AFC BINLEY'S MANAGER EDWIN GREAVES ASSESSES HIS TEAM'S 2017-18 SEASON...

"Firstly I would like to congratulate all at Coventry Plumbing for winning the Alliance 3 title and all at Balsall & Berkswell Reserves for winning the Alliance 4 title.


These were great achievements by two very good sides and totally deserved.

Back in July when preseason started, as a Manager you always set yourself and your team a realistic target that you hope to achieve for the season.

The table doesn't lie over a course of 24 games, although our season went down to 20 games as 2 teams unfortunately folded during the season.


We didn't get off to the best of starts in the first 4 weeks: we played 7 games, winning 3, drawing 2 and losing 2.


What I found interesting was that we didn't win any of our 3 midweek games, drawing once and losing twice.

Our results then seemed to settle down and it was an amazing achievement from the lads to win 12 out of the remaining 13 fixtures, with just the one defeat.

In between those games we had two very good Cup runs.

We managed to get to the Bedworth Nursing Cup Final, losing to a very good Christ The King Reserve Team and that was a great experience for my set of lads, as they finally started to believe in how good they can be as a team.


We made some new friends on that night with our performance.

The other Cup that we entered was the Foleshill Chairty Cup, in which we were beaten by Rugby FC.
They were a very good footballing side who had too much for us but we were able to come off the pitch knowing that we had done our best.

Our season itself ended on the 21st April, with Coventry Plumbing having 6 fixtures remaining.
We needed Plumbing to slip up but like the worthy champions they are, they won all of their remaining fixtures.

So we have to settle for being runners-up but to get promoted with this set of lads is something that I am happy about and we achieved our season's target.

We also have a double celebration now as the Reserve Team also got promotion, so those lads can be happy with themselves too.


The players have now got 6 weeks off and then we start again!

As for me, there is unfortunately no rest.

Players need to be persuaded to stay for another season, players leaving need to be replaced and a pre-season needs to be planned.

Don't you just love this beautiful game we call football? It's a good job that we have the World Cup to watch, as all of a sudden my Saturdays have become free!

Thank you all for taking the time to read my thoughts and for following AFC Binley this season..."

EDWIN GREAVES, 

MANAGER, AFC BINLEY...