2006-2007

I think he was appointed in the summer of 2006 after the departure of Richard Cadette.  His first game in charge was at Plod where Danny Carroll scored the equaliser to give us a 1-1 draw.  In his first season we did the double beating Met Police 4-1 in the SSC at Sutton, followed just 2 days later by an impressive 4-2 win against Bromley in the LSC  at Imperial Fields with Vines scoring 3.

We finished second to Maidstone by 1 point, but there was a 10 minute spell during the last game when we were winning and Maidstone were losing when it looked like we might nick it.

We beat Fleet 2-1 in the semi final of the playoff with 2 injury time goals from Joe & Paul Vines.  We were favourites in the final against Hastings as we were unbeaten in 31 consecutive games in all competitions, but for some reason we seemed out of sorts on final day and lost 2-0 in what was our 69th game of the season.

Highlights of the season (and there were many) -

The emergence of Paul Vines as a Tooting legend, although he started the season as back up striker to Simon Mitchell!

The FA Trophy run which started at home to Dulwich when they missed a twice taken injury time penalty to leave the score at 2-2, which led to the 7-6 win in the replay with Henry Darko scoring the winner late in extra time.

We beat higher league opposition after replays in the next 2 rounds - Boreham Wood and Bromley.

We were a few minutes from claiming the scalp of Bath in a great day out before they equalised late on and beat us in the replay.



 

2007-2008

We finished 2nd again, quite a way behind Dover, but we got promoted via the playoffs.  We beat Worthing 2-0 in the semi, before winning 1-0 in a nervy final against Cray.  Paul Vines scoring all 3 goals.

We retained the LSC having beating Hendon 3-2 in the final with 2 goals from Jon Henry-Hayden and 1 from Vines.  We also beat Conference South Fisher in the semi final.

Best away day has to have been the 4-3 win over Worthing.  Vines was sent off for taking his shirt off during a goal celebration, but the 10 men nicked a winner when Romuauld Bouadji found himself leading a breakaway on the counter!

Just the 59 games that season, without seeming to get tired!

2009-2010

We made a good start to this season and were in and around the playoffs for most of the season before falling away with only 2 wins in our last 9 games to finish 12th.

But the season will be remembered for the FA Cup run!  A couple of decent scalps in Slough and Canvey Island set us up for a 4th qualifying round tie against Eastbourne Borough of the Conference.  We were 3-1 up before they got 2 late goals to force a replay.  We then saw one of the best performances under Billy Smith as we came from behind in the replay to win 4-3 and send us to the first round for the first time since 1978.  

The away game against Stockport was a highlight although the result wasn't what we wanted.

By the 53rd and last game of the season, I think we all knew that Smith & Wakeling were leaving and although we lost 3-2 away to Boreham Wood in the it was probably fitting that Paul Vines scored the final goal of their tenure.

And I think its fair to say we haven't reached those levels again since Billy left.

Last edited by endofthelane (26/11/2018 11:49 am)

League Stats

Played 168 W-79 D-41 L-48 Goals 275-203

Play Offs

Played 4 W-3 D-0 L-1 Goals 5-3

Unofficial stats!

Played 230 Won 114 Drew 52 Lost 64 Goals 400-289.

Hi! Endo, once again thank you for the info. Problem now sorted regarding budget. All back on track, Phew!
 

Andy Mc wrote:

 Paul Vines scuffed shot across the keeper that bobbled very slowly into the corner of the net right at the end of added time. That was the most excited I have ever been at any game in my life.

Andy supports Everton......nuff said.