2009-2010 season

The club grew in size again during 2009-10 to 10 teams (7s-16s). Unfortunately our U17s team who’d been with since U11s were short of players and folded just before the start of the season; too late to resurrect them. But we wish them well and thanks for all the years representing Rovers!

This was our first season as an FA Charter Standard club and President of the Mid-Cheshire Youth Football League; Geoff Jackson made a special trip to Congleton to present the award in person at a managers meetings.

Congleton High School has always been our home ground (in fact we originally named our club after it when it was called Heathfield High), but this year, club secretary John negotiated a fixed term contract, further cementing our position with the school and guaranteeing pitch availability for a number of years to come (see photo).

A long snowy and frosty winter interupted the season. Very few games were played in both January and February and meant a busy few weeks for some teams once play was resumed.

Finally, we held a number of fund raising events, including a sponsored walk along Biddulph Valley Way and a race night at Mossley vilage hall. The latter event was particulary successful thanks to Will Boden, the sponsors and of course our excellent membership.

Thank you to everyone involved with the club this year – parents, players, team officials and committee members. This would be nothing without you! (…apologies if that sounds like a song title 🙂

Simon Hill – Chairman.

Where do we start then, with this being the first year of u7s football?

It was all very new to everyone including myself and Dave after taking over the reigns from John Greening, who we must thank for all his help and advice along the way.

The season started brightly with close fought games against stronger opponents, but the boys never let their heads drop and played on with a smile on their face and commitment to match. Games were lost to the weather during winter and on mornings when it was only fit to be inside, the lads duly plodded along ably supported by willing mums and dads.

With the onset of spring and two new signings, the boys started showing signs of much improved awareness and began to play with more control. The improvement in the all round play from this time last year is plain to see and I hope that they will be able to carry on from the strong finish of last season.

Finally, Dave and I would like to end by saying how proud we are of all the boys for their commitment and willingness to carry on playing football with a smile on their face. Well done and thanks to everyone, boys and parents for your support � we are very proud of you all.

It was a difficult start to the season for an inexperienced side � but the progress they have made as the weeks went by was incredibly encouraging. As the season has progressed the team has shown increasing improvement putting on displays that have thoroughly excited and entertained the spectators.

Individually we have watched the players grow in skill and expereince – with a much better understanding of the positions that they are playing in, and what team work really means.

There have been a number of high points of the season, including a magnificent performance against an experienced Vale team when our lads more than matched them, four great games against Grapenhall sports, and the ties against Cuddington and Holmes chapel to name a few.

Over the season we have seen 46 goals scored by 13 different players, and every single player has been voted the man of the match at some point over the season.

With a majority of the team playing in their first season, the U9’s were looking forward to the 2009/2010 season. Going into the unknown against established teams was an exciting proposition and one they thrived on. With only four defeats all season and some fantastic football played it proved to be a season where the boys developed and improved game by game.

Well done boys!

This has been a transitional year for the U10s in preparation for next year when they will compete in 11 a side football for the first time. Throughout the season they have shown great determination, enthusiasm and promise, competing well against more established teams. No-body got an easy ride when playing against the Rovers this year! Even though results have gone against them this year, they have all continued to work very hard for each other and shown that they can play great football at level that will see them compete well next year.

For the second season in a row the boys finished a very creditable fourth place, narrowly missing out on promotion. This season saw a very competitive division with most teams strengthening their squads, which made for some very close and entertaining matches. At the mid season christmas break, having won some important matches the boys found themselves lying in second place just behind eventual champions Kingsmead. During this period we lost several key players to long term injuries. This had a negative impact on our challenge for the title in a strange season where a full strength squad was only available for just a handful of matches. Approaching April we were still in second and in line for promotion only to run out of steam and finally slip a couple of places to finish fourth.
The U13s continue to play good football and are never outplayed by teams, although they do need to add consistency and a higher level of fitness to their game. If they can do this then they will continue to improve as a team. Here’s to next season!The presentation day merit awards went as follows:
Manager’s Player of the Year – Lee Tayler
Supporter’s Player of the Year – Matt Edge
Player’s Player of the Year – Matt Lakin & Tristan Cumberland
Clubman/Sportsman of the Year – Tom Summerfield & Alex Jackson
Most Improved Player – Sam Hopkins
Goals:
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Tayler——–34
Key———–16
Summerfield -8
Lakin———5
Long———-3
Roberts——2
Jackson——2
Edge———-1
Proudman—–1
Hartles——–1
O.G.———-2

Clean Sheets:
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2——–Rogers, Edge, Richards
1——– Cumberland, Jones, Percival, Lakin, Hopkins,

