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Match Preview
Match Preview: Potton United v The Bridge
It’s FA Vase Qualifying Round 2 as The Bridge head up the A1 (M) and hope to repeat the 3-1 win they achieved against Potton last season. The Royals are members of the Spartan South Midlands Football League Premier (Step 5) and are currently 2nd with 21 points from 9 matches. 7 wins and 2 defeats have seen them score 26 and concede 18 for a +8 goal difference.
The results for the 9 league matches are shown below:
London Lions (a) Lost 0-2
Baldock Town (H) Won 3-2
Aylesbury Vale Diamonds (a) Won 3-2
Arlesey Town (H) Lost 0-3
Shefford Town & Campton (H) Won 3-0
Harpenden Town (a) Won 5-4
Colney Heath (a) Won 3-2
Winslow United (a) Won 6-2
Kempston Rovers (H) Won 3-1
Additionally, their cup results have been:
FA Cup
White Ensign (H) Lost 1-3
FA Vase
Little Oakley (H) Drew 2-2
Potton won 3-2 on pens
Premier Division Cup
Harpenden Town (a) Lost 0-3
Goalscorers:
Main goal scorers this season have been Jordan Brown with 7, and Reece Crowter with 3.
First Team Squad:
Jesse Armoo
Govind Bains
Jordan Brown
Joshua Brown
Melanijus Butkus
Cole Butler
Nigel Tafadzwa Chikamba
Paul Chukwuma
Charlie Clark
Eddie Connolly
Reece Crowter
Samuel Dowridge
Michael Evans
Sammy Fisher-Diaz
Harry Forde
Shane Fox
Jack Galatis
Toby Gibbs
Marley Hamilton
James Michael Hoskins
Toluwalope Oluwaseun Ikuyinminu
Rakeem Kamara
Linus Kusi
Trey Kwayie
Ryan Lamond
Christopher Manangu
Tyler Morgan
Godlove Peprah Oppong
Essa Rashan
Kai Scarlett
Finn Shanley
James Smith
Jack Thomas
Daniel Walker
Daniel Wappett
Last Season:
The teams met in the FA Vase Round 1 in October last year and The Bridge were victorious by a 3-1 margin. Jason Banton made it 1-0 after 14 minutes and further goals from Solomon Ofori after 48 minutes and Bruno Tavares after 62 minutes gave the visitors a 3-0 lead. Lewis Lynn pulled one back after 77 minutes but The Bridge were comfortably through to Round 2 by then.
Club Facts:
Founded: 1943
Nickname: The Royals
Ground: The Hollow, Potton
Chairman: Alan Riley
First Team Manager: Gary Jackson
Assistant Managers: Jesse Armoo/Jack Galatis
First Team Physio: Chris Horgan
CLUB HISTORY
Potton United F.C. is an English football club based in Potton, Bedfordshire. The club are currently members of the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division and play at the Hollow.
Potton United were, unusually, formed in Wartime 1943. Although only limited football was played at this time, they soon made their mark on the local football scene by winning the Bedfordshire Intermediate Cup in 1944.
When football returned to normality after the war, United joined the South Midlands League and remained there until 1955. The club then applied to join a London-based league but were refused entry, so they were forced to take a break from competitive football for one season.
They spent a short period in the Central Alliance League before finally joining the United Counties League where they remained in the Premier Division until the end of the 2000/2001 season when they were relegated into Division One.
Potton were very successful in the local cup competitions in the 1960’s and 70’s but had to wait until the 1986/87 season to win their first league title. During this season they remained unbeaten on their travels. Two years later this achievement was repeated, and Ray Seekings scored a club-record 56 goals. It is also interesting that those players have retained a keen interest in the club.
The 1989/90 season saw Potton reach the fifth round of the FA Vase, before losing 2-1 away to Billericay in front of a 1000-plus crowd. Potton had a good following that day and many remember the after-match activities.
The 1991/92 season saw a major change within the club when long-serving Manager, Terry King, resigned. His assistant, Andy Lloyd, took over and guided the club to win the Hunts Premier and Hinchingbrooke Cup competitions.
1993/94 was the first season for many years that Potton failed to win any silverware and ended with Andy Lloyd announcing his resignation.
Kenny Davidson took over the reins for four seasons and won a number of cup competitions, but failed to make any real impact in the league. The 1996/7 season was the most impressive with the club participating in six cup finals, winning four of them.
After Kenny left in 1998 the club went through a bad spell on the pitch and were eventually relegated. After a poor season in Division One, it was decided that the club should look for a new manager. Former club captain and fans favourite, Dick Newman returned to the club at the start of the 2002/2003 season. After spending most of the season in second place in the league, a poor run-in at the end of the season cost the club promotion. However, it was good to see such a great team spirit on and off the pitch.
The Reserves had the most successful year in their history in the 2002/03 season. Under the guidance of John ‘Chippy’ Charter, they finished runners-up in the league and County Cup and won the Biggleswade Knockout Cup.
At the start of 2003/4, the club's 60th Anniversary, the club played a Rushden and Diamonds X1 that consisted mainly of their youth side. The match attracted about 450, and this in spite of the wooden stand being burnt down one month earlier.
Dick was well prepared for 2003/4 and expected a lot from the squad. At the start of the season, he had set them a target in the league of 100 goals, 25 goals against, and 80 points. Going into the last game of the season at Olney the first team needed to win to secure the league title, and they did so in style winning 5-0. The league playing record for the season was played 34, won 24, drawn 5, lost 4, goals for 99, goals against 25, points 80—which was extremely close to Dick’s targets. This then secured promotion back to the Premier Division.
The Reserves played in the newly formed Bedfordshire County Reserve League and finished a creditable third.
