So the curtain comes down on the 2001/02 season and what a year of highs and lows it was!

After a poor start to the league campaign (4 points out of a possible 15), things really started to come together in December.  The turning point to the season was in effect against Highgate Albion, (normally a bogey team for All Saints), who received a 5-0 demolition at the hands of a very organised All Saints side.  Even up until this point we had one of the best defensive records in the division – Only conceding 9 goals in 7 games – a testament to Phils’s organisational skills I think you will agree.

Throughout December, January and February, All Saints went undefeated.  A run not matched since the Championship winning year of 1993.  Throughout this period we scored a whopping 35 goals in only six games, blasting 6 past Queensbury Town, 7 past The Plough and 7 past Cygen twice!  Not only had Phil created a team that worked for each other, but also one that had learnt to score goals again! Not since the infamous frontline battles of Wayne Wilson and Gary Wrigly, had we had such a goalscoring flurry.  Wrigly, Tony Glascoe and Gareth West were finding the net with profound accuracy and with the addition of Doug Coull to the squad, things were on course for a climatic finale. 

The great form kept going into March in the shape of a cup run, as we swept aside Cygen 4-2, The plough 7-2 and in our best result of the season, John Lewis 8-2 to take us to the President’s Cup Semi Final.  In fact it wasn’t unitl the 10^th March that we were beaten – a record stretching 7 games going back to the 25^th November in the Middlesex Cup!  It was a double-header against Parkfield, who eventually went on to take the Division 2 title, that haltered our tremendous run. 

It was in April however that the wheels came off the All Saints bandwagon.  On the 7^th we met Division 1 side St Andrews in the third round of the Reg Ellis Cup, who promptly beat us 3-1, and then on the 10^th we met Division 3 side Broadway Celtic in the Semi Final of the President’s Cup.  The game started off badly and ended up worse.  At half time and 1-1 it could have been anyone’s game, but it was Broadway that came out in the second half ‘up for it’ and finished the game worthy winners 3-1.  Many blamed the concrete pitch, many blamed Tim Edwards AWOL shenanigans the previous week, many blamed Jason Sugrue’s lack of pace, many blamed Gareth West’s attempts at hitting a barn door and failing, many blamed Gary Wrigly – or lack of him, many blamed Doug Coull for being Scottish, Many blamed Tony Glascoe for having fat thighs, many blamed James West for being drunk, and many just blamed Phil.  But as Andrew Wells so eloquently put it in the dressing room afterwards, “….we were f****** s***…” in any event All Saints season was over in the space of a week.

The 2001/02 season was another one effected by the arduous weather conditions and only one more match would be contested in April, that against Cygen.  In the end the home fans were treated to an exhibition of football, and another 6 goals in a 6-2 win.  A hat-trick from Gary Wrigley kept Gareth West sweating on the outcome of the Top Goalscorer award, but his late effort just wasn’t quite enough, and Gareth concluded his record for the season as played 20 scored 20.  A tremendous return in only his second year at the club.

The remaining games of the league calender were put down to as drawn results by the panel, and in the end All Saints finished 4^th – our best league result for 4 years.  Putting that along side our Semi Final appearance, it only goes to show how far we have come in the space of a year, and with that in mind, I believe we should be looking forward to a successful season to come in 2003.

League Division 2          4^th

President’s Cup            Semi Final

Reg Ellis Cup                3^rd Rd

Middlesex Cup              3^rd Rd

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