Writing an end of season review is always a bit depressing, but even more so this year as sadly it’s our last season together as a team.

Due to the Dorset FA’s decision not to run an Under 18s girls league for next season and the clubs consequent decision not to have a ladies team ( Poole Town Youth is a youth football club ) we find ourselves at the end of an era.

Our final chapter has been a mixed bag, with a league drastically reduced in size from the previous year and a completely re-built squad due to the amount of players who gained employment at the end of last season. Our squad literally came together just days before the start of the season despite John & I touring the county for weeks on end in search of new players. Our seemingly endless pursuit of the ex-Wareham players paid off in the end with the signings of Rachel, Layla & Hannah. The last minute withdrawal of Broadstone gave us Nikki, Rhea & Alex and then the sad demise of PT Wessex brought in Levi & Charlotte.

We started the season well, even topping the league for a couple of weeks, but you could clearly see that we needed time to gel together the new squad. Slowly but surely, things began to click and at times we have played some superb football. Our aim in the pre-season was to get amongst Blandford & Weymouth this year & although we fell just short in the end, the gap has been closed quite dramatically. Although we failed to beat either of them, we got close enough to rattle them both and even should have beaten both in our latter games, but what were thrashings from last season have now turned into narrow defeats – a huge improvement. Almost every scoreline this season has been a dramatic improvement on all previous years and you should all be very proud of yourselves for that.

So, from an achievements point of view, third in the league, reaching both semi-finals in the cups and losing out narrowly having drawn Blandford both times. With no end of season tournaments available, our season is now over.

John & I have thoroughly enjoyed our time with Poole Town Youth FC and have made some very close friends in the five years we have been involved, firstly as parents, then as “the management”. We have watched many of you grow from young kids into adults and have loved every single minute of it. We would like to wish you all the very best of luck in the future, both on the pitch and off it. See you all at the presentation.

“It’s been emotional ……. !!”

John & Steve x