Weston Football Club enjoyed a record-breaking season with their highest-ever finish and points total.

WESTON Football Club enjoyed a record-breaking Blue Square South season when they finished in their highest-ever position with a record haul of points.

For a long period they were in a play-off position, but unfortunately, teams with games in hand come the end of a season dogged by bad weather, saw Weston finish a creditable seventh.

Great credit must be given to manager Craig Laird, his assistant Marc McGregor and coach Rob Boyd who with a small squad and a tight financial budget, got the club to where it is. At the beginning of the season some pundits, knowing that the squad was mostly recruited from lower leagues, forecast that Weston would be candidates for relegation, but how wrong they were.

At home, of their 21 league games, Weston won 10 and drew five, scoring 34 and conceding 30, while away they won nine, a record, and also drew five, scoring 27 and conceding 25.

But it must be said that at times they suffered from an amount of inconsistency. Over at Salisbury, who finished as runners-up in the league, they came away with a battling point, yet only a week later at home they were a well-beaten side, losing 3-0. Again, at Bath City they recorded their first-ever win in any competition with a superb display, but a week later they lost 4-1 with another poor showing.

Had they picked up maximum points at home in these games, they would have finished the season comfortably in a play-off place.

In the FA Cup, Weston won 2-0 at Frome Town, but in the next round went out to Worcester City 1-0 in a replay. In the FA Trophy, they went down at the first hurdle to Salisbury away 3-0.

Weston went into the Somerset Premier Cup as holders for the past two seasons. In the second round of this season’s competition, they beat Street 6-1, Chris Young scoring the first four, but in the next round, at home to Frome Town, they lost 4-3.

Back in the Blue Square South League, Weston recorded doubles over Eastbourne Borough, Basingstoke and Bromley,

Only two sides, Eastleigh and Dover Athletic managed doubles over Weston and both finished in play-off spots.

Leading scorer in all competitions was new recruit Ross Stearn with 12, including four penalties, followed by Kane Ingram with 11, one penalty. Another new recruit this season, Kayne McClaggon, along with local player Dayle Grubb notched seven each, while yet another newcomer Chas Hemmings found the net six times, one penalty.

Nibby Diallo and Ashley Kington scored five each, Brett Trowbridge and Chris Young four each. Jamie Price and Pete Monks scored a brace each. Other scorers were Matt Villis, Martin Slocombe, Nat Pepperell, who unfortunately suffered an injury and retired from the game, Jamie Laird and skipper Ben Kirk notched one each.

Final league table

W D L Pts

Welling 26 8 8 86

Salisbury 25 8 9 82

Dover 22 8 10 76

Eastleigh 22 6 14 72

Chelmsford 22 6 14 72

Sutton 20 10 12 70

WESTON 19 15 13 67

Dorchester 18 8 15 65

Boreham Wood 15 13 10 62

Havant & Waterlooville 14 11 12 58

Bath City 15 10 17 55

Eastbourne Borough 14 9 19 51

Farnborough 19 7 16 50

Basingstoke 12 12 18 48

Bromley 14 6 22 48

Tonbridge Angels 13 12 18 48

Hayes & Yeading 13 9 20 48

Staines 13 8 21 47

Maidenhead 13 6 23 45

AFC Hornchurch 11 11 29 44

Billericay 11 7 24 40

*Truro City 9 8 23 25

*Ten points deducted for going into administration.