PREVIEW: STICKER AFC v ELBURTON VILLA, SOUTH WEST PENINSULA LEAGUE WEST, SATURDAY 18th FEBRUARY...

Preview: Sticker AFC v Elburton Villa

South West Peninsula League, West Division

18th February 2017

WHERE THE GAME TAKES PLACE...

The last visit to Mawgan Porth from Solihull saw a first visit to Wadebridge Town FC and so having booked four nights at ‘The Merrymoor’ again this week, there is a great chance to see league leaders Sticker play for the first time. Their guests are Elburton Villa and those two words conjure up two different facets of my life…

Villa? 

I was brought up as an Aston Villa fan by my dad and I saw many, many games until I stopped watching professional matches in 2008-09. I then saw a lot of Truro City in their first season in the Southern League South-West Division. Jake Ash, Scott Walker, Martin Watts, Liam Eddy (a young teenager…), Andy Watkins and the hairy Stewart Yetton (now back on loan at Treyew Road from Weymouth) all featured for the White Tigers and I had some fine times watching their escapades and successes.

Elburton? 

My uncle’s sister ran a corner shop in St Budeaux’s Edith Street and when my parents took me on holiday, we would stay with neighbours in the same street, either the Reveleys or the Felwicks. If we spent a day on Dartmoor, we would always buy chips from Elburton’s chip shop, apparently famed for their excellence… Loved them.

Sticker? Well, a puzzle to me to be honest…

I have been fortunate to receive previews from both Sticker AFC Manager Andy Avery and Elburton Villa Chairman Nick Pope, which appear below. I must thank them for taking the time to contribute to this article… 

I hope that my coverage of the game will please both clubs and that the players enjoy an unusual ‘guest’ view of the clash.

Looking at the league table, Sticker are quite obviously in a strong position as leaders! They have won 21 of 24 league matches, drawing 3 and therefore remain unbeaten. 96 goals scored and only 13 conceded looks so good and a goal difference of +83 is ridiculous… 66 points places them in a supreme position, naturally. 

The goals have been spread about, it appears: Jack Bowyer leads the list with a remarkable 37, followed by Sam Marchant with 14, Frank McAvoy with 11, Mike Body 10, Andrew Butler 9, then Matt Lloyd and Joel Cockings with 8 each… 

JACK BOWYER: A MERE 37 GOALS THIS TERM...

SAM MARCHANT: NEEDS 24 GOALS AGAINST VILLA TO BETTER JACK BOWYER'S TOTAL BUT IT'S ELBURTON, NOT ASTON VILLA...

Since conceding twice in the 5-2 win against Holsworthy on October 29th, the team didn’t concede a league goal again until Wadebridge Town netted against them on January 28th, although The Bridge did concede five times too… Jack Bowyer has scored hat-tricks in the last three games, at Wadebridge, then against St Dennis in a cup-tie and then again last Saturday in a 4-0 victory over Liskeard Athletic. 

'KEEPER KAI STONE: NOT CONCEDED MANY AT ALL...

Elburton’s game on October 29th was also significant, a 0-1 loss at home to Plymouth Marjons, for since then the only defeat for the team came at Wadebridge (they keep cropping up!) on 7th January. Wins were achieved over Porthleven 4-2, Liskeard 5-4 (on the road), v Millbrook 4-2, v Liskeard again, 4-1 and at Dobwalls 7-2. A couple of 2-2 draws, v Plymstock and at Bude punctuated those victories. 

THE CLUBS…

STICKER:

The black and ambers probably started up in 1911 but I was interested in the 1933-34 season, when the village postman Bill Kendall was Honorary Secretary and Treasurer of the club. Opposite the post office there was a small hut apparently, used by Bill May for his shoe repair work. This was the team’s changing room, from where the team would stroll up the hill to the pitch… 

ELBURTON VILLA:

It appears that the club, started in 1982, was a founder member of the Devon County League ten years later. The club won the Devon County Cup in 1994-95, before becoming one of the founder members of the South West Peninsula League in 2007. The team finished third and began to play in the Premier Division, from which they were relegated in 2015-16.

STICKER MANAGER ANDY AVERY WRITES ABOUT HIS CLUB:

ANDY AVERY: A FINE REVIEW WRITTEN!

“2011-2012:

We joined the Peninsula West League four seasons ago after gaining promotion from the East Cornwall League where we had finished as runners-up, with Torpoint Athletic finishing top. They however could not gain promotion as their first team was already in the Peninsula League. I became player/manager in that season at the age of 31, my 3rd season with the club and I managed to get the experienced Roger Green to step in as my assistant. Previous manager Phil Dingle had decided to call it a day, losing at home to Morwenstow 2-1 in January of that season. From that point we went undefeated in the rest of the season and won the East Cornwall League Cup as well as the Evely Cup.

2012-2013:

Our initial target when joining the league was to try to finish away from the bottom group and push into mid-table if possible. The first season we struggled to pick up the pace of the league but once into our stride we started producing some form and with a great run we secured 4th place and also won the Cornwall Charity Cup over Dobwalls at Treyew Road (Truro City)…

In all: 30 games, 58 points, 68 goals scored, 45 conceded.

