The Squanderers finished 4th this season in Division North West 3. While this was a vast improvement on our 2022/23 efforts (12th in Division North West 2), there is still room to improve. The season started with three consecutive losses because of a lack of players available to field three full teams during preseason. Our first match, a 2-0 loss, was played with only eight players and two important matches against promotion candidates following this were closely lost.
Following on from this disappointing run of form, the Squanderers went on a winning streak through to Christmas racking up 20+1 points in the process. This run was sadly ended with an extremely close 2-1 loss against top of the league. In the new year, the Squanderers picked up as they had left off with a 3-2 win against Spalding. However, in our last chance for promotion against Cam South, we faced an agonising 3-2 loss with the last play of the game ending with a shot at goal bouncing off the post.
Following this was our Varsity match, which saw a 3-1 loss. A tough first half left us 1-0 down while the start of the second half was all Squandies. The momentum of the match was in our favour after an equaliser, but the Squandies pushed too hard for the win and were punished with two breakaway goals.
Following varsity, a squandies squad with little motivation or reason to win actually managed to go on and win every game apart from one, including the final game of the season against top of the league, denying them promotion with an emphatic 4-2 victory in the process. The game we lost was played with a significantly weaker squad due to Wanderer and Blunderer league pressures for relegation and promotion respectively. While I am incredibly proud of the amount of wins we managed to secure with such ease, I can’t help but think what the season might have been like had we won those first three matches.
Ben Lewis – Captain
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