Weston enjoyed another successful season, taking 13th spot in the Blue Square South League and retaining the Somerset Premier Cup.

WESTON enjoyed another successful season, taking 13th spot in the Blue Square South League, reaching the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup and retaining the Somerset Premier Cup.

In the latter competition, they did it the hard way, winning all their games away from home and only conceding one goal, and that was three minutes into injury time in the final. On the way, they beat Bristol Manor Farm 4-0, Frome Town 2-0, Brislington 1-0 and old rivals Clevedon Town 2-1.

In the league, the squad made a miserable start back in August when they lost their two opening games, 4-0 at home to Dartford, who have been promoted to the Premier Division via the playoffs, and 4-1 away to Basingstoke.

Their first success was away to since relegated Thurrock 3-0 and followed this up by beating Havant and Waterlooville 3-1 at home, and a 2-0 success against Salisbury City, also at home. However, they finished the month by losing 2-1 at Eastleigh.

Weston started September with a 4-1 home win over Boreham Wood and followed this with a 3-1 win at Maidenhead United, who also have been relegated. They lost 2-1 at home to big-spending Chelmsford City, but then had a 3-1 success away at Dorchester Town before finishing the month by losing 3-1 at Hampton and Richmond, the third relegated side.

Due to involvement in the FA Cup, Weston played only three league games in October, drawing 0-0 with Sutton United and 3-3 with Eastbourne Borough, both at home and lost 4-0 to Woking, who finished as runaway champions.

In November, Weston lost 1-0 away at Dover Athletic, their longest away game of the season, before gaining a creditable point in a 1-1 draw at Dartford’s impressive stadium. They beat Staines Town 2-1 and completed a league double by beating Maidenhead 4-2.

Weston began December with a 1-1 draw at Havant and enjoyed a 2-1 win at Eastbourne after an overnight stop at Bognor Regis and ended the month by losing 1-0 at home to newcomers Truro City.

On New Year’s Day, however, Weston had their revenge by winning 1-0 in Cornwall, thanks to an own goal. They followed this up with a 5-2 drubbing of Farnborough, a 2-1 win over Basingstoke, a 2-0 win over Welling United who missed out on promotion losing in the play-offs, before losing 4-0 at Boreham Wood and 3-0 at home to Bromley.

The two opening scheduled games of February were lost to bad weather. There then followed an unexplained loss of form which saw the side lose 3-0 at Tonbridge Angels in appalling conditions, 3-2 to Chelmsford City and 3-2 to Sutton United, both away.

The losing streak continued into March when they were thumped 4-0 at home by Dorchester, followed by a 2-0 loss at Welling. They managed to pick up a point in a 2-2 draw at home to Thurrock and had their first win in eight attempts against Farnborough 1-0. However, they ended the month with three more defeats, 3-0 to Woking and 2-1 to Hampton and Richmond, and 1-0 away at Bromley.

April began with a scoreless draw away at Salisbury, followed by one at home to Eastleigh, before a 2-2 draw at home to Tonbridge. Weston finished their season by losing 2-1 at Staines away and drawing 1-1 at home to Dover.

Leading scorer was Sahr Kabba with 16, despite being used only sparingly. Manager Craig Laird explained: “With his explosive speed over a short distance, Sahr has not the stamina to last 90 minutes. In a long distance race with other members of the squad, he would probably finish last, so we got the best out of him by using him in short bursts.”

Nat Pepperell scored seven penalties and twice from play, missing only once from the spot in two seasons. Dayle Grubb, Jamie Price and Kane Ingram netted six each. Chris Young scored three and there were two each for Mike Mackay, Ben Cleverley, Ben Kirk and Brett Trowbridge.

Other scorers were Brett Huxtable, Ben Hunt, Matt Villis, Marc McGregor and Marcus Duharty with one apiece, plus an own goal at Truro.

In the FA Cup, Weston beat Dorchester Town 1-0, Havant and Waterlooville 3-2, before bowing out to Oxford City 3-2 at home.

In the FA Trophy, Weston went out at the first hurdle, losing 2-0 at Salisbury.

Dayle Grubb and Matt Villis led the scoring in cup competitions with two each and other scorers were Kane Ingram, Brett Huxley, Jamie Price, Nabi Diallo and Chris Young.

Final League table

W D L Pts

Woking 30 7 5 97

Dartford 26 10 6 88

Welling Utd 24 9 9 81

Sutton Utd 20 14 8 74

Basingstoke 20 11 11 71

Chelmsford 18 13 11 67

Dover Ath 17 15 10 66

Boreham Wood 17 10 15 61

Tonbridge Angels 15 12 15 57

Salisbury 17 12 15 57

Dorchester 16 8 18 56

Eastleigh 15 9 18 54

WESTON 14 9 19 51

Truro City 13 9 20 48

Staines Town 12 10 20 46

*Farnborough 15 6 21 46

Bromley 10 15 17 45

Eastbourne 12 9 21 45

Havant & W 11 11 20 44

Maidenhead 11 10 21 43

Hampton 8 12 20 42

Thurrock 5 11 26 26

*Five points deducted for financial irregularities.