2013-2014:

The second season’s target was to see if we could maintain a position near the top spots and although we sat top for long periods we had played more games than the others and when the games levelled out again we finished 4th. In both of those seasons we were playing good football but lacked that killer instinct and struggled in tough conditions.

In all: 30 games, 55 points, 85 goals scored, 51 conceded.

2014-2015:

By now we felt we had established ourselves in the league but there were some good teams around and the league was really competitive. We dropped a place that season, finishing 5th although we had picked up more points than any previous season but after a dismal display in the semi-final of the Cornwall Charity Cup, it felt like a poor season.

In all: 30 games, 58 points, 73 goals scored, 50 conceded.

2015-2016:

Kelvin Hunkin joined the management team hoping to bring some more experience and different coaching styles to a team that was starting to mature and which had been together for a few seasons. Roger Green stepped down in the October of this term after 3 1/2 seasons with the team, having brought a great personality to the club and having helped us vastly to establish ourselves as a Peninsula league team.

We started the season with a loss to the eventual league champions Mousehole but then held our own generally throughout the season. We took 4 points from Plymouth Argyle but dropped some very silly points to teams lower in the league.

Kelvin struggled to get his views across with a few of the squad not really showing the commitment that he felt was required to be a league-challenging side and so in February of that season Kelvin also stepped aside.

Tony Rowles stepped in to help out as my assistant so I could continue playing and we finished the season with 8 straight wins, finishing 3rd.

In all: 32 games 74 points, 92 goals scored, 38 conceded.

2016-2017:

This season is a real challenge; I managed to get Gary Wheildon in to help run the side and Gary so far has been brilliant. He brings a great personality and technical knowledge to Sticker. He has a relationship with the lads that is respected and a style of football that matches where we were before but with some additional tweaks that has helped to find us to be top of the league with 2/3rd of the season played.

GARY WHEILDON: HIGHLY RATED BY ANDY AVERY...

We've done admirably in both senior cups, losing 1-0 to Falmouth Town when we down to 10 players through injury and also 2-1 to Exmouth Town in the last minute of extra time. Both of those teams are performing respectably near the top end of the Premier League. In our own Charity Cup we are through to the semi-finals awaiting to find out who we will play. 

We currently sit undefeated after 24 league games but facing one of our toughest challenges: against Elburton Villa, who currently sit nicely in 3rd place. We have yet to face each other and I'm sure this will be a very interesting test for all associated with both clubs, due to us both applying for the one promotion spot. 

Elburton I believe are a good outfit, having dropped down to our level this season and they will still be looking to bounce straight back up this season. This Saturday could be very defining in the season’s outcome.

We've broken the league record this season with 16 continuous league wins in a row.

We currently sit level on the league’s 17 clean-sheets record and hope that between now and the end of the season we can break that one as well.

The fact that we are in this position is huge credit to the club, as our Chairman Keith Donnithorne says: “We’re a one shop, one pub village…” We have no financial backing except for the hard money earned by our amazing committee. They put in hours of time for fundraising events and maintenance, with committee meetings every fortnight; the club has its plans in place and at the moment boasts one of the best facilities in our league, whilst I believe our club house is very welcoming and the general feel by anyone coming to Burngullow Park is always positive.

We have two teams at the club with our 2nds playing in the Duchy league, Division One.

Sadly the 2nd team pulled out of the league a few years back and when it re started had to come from Division 5 and then up. The gap between the two sides is closing and we hope they will progress another step up this season.

Current Squad:

Average age 23-24, youngest 20, oldest 36 (me!)

Top goalscorer Jack Bowyer is currently on 37 goals. He is 21 years old and has been at the club since part way through our first season, joining from Truro City. He left us last season to join St Austell and then Newquay but rejoined in February. Had he stayed, we may have possibly challenged Argyle for that promotion spot.

Generally this is the highest level most of our players have played at and we have a great determination to try and progress this season, improving our game and learning more about ourselves each week. Should this be achieved we have planning permission passed for floodlights and currently have planning in for upgrades to the existing stand.

The club is currently working very hard behind the scenes and on the pitch giving us a fantastic surface to perform on.

Future:

Sticker was reformed as a club in 1968 and in the 2018 season celebrates its 50th Anniversary. If Sticker AFC was ever to play at the Premier League level it would probably be one of the smallest clubs to have achieved this, for most teams at that level boast a big town with good financial backing…”

Andy Avery - Manager, Sticker AFC…

ELBURTON VILLA CHAIRMAN NICK POPE WRITES:

A LITTLE CROPPED, BUT THIS IS NICK POPE...

“This is the first time both teams have faced each other, not only in this league but also generally in the CSWPL.

Both teams have applied for promotion, Sticker looking to be in the Premier League for the first time, with Villa looking to bounce back to the Premier since relegation last season.

With a handful of last season’s squad still intact, Managers Kevin Yetton and Martin Chrimes have been very pleased with how their new young squad have handled themselves this season.

With Sticker free scoring of late as well as keeping a tight ship in defence, Villa’s management will expect their team to rise to the challenge in order to keep ground for the highest possible finish.

Pre-Season signing Will Matthews from Newton Abbot has impressed and he has bagged 17 goals in CSWPL competitions so far….”

WILL MATTHEWS: ON 17 GOALS FOR THE SEASON...

NICK POPE, ELBURTON VILLA FC…