In contrast cup campaigns met with a combination of limited and absolutely no success. Defeats at the first time of asking in the Birmingham Senior Cup (albeit against a strong Birmingham City side),Worcestershire Senior Cup, FA Trophy and Errea League Cup meant the Yeltz actually only won games in the FA Cup and even then they eventually lost to Evesham with probably their worst performance of the season.
It's worth noting that the Yeltz didn't lose consecutive league games all season - the two spells of two consecutive defeats involved two cup games and one cup and one league game.
The Yeltz were a stronger force throughout the second half under Morell Maison and Martin O'Connor. In fact it was a feature of the season that a thrilling second half followed a dozy first. You'd expect more goals in the second half but a 63/27 split seems a lot. Get them playing for both halves and we'd be unstoppable!
|
Winning at Half-Time: |
|
|
Go on to win |
12 |
|
Go on to draw |
3 |
|
Go on to lose |
0 |
|
Drawing at Half-Time: |
|
|
Go on to win |
11 |
|
Go on to draw |
7 |
|
Go on to lose |
6 |
|
Losing at Half-Time: |
|
|
Go on to win |
2 |
|
Go on to lose |
3 |
|
Go on to draw |
7 |
In keeping with the lack-lustre first half peformances, Halesowen led only 15 times at half-time but they went on to win 12 of them and drew the other 3. They found themselves behind 12 times and went on to win 2 of them - most memorably at Cirencester.
The season started with Martin O'Connor and Graham Hyde at the helm and the club hopeful of a play-off push. Thirteen games in and they were both gone to be replaced by Morell Maison and (for a brief period) tanning consultant Ron Atkinson. After a slowish start the Yeltz embarked on a sustained run of success that saw them briefly top the league before the final third place finish.
League record under O'Connor and Maison:
|
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Pts |
Points
Per Game |
|
Martin O'Connor |
10 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
17 |
16 |
13 |
1.30 |
|
Morell Maison |
32 |
19 |
9 |
4 |
63 |
30 |
66 |
2.06 |
It's hypothetical but an entire season of Morell Maison at 2.06 points per game would have won the league. Now it has to be the benchmark for next season.
Overall records under O'Connor and Maison:
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
|
Martin O'Connor |
14 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
23 |
22 |
|
Morell Maison |
37 |
20 |
9 |
8 |
67 |
39 |
Twenty-four players netted for the Yeltz in all competitions this season. Dean Brennan, the supporters' player of the year, lead the way with an impressive 22 goals in 32 appearances with Eldon Maquemba,Shane Paul and Paul Devlin also being regular contributors.
Top 5 goalscorers:
|
|
League |
FA Cup |
WSC |
Total |
|
Dean Brennan |
22 |
|
|
22 |
|
Eldon Maquemba |
12 |
|
|
12 |
|
Shane Paul |
8 |
|
|
8 |
|
Paul Devlin |
5 |
2 |
|
7 |
|
Zema Abbey |
5 |
|
1 |
6 |
A change in manager saw a turnover of players exceeding even the normal non-League merry-go-round. Forty-six players represented the Yeltz this season and of those only Jay Denny and Davion Hamilton played in both the first and last games of the campaign. A number of those that arrived will be quickly forgotten. Guy Lopez anyone (nice mask though)?. How about Francino Francis? Or Patrick Peters (the only player in the world to boast the Yeltz and Deportivo La Coruna as former clubs)? Others such as Eldon Maquemba, now sadly departed, will never be forgotten.
Most appearances:
|
|
Starting
Appearances |
Substitute
Appearances |
Total
Appearances |
|
Jay Denny |
43 |
3 |
46 |
|
Dennis Pearce |
41 |
1 |
42 |
|
Stuart Pierpoint |
39 |
2 |
41 |
|
Davion Hamilton |
25 |
13 |
38 |
|
Shane Paul |
33 |
3 |
36 |
Average Yeltz attendances:
|
|
Yeltz |
League
Average |
|
SLP w/out Playoffs |
451 |
325 |
|
SLP with Playoffs |
481 |
328 |
|
All competitions |
461 |
- |
A slightly fuzzy graph of Yeltz's home attendances:
Average League attendances (not including Play-Off games):
Look at Team Bath! Second place and promotion and they're the worst supported team in a league largely made up of not particularly well followed clubs. It tells you all you need to know about them and shows just what a waste of time they are. In fact it's entirely possible that the away support outnumbered their 'fans' for the entire season.
Not surprisingly King's Lynn were easily the best supported team whilst Chippenham and ourselves were the next best. Bromsgrove and Bedford also enjoyed decent support despite being relegated.
|
|
|
Average
Attendance |
League
Position |
|
1 |
King's Lynn |
1148 |
1 |
|
2 |
Chippenham Town |
489 |
4 |
|
3 |
Halesowen Town |
451 |
3 |
|
4 |
Bromsgrove Rovers |
415 |
20 |
|
5 |
Bedford Town |
359 |
19 |
|
6 |
Merthyr Tydfil |
358 |
13 |
|
7 |
Banbury United |
328 |
9 |
|
8 |
Bashley |
325 |
5 |
|
9 |
Tiverton Town |
322 |
17 |
|
10 |
Hitchin Town |
316 |
18 |
|
11 |
Gloucester City |
302 |
6 |
|
12 |
Brackley Town |
278 |
8 |
|
13 |
Rugby Town |
272 |
15 |
|
14 |
Corby Town |
235 |
16 |
|
15 |
Mangotsfield United |
222 |
14 |
|
16 |
Hemel Hempstead Town |
220 |
7 |
|
17 |
Yate Town |
207 |
10 |
|
18 |
Cheshunt |
206 |
22 |
|
19 |
Clevedon Town |
202 |
11 |
|
20 |
Cirencester Town |
182 |
21 |
|
21 |
Swindon Supermarine |
164 |
12 |
|
22 |
Team Bath |
150 |
2 |
It can only be Jay Denny. Not only because he sent me an email saying he liked the site but because over the season he has become an integral member of the side. The perfect foil to Darren Caskey's patented limited-exertion style he has worked tirelessly for the side and chipped in with the odd goal. Seems like a thoroughly nice bloke too.
Eldon. Chippenham. Need I say more.
1 - Yeltz 4 King's Lynn 1. Despite it being Morell's season this performance under Martin O'Connor showed what his side was capable of. The eventual league winners were destroyed by quick, fluent, attacking football. A sign of what was to come.
2. Team Bath 0 Yeltz 3. Another excellent display against everyone's favourite team. No doubt about who is the better side regardless of who got promoted.
3. Cirencester 2 Yeltz 3. Only really half a performance but it was great stuff. Two down at half-time and winning with more or less the final kick.
1. Team Bath 2 Yeltz 1. Obviously. Not only because we didn't go up but because it was a triumph for everything that Team Bath represent.
2. Yeltz 1 Banbury 2. Not just the result but also because of the horrible injury to Shane Paul. Hopefully we'll see him fully fit next season.
3. Evesham 3 Yeltz 0. Coming only days after the King's Lynn triumph this performance was mystifying in its ineptitude. The last game of Martin O'Connor's reign and he deserved to depart with a better memory of his final day in charge.
