2017 began with the second of the two Teversal derbies, this one ending in a 1-1 draw. Another draw was to follow a week after in our game v Grimsby Borough. Going 2-0 down, Ollerton recovered superbly to draw 2-2 with Matthew Thompson, a recent signing from Rainworth MW, scoring a last minute wonder goal.

What followed was one of the darker moments of the season, a 9-0 embarrassment at the hands of Pontefract Colleries but we bounced back in style in our next game, defeating Brigg Town 6-2 with Kyle Ludlow scoring our only hat-trick of the campaign. January then ended with more disappointment, a 4-0 loss to Dronfield Town.

We started February with an impressive 1-1 draw against Hall Road Rangers before a 2-0 loss to Campion. The month then ended with a 2-1 win away at Yorkshire Amateur, Sam Dockwray scoring a 92nd minute winner to secure the three points.

March was another mixed month as we carried on our somewhat inconsistent form. We lost our first two games, 4-0 at home to Knaresborough Town and a disappointing 3-2 loss away to Worsbrough Bridge. In our next game, we secured the double over rivals Shirebrook Town, winning 2-1 once again before we travelled away to Selby at the end of the month and drew 0-0, meaning Selby were the only side that failed to score against us this season.

At the start of April we knew that if we were victorious against Glasshoughton Welfare at and Westella failed to win, we would be safe. Thankfully that’s just what happened as Lewis Bingham’s goal gave us a 1-0 win. We lost our next two games, 2-0 to Winterton Rangers and 3-0 to Hallam, before we travelled to Westella & Willerby for the final game of the season which we won 1-0 to end the season in style.

Overall, to end the season in 17th place with 43 points from 42 games can be seen as a relative success for the club. When you consider that we lost our first seven league games, that record starts to look a bit more impressive and we more than deserved to secure at least another year in the NCEL.

The squad will be better from the experience of having a year together at this level but Dave and Bodle know that they will need to strengthen for us to build on last season and work is already underway on that front, given the competitive nature of local football in the area.

Here are some End of Season Stats:

Overall Record: P46 W14 D7 L25 GS69 GC98
16th best attack in the league: 1.36 goals a game
15th best defence in the league: 2.05 goals a game
9th best attendance: 98 a game
Six clean sheets: Eccleshill Utd, Selby Town (x2), Nostell MW, Glasshoughton Welfare and Westella & Willerby
We’ve used 40 players in total this season
We’ve had 16 different goalscorers (17 if you include own goals)
4 players have played over 40 games for us this season: Lewis Bingham (46), Josh Bowkett (45), Jordan Schofield (42) and Greg Tobin (41)