Saturday 28th March 2015 Biggleswade United FC

V Oxhey Jets

The Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division

Saturday 28th March 2015

Biggleswade United v Oxhey Jets

Colours: Red / Navy Colours: All Blue

1 Grant Beckwith 1 Davis Boateng

2 James Lamptey 2 Jamie Speer

3 Chinua Cole 3 Chris Killer

4 Martin Russell © 4 Joe Horwood

5 Ollie Peters 5 Jordan Gutteridge

6 Lee Bilcock 6 Terry Smith

7 Jason Darvall 7 Warren Gladdy

8 Russell Clark 8 Tom Kennedy

9 Tom Cookman 9 Lee Armitt

10 Tre Grant 10 Tim O’Mara

11 Adam Drakulic 11 Simeon Armstrong

12 Sam Nair 12 James Baldwin

14 Hector Bateller 14 Tyler Collins

15 Nyasha Sagwete 15 Anton Collins

16 Jake O’Neill 16 John Daily

17 George Melrose 17 Luke Lloyd

18 Will Wright 18 Will Baker

19 Jude Eboji 19

20 Ryan Dobson 20

Manager: MICK REARDON Manager: WAYNE GLADDY

Assistant: MARK ROYAL Assistants: STEVE ROLFE

Physio: VANESSA FOUCHER Physio: JOHN ELLIOTT

Match Officials

Referee: Mr A Steele: Assistants Mr S Beardon and Mr J Chidley

Welcome to Second Meadow

Good afternoon and welcome to Second Meadow. Today we extend a warm welcome

to the players, officials and supporters of OXHEY JETS FC for this Spartan South

Midlands League Premier Division fixture. We also welcome our three match officials

and hope that you all enjoy your short stay with us.

Our performances in the past two months have been disappointing with only two

points gained from our last six League outings courtesy of two consecutive draws

against sides facing the drop. We have been ravaged by injures to key players –

some of who have been out for 3 months. There was hope that we would pick up

points from our last three games all of which were against bottom of the table sides,

but it was not to be. While there are tremendous positives happening away from the

football pitch, we are still struggling to find any consistency in our performances and

with just six League fixtures left to play, hopes of a top ten finish are slowly fading

away. We have a highly committed squad who have stuck with the club throughout

the season and we have had some tremendous results. So let’s knuckle down, return

to working hard for each other and finish with a flourish.

Unlike ourselves, Oxhey Jets have enjoyed a rosy period during February and March

and come to United on the back of six wins from their last nine fixtures. However, they

slipped up at Ampthill Town on Tuesday night going down 2-1 at our Bedfordshire

neighbours. Oxhey are currently one place above us but are five points ahead and

have two games in hand.

Our next fixture is a local derby against

neighbours Stotfold on Saturday and will

attract the national and local media

with the appearance of former

Espanyol, Barcelona and Chelsea player

Enrique De Lucas in the squad.

The club have also featured in the national

paper, Non- League Daily, this week

with a full article about Guillem Balague’s

involvement in the club.

And in the next week or so I hope to be hanging a Biggleswade United shirt signed by

Lionel Messi (see photo of the official signing) and a Real Sociedad shirt signed by

David Moyes.

Let’s hope for an enjoyable and exciting game this afternoon. Tracey James – Secretary and Programme Editor

CURRENT LEAGUE TABLE THE HISTORY OF BIGGLESWADE UNITED (2)

