Club History 3 of 7

3. South Midlands - 90's


In 1988 we joined the South Midlands and as a result gained senior status with the Herts FA. In 1989 we entered into a 3 year ground sharing arrangement with Isthmian League side Tring Town moving back to Miswell Lane in 1992 where the Reserves had continued to play. We established ourselves in the South Midlands by gaining promotion to the newly formed Senior Division in 1993.

In 1994/95 the First Team reached the final of the Senior Division Cup whilst the Reserves were finalists in the Apsley Junior Cup for the second year running.

In 1996/97 we led the Senior Division throughout the season and looked favourites to win the title. However, some unlucky defeats in the last few games saw us drop down to 3rd place. In addition to our impressive league form we also had some terrific cup runs during that season, reaching the semi-final of the Herts Charity Shield and winning the prestigious St. Marys Cup, the first time we had ever achieved such heights.

In 1997/98 we just missed out on the Senior Division title by the narrowest of margins to New Bradwell St Peter - a goal difference of just 2! We finished the season in fine style, suffering just 1 defeat in our last 21 league games which included a terrific run of 14 straight wins for which we won a special award from the League. The Reserves went one better by winning their league by a clear 10 points and in doing so achieved 100% success in their league games at home.

In 1998/99 we picked up our first major South Midlands trophy when we won the Senior Division Cup. We also won the St Marys Cup for the 2nd time in 3 years. In the league a terrific run of just 1 defeat in our last 28 games saw us finish in 3rd place, 4 points behind champions Holmer Green. During this magnificent run we went 15 hours without conceding a goal. The Reserves also did well finishing 5th in their first season in the top division.

The 1999/2000 season proved to be one to remember. During the summer we spent over £50k on building new changing rooms and extending the social and bar area. That meant a total of over 90k had been spent on improving the facilities at Miswell Lane since 1993.

To mark the opening of the new changing rooms we played a Watford XI in front of a huge crowd of about 1,000 people. The game was Refereed by Graham Poll and Graham Barber. We also expanded on the playing side with a third team being set up to particularly attract young players, a veterans side for ex-players and a Ladies side. The season turned out to be the most successful in the Club's history. In addition to winning the Senior Division title by 11 points we also reached 5 finals. We won the Herts Charity Shield (beating Potters Bar Town 2-1), Herts Senior Centenary Trophy (Wormley Rovers 2-0) and the Cherry Red Books Trophy in its inaugural year (Bedmond Sports & Social on penalties after a 1-1 draw). We were narrowly beaten 1-0 by Letchworth in the Senior Division Cup and although we also reached the St Marys Cup final it was never played because of the backlog of fixtures.

Our achievements were recognised by the South Midlands who awarded us the Houghton Regis Cup for achievements in outside competitions and Mick Eldridge, Ray Brimson and Richard Vincent were voted Managers of the Season. In 60 games in all competitions we lost on only 6 occasions, a remarkable achievement. Our other teams also enjoyed success with the Reserves reaching the Final of the Herts Intermediate Cup and the A Team in their first season finishing runners up in the West Herts Division 3.