This was to be Ben Meir’s second term as Captain following a successful first term in which the 3s were awarded Team of the Year for the previous season.

Due to League shuffling we were placed in a different league which seemed to suit us geographically as a lot more of our games were much more local, it was also nice to face some new teams.  Both us and our illustrious neighbours Barton moved in the same geographical direction however at the last minute they appeared to grab promotion to the league above us even though we finished many league places and points ahead of them as they felt they were ‘well placed to handle a higher level’??? but more on that later…

Pre-season included a trip to new league opposition Belper 2s/3s/4s which was good as we got a good result and Craney got a notable telling off for his innocent attempt at alliteration toward an opponent.  Craney accepted his telling off while ensuring that he would be putting his name down to cook teas when they visited us.

First game of the season saw us host Mansfield a self-relegated team which had enabled Barton’s ascension.  We beat them 7-1 and we thought we were magnificent.  Next game proved we weren’t quite as magnificent as we thought as we lost to Belper 4s – our moral sank much like Belper’s pitch! What followed were a collection of draws we should have won and narrow wins which we would have thrashed 5-0 last year.  Then came the big one, probably the game of the season against League leaders Belper 3’s and a standout moment for our youngster who came of age in the match.  The moment came with Belper 2-1 up deep into the second half and Belper getting frustrated with each other for not putting the game out of sight.  A long ball and a cracker of a pass from Kev Stanyon to our young (and previously diminutive) Alex Farmer who fired into the D with the perfect pass for Tom Gibbs to put the ball away – BOOM! GOAL! It was particularly fantastic to see the shock on Belper’s faces.  The whole team was buzzing and we celebrated our draw like a world cup win late into the night. 

The numbers then – we played 20 games winning 10 of them, drawing 3 and losing 7.  Goals for - 50 with top scorer being Ike with 14 this year and 37 goals against. Bigger’s post-match teas took last year’s title from Pilgrim who came in a respectable second. A great year to look back on with goals, misses, broken thumbs, sunken cars, strops and a storming off but most of all plenty of laughs.

Due to the sudden close of play brought on by Covid-19 the league did some maths and apparently the algorithm had us finishing 5th in the league, the same as last year.  Captain Ben Meir would like to thank all of his players, the club and the coaches who have helped the 3s as he steps aside for someone to take over the pleasure of this captaincy. Oh and the Team who were ‘well placed to handle a higher level’ have come straight back down as they were clearly not up to it. Roll on next season!