5 July 2010
Hatcham Park Rovers finished the season in style with a fantastic run of form. Farrelly and Belsom’s men won five out of their final eight matches, including a sensational 7-2 drubbing of Burgess United Reserves on 2nd May.
It was a bizarre match, played in even more bizarre conditions as both goalkeepers struggled to play in the deep puddles at each end of the pitch.
Rovers took advantage of this early on when David Farrelly’s punt from the halfway line luckily skidded along the waterlogged turf and evaded the Burgess United stopper. They doubled their lead before the interval but the game really came to life in the second half.
Inspirational
Rovers’ joint-manager and goalkeeper Charlie Farrelly spoke of his inspirational halftime team-talk, “Since we were 2-0 up at half-time, I begged someone to go in goal. I said, ‘This is our last home game of the season. I really want to try to get a goal.’” Martin Belsom obliged and within minutes of the restart Farrelly latched onto Ryan Davison’s perfectly weighted through-ball, beat defenders and scored to make it 3-0. Hatcham’s goalkeeper - turned – goal scorer beamed, “That’s why I wanted to come out of goal. I ran back and celebrated with Martin in goal. It was a great moment for me after all that hard work throughout a long season. I didn’t know what to do when I scored, since I’m not used to scoring!” United pulled two goals back before Farrelly was fouled in the box.
“Zak is our top scorer and penalty taker and he wanted it but I grabbed the ball and said to him, ‘This is the only match of the season I’ve played out on pitch, I won the penalty so I’m taking it.’ All I was thinking was if I miss this I’ll never live it down.” Luckily, he tucked it away nicely for his second goal of the season to make it 4-2. Rovers weren’t finished there and Zak Stockbridge, Jayson Belsom and Louis Guilfoyle completed the rout. Farrelly reserved special praise for three players in particular.
“David Buchanan was outstanding as he has been all season and our Captain Marvel, Lee Farrelly held the midfield really well. Also, Ryan Davison had a great match and has had an excellent season and hasn’t really got what he’s deserved in terms of goals. He’s on seven but could have doubled that with a bit of luck.”
Rovers’ final match, away to Nuxley Village, was quite an anti-climax after the excitement of the previous week and ended up a frustrating 0-0 draw. “If that game had gone on for 12 hours, we wouldn’t have scored,” Farrelly said, “It wasn’t dull, there were so many chances but it was just one of those games. Tired legs were showing. It’s been a long, hard first season.”
It was a tale of two keepers, who were both excellent, however, Hatcham dominated the second half thanks to an exciting performance from Nathanial Wallace, who thrilled his manager. “He’s young but really deadly on the wing. He’ll be one to watch out for next season, he’s done really well.”
Hatcham Park Rovers had a fantastic start and finish to the season but their dip in form throughout the middle part of the season cost them. Farrelly was not concerned by his team’s lack of consistency as he believes it’s something they can put right next season. “Even when we did lose matches, the players played their hearts out. The problem was players not showing enough commitment to the team by failing to show up.
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Next season is going to be totally different. Players who don’t want to play will be gone. We’ve had a great response from our advertisement for new players in The Gate Post. We’re going to be holding some open training sessions soon as well. I’m not just looking for skill; I want players who will show up every week, give 100% and won’t let us down.”
Hatcham finished sixth in the league but Farrelly does not want to stop there. “The league has asked us if we’d like to move up a league but we’ve decided to stay and try to win this league next season.
We hoped to win the league this season but we came up against some really good teams like Stanley Lions, who have been promoted. We don’t want to move up too high and play teams too good for us at the moment, since it’s only our second season. We’ve had 6 draws this year, that’s a joke. If we can turn those into wins, and bring in some new players, it can make all the difference for next season.”