The next eleven years saw the first team led by Steve "Snowy" Wright and under his management the club continued to enjoy a very high level of League and Cup success ultimately achieving promotion to the Molten Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division and with it the opportunity to compete in the FA Cup. And under Snowy the club made three Beds FA Senior Challenge Cup final appearances, winning two of the three with victories over Stotfold (4-1) and Leighton Town (1-0) but missed out in 2006/07 going down 2-0 to Dunstable Town. Snowy's other cup successes came in the form of the Hunts Premeir Cup, North Beds Charity Cup, Hinchingbrooke Cup, the SML Division One Cup and the SML Special Achievement Award once again. The end of the 2006 2007 season saw Snowy step down as manager with his assistant, Nick Burton taking over the first team reins. The 2006 2007 season marked a crucial time in the club's history with the formation of a youth structure that sees Biggleswade girls and boys aged 7 to 18 able to be part of Biggleswade United. We now have twelve youth teams including three girls teams with a well established youth committee. The profile of the club as a community club is very much boosted by the association with such a well organised and well structured youth set up. January 5th 2009 saw the club embark on further ambitious ground improvements. With financial backing from Biggleswade Town Council, Mid Beds District Council and the Football Foundation we installed a 260-seater stand, fully enclosed the ground with a double turnstile entrance and players' secure walkway which raised the ground to Grade E status. After several years of stability in terms of first team managers the next six years saw a regular turnover of first team and reserve team managers with Nick Burton, Dave Elkin and Phil Childs all taking over the first team reins for a time. At the start of the 2013 2014 season we appointed Mick Reardon and Mark Royal as first team managers both of whom have enjoyed success as coaches at the higher levels of football. Their disciplined approach was quickly adhered to and responded to by the players. The new 2014 – 2015 season has seen the arrival of several new young players to the club following the club’s positive decision to introduce a side that will compete in the Suburban League as well as continuing to compete in the SML Premier Division. The Suburban side will be managed by Gary Burkett who enjoyed success with Shefford Saints Under 18s and many talented young players will be part of the United Squad. Gary will be assisted by former Bushey Met Police manager, Tony Jones. In November 2014 the club took a further positive step to realise our ambitions with the appointment of Sky Sports Presenter and renowned author, Guillem Balague as Biggleswade United’s Director of Football. The club has certainly come a long way in relatively few years but we could not have done it without the help of a very supportive Town and District Council who clearly understand the benefits of having a community based club in Biggleswade. Our success is also very much down to a very hard working committee who throughout the year - not just the football season - continue to volunteer their time and commitment to the club, to help it continue to thrive and be a source of enjoyment for our supporters and the Biggleswade community.

