Season Review – 2007/08

Another season has come to an end – Vikings second season in the league and my first season as a Vikings player.

The season started back in October, with several new players and four teams, from only two last year.  The new team 3 consited mainly of new players, while team 4 was made up chiefly from last season’s U13 squad who were now old enough to compete in the senior league.  I was team 3 coach, while Lee took control of team 1, Martin team 2 and Mo team 4.

The first games of the season took place on a Monday night and featured Vikings 1 v Vikings 2 and Vikings 3 v Vikings 4.  A total of 33 players featured in the games that night, with 17 of them getting on the scoresheet, as teams 1 and 3 picked up their first points of the season.  17 players made their debuts for the club, with 7 of those scoring on their first appearance.

Although team 1 lost their next game to Tigers 3, they started to build up a few good results and were near the top of the league at the halfway stage.  Things weren’t going as well for the other teams though.  Team 4 had forfeited 3 games due to player shortages, and Vikings 3 hadn’t added to their points from the opening game.  But in December, Vikings 4 got their first ever victory, at home against Tigers 4.  It was a great moment, with all of the goals coming from last year’s juniors.

Meanwhile, Vikings had gone out of the BKA Cup in the first round, having drawn Mitcham and Manchester.  Mitcham, the defending Premier league champions, with several international players in their team, made light work of the vikings, in their first ever BKA Cup match.  However I scored a goal against them, making it a moral victory for us, even if it was actually 28-1 to them.  We fared better against Manchester, with me, Mo and Tom getting on the scoresheet, however Manchester did win fairly comfortably in the end.

That was to be one of Tom’s last appearances for the club, as soon after he left to rejoin Lions.

Into the new year now, and Vikings Juniors hosted an U13 competition.  Teams from Cambridge came along, with Cambridge City U13 winning the tournament.  Our junior Vikings played well, even though we were short of boys and some people were playing in a higher age group than they should have been.

The first team squad were struggling to keep a consistant line-up, with Martin out injured, Tom leaving, Wally unavailable and Sam injured.  However the results kept going in our favour and we found ourselves in second place in the league.  Team 2 were also giving some good performances and collecting points themselves.  Teams 3 and 4, often consisting of many of the same players, were showing improvements too, and although points were thin on the ground, the margin of the losses was much reduced.

In April, I went to Holland for a coaching weekend with Lee and Jon.  We met some of the top people in Dutch korfball and learned loads.  We also got to go to the Dutch league finals, where Koog Zandijk beat DOS ’46 in the final in front of a sell-out crowd of over 9000.  It was an amazing atmosphere and a great game to watch.  Dalto, our favourite team because we went to their training ground to watch a training session, and cos they have the same kit colours as us, won the U19 final.  We spent the day drinking small beers and eating hot dogs as there was no other food available.

Vikings 1 were now a team to be reckoned with in the second division.  We had now drawn clear into second place, with a play-off spot guaranteed, and were targetting Lions 2.  We knew we couldn’t catch them in the league, but we wanted to take their 100% record.  It was team 1′s last game of the season.  It was a very close game, with Lions taking a 3-1 lead in the second half, before Vikings came back to lead 4-3.  However a late equaliser for Lions meant it finished 4-4.  We all felt we could’ve won the game, but we were pleased with a draw, and Lions 100% record was ended.

Meanwhile, Alex S, Ant and Olly had gone to London to take part in trials for the England U16 squad.  All three performed really well on the day, and Olly was picked for the main squad.  Ant was selected for the development squad.  And although Alex didn’t get picked, he still performed well and I’m sure will have another chance in the future.

Teams 3 and 4 finished in the bottom two, with Vikings 4 just ahead of Vikings 3, thanks to a win for team 4 in the second head to head match.  However both sets of players are showing great potential for next season.  Team 2 finished mid-table, with a respectable points total.

Mo was the top goal scorer overall, while I was the top scorer for team 1, and also topped the CKA division 2 scorers chart, with 50 goals for Vikings 1.

Now we look forward to summer tournaments, the annual awards dinner and of course, the play-offs!