St Nicholas won the South West League Premier Division and we caught up with manager John Seymour torwards the end of the team’s very successful campaign.
SK: Did you expect to be league leaders before the campaign began?
JS: To be honest, I didn’t expect us to be top of the league with three games to go, I knew we had the squad to be able to compete in this league and that potentially we could do well but to have the season we are having has been exceptional, with us having a great FA Cup run where we reached the 3rd round proper losing out to Premier League Cardiff City 3-0, which in itself was a creditable result
SK: Which player has been your most impressive opponent this season and why?
JS: Kelly Aldridge of Cardiff City. She was outstanding when we played them, her movement off the ball was very impressive, she scored a goal and had an assist. She was so composed on the ball and ran the game for Cardiff City, she reads the game well and her touch and dribbling skills were something else. I couldn’t help but admire her for the talent she is
SK: What are the best and worst grounds the team have played at?
JS: Cardiff International Athletics Stadium was nice but the athletics track takes away from the atmosphere, so I would have to say our home ground at Yate Town FC takes some beating. We have one of the best facilities in the league with the changing rooms and clubhouse being right next to the pitch. The playing area is one of the biggest in the south west, which suits our playing style as we like to get the ball down and exploit the space in behind the opposition defence. The worst would have to be Cleeve West Town where the pitch we played on was narrow and the surface was bumpy and very patchy, with areas of grass that were quite long
SK: Gloucestershire gets more than its fair share of floods, so how did you cope with the winter storms?
JS: We have been lucky and have managed to play 17 of our scheduled 20 league games so far but only because we have played 3 games on 3G and we did have to play 5 games in 2 weeks at the start of the season, there are some teams including Truro and Cheltenham that have only played 13 and 12 games respectively, we try to get the game played whenever we can even reversing the fixture if the original pitch is unfit
SK: Tell us your highs and lows of the season to date.
JS: Our run in the FA Cup was a fantastic experience for the whole club and it helped keep the momentum going when we played our league games as we had a winning mentality. A 1-0 away win to South West Combination side Forest Green Rovers in the 2nd round proper being the highlight of the cup run, with the 11-0 home win against Southampton Women in the 2nd preliminary round a close second. We also took some real positives from the defeat against Cardiff City with a fine battling team performance where the players absolutely worked their socks off, showing a real team spirit and work ethic.
But the biggest highlight for me is the fact that another two players, Kirsten Prior and Anna Denning, have progressed from our youth setup at the turn of this year and made their first team debuts at the age of 16. This is very satisfying from my point of view, as I am committed to giving the youth players in the club every chance to cement a place in the first team squad and I am proud of the fact that 12 players in this season’s squad have played youth football for St Nicks, with five of our regular starting line-up being under the age of 18.
The biggest low was losing on penalties to Gloucester City with the score being 3-3 aet in the Gloucestershire FA Challenge Cup, where we seemed to suffer from complacency, as by the time we switched on it was too late. The squad learnt a valuable lesson that day about giving it their all from the start, no matter who the opposition are.
St Nicks clinched the South West Premier League title with a 3-1 away win at Bridgwater Town in a nervy performance which was highlighted by young guns Kirsten Prior and Anna Denning both scoring their first goals for the 1st team, Jade Gamlin making a quite extraordinary fingertip save at a crucial time in the game at 2-1 and Becky Rexworthy scoring the decisive goal to ensure they finished a point ahead of Cheltenham Town.
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