing Summer(!) evening at the Cherry Orchard.

Wednesday night games are always tricky affairs – usually with both sides not knowing who’s going to make it to kick off in time, but to their credit almost the whole side were at the game in plenty of time. Stoke Poges struggled however, and eventually we got the game underway at 6.15pm.

After Saturday’s disappointing draw against Cippenham Sports, this fixture could have proved very tricky. Stoke Poges had managed to beat Britwell 3-1 at the weekend – a result that did us a big favour – so we had to be aware of what they could do. In the end, we needn’t have worried…

It was obvious from kick off that Stoke Poges had a lot of industry, but it wasn’t soon before we started to dominate possession. A slight tweak to our normal formation seemed to work, and we were able to keep the ball for large passages and put their defense under plenty of pressure. This paid off when their goalkeeper scuffed a backpass clearance to Nathan Christian, who laid the ball inside for Andy Oakman to open his Beeches account by placing the ball past the retreating keeper. The goal settled Burnham down, and Stoke Poges were able to create very little. The newly renewed centre-back partnership of Stuart George and David Hyde were keeping any attacking threat at bay, and Daniel Orme and Simon Murtagh in midfield kept possession with aplomb.

The second goal arrived, unusually, courtesy of a set piece. Muller, having an excellent game on the left, brought the ball inside the fullback and unleashed a powerful shot that their keeper did well to parry away. From the resultant corner, Simon Murtagh picked out Stuart at the back stick unmarked, and he comfortably volleyed the ball into the back of the net.

So, 2-0 at half time, and all of a sudden the world was a lot brighter. The only complaint came from Simon Mines, who was freezing in goal as a result of a lack of action!

Burnham continued their dominance in the second half, and two became three as Carl Young tricked his way past the Stoke Poges defense before being clearly brought down in the box for a penalty. Andy Oakman stepped up to score his second of the game, and the match effectively ceased as a competitive game. Andy wrapped up his hatrick with a volley which was deflected into the net, before Stoke Poges were reduced to ten men when the ref didn’t like the cut of their strikers jib.

We saved the best for last, and against 10 men the game started becoming a game of keep-ball. In one of our best moves of the season, the ball started with Ben Purcell at left back, going through Stuart, Simon Murtagh, Nathan, and Andy before Ormey was unselfishly slid in to make the score five. Simon Murtagh then wrapped up the scoring with a 20 yard drive.

6-0, and our best league win of the season. This was a great reaction after I moaned about our lack of goals before the game. Five games left now, and a top four finish is in our own hands. More performances like this, and that shouldn’t be in question.

Team: Simon Mines, Liam Kyley, Ben Purcell, Daniel Orme, Stuart George, David Hyde, Carl Young, Simon Murtagh, Nathan Christian, Andrew Oakman, Simon Oatley

Subs: Rico Seedat, Shaun Gray