April 2009

Congratulations to Rob O'Brien's reserve side for reaching the final of the Essex & Herts Combination cup by beating their Canvey Island counterparts 2-1 at Mayesbrook Park this afternoon. Their opponents will be Great Wakering Rovers

The final will be played on Thursday April 30th at Little Wakering Hall Lane the home of Great Wakering Rovers FC kick off 7:45pm.

We have played Rovers Reserves three times this season, winning 4-2 and 2-1 and losing 3-0

We also finished a creditable eighth in the E&H Combination which, together with two cup finals, is a successful debut season for manager Rob O’Brien who took over in December 2008.

Current Barking FC Under 16's manager Stuart Cook is already looking towards next season and will be holding trials for both the Under 16's and Under 18's teams for season 2009/10.

The trials will be held on Saturday 2nd, Sunday 3rd and Monday 4th of May in Mayesbrook Park next to the athletics track. Registration will be at 9:15 and a good standard of player is required.

Anybody with any questions regarding the trials can contact Stuart directly.

Congratulations and thanks to Abraham Adejokun and Mark Doyle on completing 50 appearances for us. Mark completed his half ton last night at Takeley and Abe's landmark came on Saturday against Stansted.

Well done on the first 50 and here's to the next.

After Saturday's game with Stansted game on Saturday the following awards were presented on behalf of the club for season 2008-09:

Committee player of the season - Lee Pyne
Managers player of the season - Craig Greenwood
Supporters player of the season - Sam Dennis
Players player of the season - Scott Borthwick
The John Ford Memorial trophy for loyalty - 'The Monday Club' which consists George Rose, John Porter and Geoff Taylor for all their hard work at the ground over a number of seasons.

Secretary John Faherty publicly thanked Steve Munday, Neil Day and John Bennett for all that they have done for the club this season.

Sam Dennis is now in distinguished company as a two time winner of the supporters player of the year - for the record the others are Bobby Makin, Paul Watts, Jeff Wood, Marc Baker and Tony Tucker. Of those players only Paul Watts and Tony Tucker have won in consecutive years - nobody has won the award three times. Watch this space to see if Sam makes it a hat-trick.

The Under 16's have now finished their season - on April 2nd they played their final league game away to Wingate & Finchley and lost 2-1, Sam Bradley the scorer. Their remaining league games against Romford and Enfield Town will not be fulfilled as the Eastern Junior Alliance playoffs began the Sunday after the Wingate match.

On Sunday April 5th, the Under16s played Stevenage Borough in the semi final of the EJA Chairmans cup and despite at one stage being 2-4 they unfortunately lost 4-5.

Finally, Stuart Cook took his squad to Somerset to play in the Mitre Cup and they did very well, winning four of the five games to finish second overall in the competition

As mentioned below last Wednesday (April 15th) Barking FC hosted a FA Skills Team day for local kids. FA coach (and Barking Reserve team manager) Rob O'Brien commented "Thanks to all of the boys who thanked me for an enjoyable day.  
Hopefully this will be the first of many."

Rob's report of the days procedings can be downloaded by clicking here*

Thanks to Rob and Andy for organising a successful day at Mayesbrook Park.

* The report is in Adobe PDF and will require a Adobe Reader - the latest version can be found by clicking here

Unfortunately Scott Borthwick sustained an injury during the yesterday’s game against London APSA and his fitness will be assessed during the week.

The good news is that Jared Small has completed his three match suspension

Following the Stansted game on Saturday April 18th at Mayesbrook Park there will be a presentation of awards for the supporters, committee and management players of the year for 2008-09.

We would ask all supporters to remain behind for a few minutes to congratulate the winners of the awards along with the players and management for their efforts this season

The Under 16's have played two league games recently - unfortunately winning neither. Their manager Stuart Cook reports:

Sunday March 22nd
Under 16's 2 (0) Wingate & Finchley 2 (0)  

Barking threw away a two goal lead in their last league home game of the season, two strikes from Sanmi ODELUSI gave the Under 16s a two goal cushion in the second half. But Wingate fought back with two late goals for a share of the points.

Sunday March 29th
Mauritius Sports 3 (3) Under 16's 1 (0)

A poor first half cost Barking against the champions elect Mauritius Sports, The Under 16s found themselves three down at half time. Despite a better second half performance they only had a Sanmi ODELUSI goal to show for their efforts.

Tonight (April 2nd) the Under 16s are away to Wingate & Finchley in a league fixture and on Sunday they are at home to Stevenage Borough in the semi-final of the EJA chairman's cup and good luck to them in both games.

Barking FC will be holding in association with the FA Skills Team a day at the club on Wednesday April 15th for the local community. The idea behind a skills day is stated as:

"A revolutionary approach to youth football coaching that gives children more time with the ball, increases confidence and improves decision making so children get more enjoyment from playing football."

The event will be at our Mayesbrook Park ground and running from 9:45am to 2pm - refreshments will be available.