Having gained promotion, the club was looking to consolidate their position in the league, but November onwards found them challenging for honours. Eventually, they had to settle for runners-up to Cogenhoe. The reason for this was the failure of the floodlights twice when playing Cogenhoe, which led to the match being replayed as the last game of the season when they had to beat Cogenhoe to win the league. They could only manage a 2-2 draw, in front of the largest crowd of the season (325), although they had the majority of the play, they could not just score the winning goal.
The first team won the UCL Knock-Out Cup, for the first time since 1972/3, and also won the Hinchingbrooke Cup and North Beds Charity Cup. The team played 63 matches during the season and won 48, scoring an incredible 163 goals (111 in the league and 52 in cup matches). Joint Managers Dick Newman and Roy Bloxham won three Manager of the Month awards as well as winning Manager of the Season award.
In 2005 Ian Donnelly took over the role of Manager following Dicks close season resignation. At the start of the season, many would have settled for a mid-table finish but when we went top in October and remained there for the rest of the season, with the exception of one week, it seemed that we would be in for a chance of beating the previous season's runners up spot. Unfortunately, fate was to strike again, and Woodford pipped us to the league title, this time goal difference was the deciding factor. In the cups, they went out of the FA Cup and FA Vase early on but retained the North Beds Charity Cup, beating Wootton 3-1.
The Reserves finished mid-table under new manager Martin Beech, and they also made early exits from the local cup competitions.
Following Ian Donnelly’s resignation towards the end of last season due to business commitments, Roy Bloxham was appointed as first team manager. Roy moved quickly to bring Dick Newman back to the club as his assistant.
In season 2006-07, we finished a creditable fourth in the league and reached the Fourth Round of the FA Vase before losing 2-1 to eventual finalists AFC Totton. We did not win any silverware but reached the final of the North Beds Charity Cup and UCL knock-out cup.
The Reserves finished mid-table in the Bedfordshire County Reserve League, which was disbanded, and therefore in 2007-08 the Reserves will be playing in UCL Reserve Division Two.
Roy Bloxham announced that he would not be able to continue as Manager, for personal and business reasons, and the club appointed 32-year-old Dean Chapman as Manager. Unfortunately, most of the previous three season’s squad left the club so Dean had the job of rebuilding the side with his cousin Adam Chapman and Kelvin Ash helping him. Graeme Endersby was appointed Manager for the Reserve team with the aim of recruiting local players and encouraging Potton Colts players to move into the Reserves.
Unfortunately, things did not work out with the running of the reserve team and Graeme left the club in January. Committee member John Menzies took over for the remainder of the season and brought a number of Colts players into the side. Unfortunately, due to the numerous changes in players, this unsettled the side and they finished bottom of the league.
The first team also had a very unsettled side and just escaped relegation by finishing third from bottom. They faired slightly better in cup competitions reaching four semi-finals and one final. Just before the end of the season, Dean Chapman announced he would be stepping down as manager at the end of the season which left the club the task of appointing a new manager for the fourth consecutive season.
Former Potton goalkeeper and Eynesbury Manager Dean Shipp was given the job and brings an experienced backroom team with him. Former Potton Colts Under 17 Management team of Howard Moore, Clive Munns, and Richard Gilbert will be running the reserve side which will include many of last year's under 17 team.
Last season was a very disappointing one as the club finished second from bottom and were relegated into Division One. It was particularly disappointing that we were relegated due to not passing the required ground grading and Rothwell Corinthians, who finished bottom, stayed up in the Premier Division. The Reserve team had a very difficult season as a number of the young players found the transition to senior football too difficult so in January, we had to make the difficult decision to fold the reserves.
Three weeks before the commencement of the 2009/10 season Dean Shipp announced his resignation which left the club with a big problem, trying to fill the gap so close to the season. We have appointed Tom Galvin and Declan Shilton as joint managers whilst Tom’s father, former Spurs and Republic of Ireland International player, Tony Galvin takes the role of Head Coach. In this season we finished in the bottom half of Division One and were losing finalists in the Bedfordshire Senior Trophy.
In September 2010 Tom Galvin wanted to concentrate on playing so Darren Staniforth and Glen Clark were appointed joint Managers. They had a difficult season which finished in 16th place in the league.
They have worked hard over the summer to bring in new players for the new season and we have also reformed a reserve side which will be playing in Bedfordshire League Division 2 and managed by Kieran Dempsey and Duncan Field. The season ended with the 1st team finishing 15th in the UCL and the reserves finishing 8th. Over the close season, Nicky Stocks has been appointed as assistant manager to the 1st team.
After an eight-year absence, they were promoted back to the Premier Division after finishing in second position in the 2017–18 United Counties League Division One.
For 2023/24 Potton United compete in the Spartan South Midlands Football League Premier Division.
The Spartan South Midlands Football League is an English football league covering Hertfordshire, northwest Greater London, central Buckinghamshire, and southern Bedfordshire. It is a feeder to the Southern Football League or the Isthmian League and consists of five divisions – three for first teams (Premier Division, Division One and Division Two), and two for reserve teams (Reserve Division One and Reserve Division Two).
The Premier Division is at step 5 (or level 9) and Division One is at step 6 (level 10) of the National League System (NLS) respectively. Division Two, at level 11, and the reserve divisions are not part of the NLS.
The league was formed in 1997 by the merger of the Spartan League and the South Midlands League. It is also known as the Molten Spartan South Midlands Football League after its sponsors.
Matchday:
This could be a tricky tie for The Bridge against fellow Step 5 opponents who are doing well in their division so far. Couple that with the unpredictable performance and results of HSFC 24/25; it could be another difficult day. Being a cup match makes it even more unpredictable, so it’s fingers and everything else crossed for the right result. If it’s level, pens will decide it but I’m not thinking about that yet! Time to get behind the lads and give them as much support as possible and as ever…