Meet the Squad
—————-
Max Rogers � An excellent shot stopper whose positioning between the sticks vastly improved last season.
Olly Long � �Mr Versatile� can play pretty much anywhere and has blistering pace with an eye for a goal also.
Matt Edge � A really solid performer at fullback who is improving all the time and played consistently well last season.
Tristan Cumberland � The rock at the heart of the defence, Tris has excellent pace and is as brave as a lion.
Will Percival � With a commanding prescence at the back, Will uses his height to good advantage in aerial challenges.
Alex Jackson � An intelligent, holding midfielder who is thoughtful with his passing of the ball.
Zak Roberts � A good all rounder, Zak reads the game well and can play in defence or midfield.
Tom Summerfield � Last season�s Supporters Player of the Year, Summers is a very tidy and clever player with sound technique.
Lee Tayler � Won Most Improved Player last season and with his pace, power and shooting Lee will be a handful for any defence this season.
Tom Key � Voted Players� Player last season after averaging a goal a game. A quality striker of a football.
Matt Lakin � A very tenacious and athletic player that chips in with his fair share of goals. Matt never gives the opposition a minute�s peace.
Joe Richards � A new signing who has some experience and is tidy on the ball.
Sam Hopkins � An enthusiastic member of the squad who is now in his second season with the club.
Jonny Jones – Another new signing having previously played for Vale Juniors.
Louis Hartles- Signed mid season has previous experience with Vale Juniors and is strong in the air.
Connor Proudman- Another mid season signing who is quick and likes a tackle.

Rovers Again Lost Several Key Players At The Start Of The Season And Recruited Some New Players That Had Not Played The 11 A-side Game Before, And Others From Other Teams. This Showed In Early Season Friendlies Where Rovers Lost 8-0 And 6-0 And It Looked Like Being A Long Season. However Rovers Showed Their True Grit In The First Game Of The Season When They Were Trailing 3-1 At Half Time Against Witton Villa, But Came Back To Win With A Hat-trick From Gravett And A Screamer From Roberts To Win 4-3. Rovers Again Trailed In The 2nd Game Until A Coolly Taken Pen From Brown-Williams Levelled Late On. An Incredible 2-0 Scoreline Against Local Rivals Vale Juniors (mainly Down To A Brilliant Performance From Keeper Beasley), And A 2-1 Win Against The Impressive Holmes Chapel, Continued The Early Season Form. Then The Weather Set In And Rovers Had An Awful Winter Of Stop Start Performances To Go With The Deep Freeze, Losing Twice To Bottom Club Egerton Kingsmead. Rovers Performed Well Against The Top Teams But Not So Well Against Those Down At The Bottom. There Were Some Epic Battles Against Winsford Diamonds And Frodsham Which Could Have Gone Either Way, As Well As The Games Against Egerton Tatton. In The Second Half Of The Season There Were Really Notable Improvements In The Goal Scoring Of Williamson And The Performances Of Evans. All The Usual Suspects Had Good Seasons Too, With Whiston-Rowe Having A Great All Round Season Before Breaking His Arm. All In All It Was A Really Memorable Season And We Were Never Beaten By More Than 2 Goals In The League Even When We Played On 3 Occasions With 10 Men And Once With 9. Well Battled Lads.

The U15s started the season with high hopes and were 1-0 up against 1st division Holmes Chapel at half-time in the Cheshire Cup, but the game had to be abandoned when James was injured. Shortly after that the season nose-dived. With only 1 win in 6 games we were near to the bottom of the table and knocked out of all the cup competitions! Critical wins against Egerton Tatton and Winsford Diamonds kept us in it.

Following a long cold winter of stop-start fixtures we eventually managed to find some form, holding Winsford Diamonds and then Northwich Vics. Another tight game against Tarvin (despite the scoreline) and good wins against Tytherington and Sandbach led us to one of our best performances of the season. Division champions Witton Albion had comprehensively beaten us in the away game and needed to win their match at Congleton to be sure of the title…. 4 minutes from the end and it was 2-2! They eventually got the winner, but it was a good performance by Rovers against the division�s obvious winners.

A surprise last minute defeat by Sandbach in the last game of the season turned out to be less than a fair result, but didn�t take anything away from a season where we managed to consolidate our place in division 2.

Well done to the trophy winners this year.

Rob Hill – Players Player of the Year
Richard Hancock – Supporters Player of the Year
Chris Hibbert – Sportsman of the Year
Jack Spooner – Best Team Player fo the Year
Luke Shields – Most Influential Player of the Year