Beacon Hill Rovers FC

		Beacon Hill Rovers Season Review 2017-18

A year of promotions, cup finals, floods, a relegation, lots of brilliant football and some farewells. Let’s start then with a goodbye: First Team manager for the last six seasons, John Plumb has moved up the pyramid to take on the hot seat at Burnham Ramblers. All the best, John and thanks for another great season; our first in the Olympian League. It took the team a while to find their feet but once they did they shot up the league, a nine game run of eight wins and a draw finally achieved a successive promotion. Next season we’ll be in Division Two, the Men’s team highest ever status. Hill’s Women’s Team also maintained their long standing run at the top table of Essex football with a seventh place finish. A couple of highlights were a League double over rivals Chelmsford City and a training session from England coach, Marieanne Spacey. One very satisfying statistic this season was the appearance of the twentieth player to play for the Women’s Team who have come through the ranks of Beacon’s girls youth set-up. Great accolades to Rachel Harwood and the youth coaches and to the Women’s players themselves on being so up for the integration policy. The Veterans gained a double of sorts but not then one they aimed for: a runners-up spot in the League allied with a Burnham Cup Victory, not a bad record but one they’ll be out to improve on next season. Another farewell here at least on the playing side with Stuart Harwood finally listening to his knees and hanging up his boots. The ’99 Cup win will probably be highest on his memories play list after a one club career starting when he was 15. It was a classic season of two halves, much like the First Team for the Reserves and boss Gregg Burrows can be very pleased with the progress that saw an outside sniff at promotion an unlucky Tiptree Cup final defeat. Amongst the Youth teams there was promotion for the 15Girls and the u13Boys. Next year will see both our competitive girls’ teams playing in the top divisions after the 13Girls consolidated their league status. This is quite an achievement for a village Club and the Hill will be hosting the likes of Tottenham Hotspurs and Leyton Orient next season. The combination of girls’ teams also had some great days out as flag bearers at an England International match and the Women’s FA Cup Final at Wembley. They represented the Club brilliantly. The 13Boys have survived some tough seasons and their due reward came this season with a comfortable second place league finish to high flying Writtle who they also gave a scare to in the Cup Final. A total of 81 league goals is impressive and the progress made by the team should stand them in god stead for next season’s Division 1 challenge. It was Dave Dines’ boys last season of Rovers Youth Football as the 17Boys nearly finished off with a Cup Final only to lose narrowly in the semis. Rovers 15Boys have been serial winners over the years but this season was tough. A really hard season in the top division saw them relegated but it was a number of narrow one goal defeats that finally did for them and their league position was probably not a true reflection of some of the decent football they played but they can feel proud of the resilience they showed. They are on the lookout for additions to their squad as manager Matt Low sets up for a tilt at a return to Division 1. Hill’s u11s really took the bigger pitch and their football continues to excite the coaching staff. The individual skills have really come on and allied with their strong team spirit next season should be another successful one. The u9Boys produces some sparkling football and this squad could certainly be one to watch over the coming years. After all his hard work setting up the team a big thanks to Daniel Rapson who’s handing over the reins to Chris Pipe and Stuart Cooper. Daniel was also instrumental in establishing the new league, the Brentwood Community Alliance which has been a huge success where the emphasis is on getting the kids playing football and not bogged down with regulations. Thanks, Daniel. Another huge success this season has been the formation of the u9Girls, Hill’s youngest ever female only team. A brilliant job by coach Mia Claydon and the couple of Festival Football events at the end of the season saw them show great individual and team promise. Finally the u7s. It’s two years since the newbies started and induction coach Emily Parker hands the squad over to Barry Lakin with a great set of basics and love of the game, long may it continue. Next September, Emily will be starting the next set of u6s.