2014-2015 Season

Spartan South Midlands Football League

Premier Division

P W D L F A Pts

1 Kings Langley 33 26 3 4 104 30 81

2 Sun Sports 34 22 2 10 73 46 68

3 AFC Dunstable 34 20 8 6 73 47 68

4 London Colney 32 21 4 7 57 21 67

5 Wembley 32 21 3 8 73 47 66

6 Harefield United 37 20 6 11 86 62 66

7 St Margaretsbury 32 17 9 6 74 38 60

8 Berkhamsted 33 19 3 11 80 54 60

9 Hadley 36 17 4 15 68 64 55

10 Tring Athletic 35 16 6 13 62 48 54

11 Hertford Town 33 15 6 12 70 56 51

12 Oxhey Jets 34 15 6 13 67 60 51

13 Biggleswade United 36 13 7 16 65 69 46

14 Colney Heath 36 11 9 16 64 61 42

15 Cockfosters 34 11 4 19 40 73 37

16 Leverstock Green 36 10 6 20 54 82 36

17 Hoddesdon Town 35 9 5 21 46 80 32

18 London Tigers 33 7 9 17 52 79 30

19 Stotfold 33 7 9 17 48 82 30

20 Ampthill Town 35 7 5 23 38 98 26

21 Holmer Green 32 6 3 23 40 91 21

22 Hillingdon Borough 35 2 9 24 56 102 15

BIGGLESWADE UNITED : OUR HISTORY SO FAR

Biggleswade United Football Club was re- formed on the 16th July 1959. However, local history records indicate that there was a Biggleswade United side playing at Second Meadow as early as 1929. Our first season (1959/60) saw us competing in Division Three of the North Herts. League (NHL). After 10 successful years in the NHL the club made the step up to South Midlands League (SML) football. But towards the end of a 15-year association with the SML the club began to struggle and after three years of finishing in the bottom three of Division One we sought fresh fields. The club joined the Herts. Senior but club continued to find the going tough. In 1986 we elected to return to local League football, joining the Bedford and District Football League and began to build again. The appointment of Brian Swords as first team manager in 87/88 proved to be the turning point in the club's fortunes. During the next ten years the club achieved a tremendous amount of success on and off the football pitch. Our record of League and Cup honours speak for themselves but aligned to this a great deal of work went on behind the scenes to match the on-field success. The club now boasts one of the best clubhouse and ground facilities in the Mid-Bedfordshire area. The success of the club has also attracted many new players as well as commanding a great deal of loyalty from those players who helped the club progress from Division Three of the Bedford and District League to County Senior Club status in just 15 years. The 1995/96 season was the most successful in the club's history - winning five major honours; the Beds Intermediate County Cup, Bedford and District League Championship, League Cup Championship and as the League's representatives the club won the Beds. FA Centenary Cup. Having won every major Bedford League honour the club felt it was time to move on and made the decision to make the step up once again and returned to Division One of the SML. In an exceptionally successful first season we celebrated a Division One "double" by winning the Championship and the Division One Cup. We also retained the Beds. FA Intermediate County Cup, only the second club in the competition's history to achieve this feat. To crown our success the club were awarded the SML Special Achievement Trophy in July 1997. In the season 1997/98 we finally achieved Senior status. This was achieved not only through the endeavours of the players on the field but ultimately as a result of an extremely hard working committee. With the help of the Biggleswade Town Council a new stand was erected and perimeter fencing installed. And two seasons later the club erected floodlights and on the evening of 26th October 1999 we played our first-ever floodlit game at Second Meadow, Ryman League side Leighton Town were the visitors in the Bedfordshire Premier Cup.

BIGGLESWADE UNITED 1 HOLMER GREEN 1 HOLMER GREEN – THE HISTORY BEHIND THE CLUB

For the third consecutive League outing United faced a team peering

down into the abyss that is relegation to Division One and their

opposition on Tuesday night, with games in hand, should be the ones

to haul themselves up to safety based on this battling performance.

Holmer Green are probably one of the few teams who do not look

forward to a trip to Second Meadow on a Tuesday evening despite the

post- match hospitality. A round trip of over 100 miles after a long

day’s work is not the best preparation but on Tuesday night it was the

long distance travellers who set the early pace. Indeed the proverbial

“much travelled” Richard Worrell, who has donned the colours of

Dagenham and Redbridge and AFC Wimbledon, came close within

the opening minute when United were caught square and keeper

Grant Beckwith was forced to clear with his left boot.

Tom Cookman and Jack Boyd shared the opening chances for United

and Lee Bilcock was unlucky not to give the hosts the lead when a

well struck volley was palmed away by Holmer custodian, Henry

Craven.

But it was the visitors who took a goal lead in to the break with a

superbly taken strike from Worrell in the 37th minute. United were

caught blind sided from a corner allowing the Holmer front man to nip

between two United defenders to flick the ball past Beckwith.

Strong words in the United changing room at the tea time break did

the trick as United levelled the score within 12 minutes of the re-start.

Adam Drakulic’s corner was met perfectly by skipper Martin Russell at

the far post to make it 1-1.

The game seemed to peter out for the next twenty minutes with both

sides choosing to go toe to toe in the middle third. However, the arrival

of Tre Grant and Ryan Dobson in to the United attack saw the

attacking options open up for Mick Reardon’s side. Dobson hit the side

netting in the 78th minute and Grant let rip from 25 yards only for

Craven to pull off the save of the night.

When the final whistle sounded it was definitely the Buckinghamshire

side who were the more relieved as they celebrated a much needed

away point in their quest to remain in the Premier division.

