The Road to Division 1
Paul Dakin highlights the Wanderer's hard fought struggle for promotion.
Quorn Baptist Church football club joined the Leicestershire Churches Football League Division 2 in September last year after 4 months of rigorous fitness training and coaching. Our aim was to try and provide a Christian witness in the world of football, whilst enjoying the game and the camaraderie that goes with it.
Things did not look good at the beginning of the season as we lost 4-2 away to Melbourne Hall in our opening game but bounced back with a 13-0 win over Market Harborough. The next three months were dominated by cup competitions where we reached the last 32 of the national church cup and the last 16 of the county cup. A good achievement in our first season.
December was the low point of the year as we went out of three cups in three successive weeks including an amazing game against Rugby where we lost 9-8 after extra time despite being ahead 4-1 at one stage. This seemed to affect us and in the early part of the new year we suffered a slight loss of form and confidence although we still stayed in contention for one of the top three places which would guarantee promotion to Division 1.
By the end of February we had eight league matches to play and this included three of the top four sides. If we won all of them we would not only gain promotion but also win the league! Amazingly this was to happen! The match late in the season against Lutterworth was to be a key game as we won 5-4. They finished in second place only 3 points behind us. Our form at our home ground, Rawlins College, was amazing as we won every game scoring 55 goals and only letting in 7 in eight matches.
The year has also been a good year for sharing our faith in a natural way. We try not to preach but to use real situations. One example was when one of our Christian players apologised after losing it in a game and went on to say that Christians are not perfect but forgiven because of Jesus. The gospel in 1 minute!
Our season finished with a meal at the Indian restaurant in Quorn followed by the presentation of league winners medals by the professional football player Ian Marshall.
We are now looking forward to life in Division 1 with the season starting in September 2002. Please come and support us. A fixture list will be out in August!
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