The Early Years The current General Manager John Elliott founded Oxhey Jets in 1972. Playing their first season as an under 12 team in the South West Herts Youth League, having been playing friendly matches as the 2nd Oxhey Boys Brigade team for two years before that. A winning start in the League cup final on the last game of the season saw the club move on, and more youth sides were added to the clubs structure, with the original side moving up through the age groups. In the 1978-79 season the team having out grown youth football moved to the Watford and District men’s Saturday league, and at the first attempt won the Division one championship without dropping a point, this prompted an application to the Hertfordshire Senior County League, which was turned down because their home ground was an open playing fields. We instead went into the West Herts Saturday league, and started to prepare the old school pitch at the Chilwell Gardens site ready for another application to join the County League. Chilwell was ready for use and the runners up spot was secured with Three matches to spare, and became the first Oxhey side in history to win The Watford Peace Memorial Shield. The Herts Senior County League was increased in size and Oxhey were elected into Division one in 1981 and were promoted to the Premier division in 1983. The Biggest change to happen to the club was in the 2000-2001 season having moved from their old Chilwell Gardens site, to a new Two million pound complex in Altham Way (using Met Police Bushey for a season), Jets new ground; “The Boundary Stadium” was built to almost Rymans League standard. Recent History The 2012-13 season was the clubs most successful league season. Due to the worst weather for many years we finished the last few weeks of the season playing 3 matches each week and the runners-up spot was lost on the last day of the season. We finished in 3rd position behind Aylesbury United and Dunstable Town, who completed the season without losing a league fixture. We retained the Herts FA Charity Shield defeating Hertford Town 4 – 0 in the final, and the last match of the season in mid May saw us beat Cockfosters to win the South Midlands Floodlight Cup. In Her Majesty the Queens 2013 birthday honours list the club founder John Elliott was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to young people and the community in South Oxhey. This was a great and much deserved reward for over 40 years of hard work creating and managing Oxhey Jets Football Club. The start of the 2013-14 season was a difficult one for the Club as we found out that all except three of last season’s team had decided to move to other clubs. With just two weeks to kick off Wayne Gladdy was appointed as manager to try and put a team together. At the end of January with just 20 points gained, Wayne started to recruit new players and from then on we only lost one league match which secured our status for the new season. We also reached the final of the St Mary’s Cup where we beat Leverstock Green 3 – 2. Our reserves finished as runners-up in the Herts FA Intermediate Cup and our Academy team were winners of the Allied Counties East Division.

RESULTS

FIXTURES

With Guillem Balague

Jim White Gaizka Mendieta Enrique De Lucas

Tickets on sale soon

Premier Division – Tuesday 24th March

Ampthill Town 2 1 Oxhey Jets

Biggleswade United 1 1 Holmer Green

Hillingdon Borough 3 3 London Tigers

Kings Langley 3 2 Hoddesdon Town

Leverstock Green 6 2 Hadley

London Colney 4 0 Stotfold

Sun Sports 1 5 Berkhamsted

Premier Division – Thursday 26th March

St Margaretsbury 0 0 Hadley

Premier Division – Saturday 28th March

AFC Dunstable v Colney Heath

Berkhamsted v Hillingdon Borough

Biggleswade United v Oxhey Jets

Hertford Town v Cockfosters

Holmer Green v Harefield United

Leverstock Green v Tring Athletic

London Colney v Ampthill Town

London Tigers v Hadley

St Margaretsbury v Hoddesdon Town

Stotfold v Sun Sports

Wembley v Kings Langley

Premier Division – Tuesday 31st March

Cockfosters v Oxhey Jets

Hillingdon Borough v St Margaretsbury

Holmer Green v Stotfold

Kings Langley v Berkhamsted

London Colney v Wembley

London Tigers v Sun Sports

SUBURBAN LEAGUE

2014-2015 Season

Suburban Football League

North Division

P W D L F A Pts

1 Berkhamsted 16 12 2 2 56 17 38

2 North Greenford United 15 9 3 3 50 20 30

3 Binfield 14 9 2 3 48 26 29

4 Farnham Town 18 8 2 8 35 34 26

5 Camberley Town 17 7 2 8 29 45 23

6 Leverstock Green 13 6 4 3 41 34 22

7 Northwood 14 6 1 7 26 34 19

8 Hartley Wintney 14 5 2 7 34 43 17

9 Harefield United 11 4 1 6 17 20 13

10 Biggleswade United 14 2 4 8 26 44 10

11 Newport Pagnell Town 12 2 3 7 29 43 9

12 Hanworth Villa 12 1 2 9 17 48 5

North Division - Saturday 24th January - RESULTS

Berkhamsted 4 0 Camberley Town

Biggleswade United 1 1 North Greenford United

Binfield 5 1 Hartley Wintney

Harefield United 1 2 Leverstock Green

North Division - Saturday 31st January - FIXTURES

Camberley Town v Biggleswade United

North Greenford United v Binfield

With Guillem Balague

Jim White Gaizka Mendieta Enrique De Lucas

Tickets on sale soon