2007/08 Season
19 Jun 2008

Pre-season
Pre-season started with a return trip to Manchester for the Umbro Cup. With the opposition strong, a small squad and the weather awful a tough two days lay ahead. An early start to day 1 saw us lose to Chelmsford but beat Kettering. As the weather worsened our final game was our first ever international game against Flora Tallin from Estonia who beat us 3-0. Day 2 saw a creditable draw with Chester before heading home very wet!! Our next game was against Fulham which we were unlucky not to keep the score to single figures but was an experience to say the least. Next up St Breward and a comfortable win before entertaining Penzance under lights. All in all a tough pre-season but one which would pay dividends in the coming months.

September
Our first game in Division 1 was away at Marazion. Our first half performance was one of the best 45 mins we put together all season and a comfortable debut win. Another followed a week later against Dobwalls before we travelled to Penzance for the FA Cup. A poor 2nd half performance resulted in a heavy defeat, but we bounced back seven days later for our third straight league win away at Bude. Launceston was our first home game and a hard fought draw was a fair result.

October
Next up a visit to Torpoint. A bad tempered game saw our first defeat of the league campaign. An incompetent ref and a worse linesman didn’t help but we were definitely second best against a side who wanted it more. Our next game was the first of three against St Blazey inside a month. Cup action first and a comfortable 5-2 win to take the pressure off the second leg. A visit from Callington for a county cup tie rounded the month off and, after being made to work hard, another win.

November
Oh look Blazey again and again! Another two wins, 4-2 in the Division 1 cup 2nd leg and more importantly a 2-1 league victory to keep the pressure on at the top. Off to St Breward next for a county cup tie and a comfortable 7-0 win. Bude at home rounded off the month and another win 7-2. Bude were to get their revenge later in the season but this win was vital as the top four sides were beginning to pull away from the rest.

December
Another wasted month as rain forced all but one game to be called off. We set a target of staying in this division at the start of the season and a victory over Dobwalls ensured that. How far could we go?

January
Again the weather forced postponements but we did manage two games. First up St Blazey in a County Cup Quarter Final, and, with the game looking like it was going to extra time, a late goal saw us sneak through. St Breward visited for a League Cup tie and were swept aside 8-1.

February
Mullion failed to travel, as we thought they would, to give us three points to start the month off. We needed the game as a trip to Bude in the Division 1 Cup semi was next up. A poor all round performance saw our first defeat for four months and really put the pressure on for the second leg. A trip to Newquay just 2 days later to play Penzance in the County Cup Semi was the last thing we needed. With Danni away, Martine and Stacey unavailable through work commitments and Sam in goal, fears of a thrashing were on the cards. With only 11 fully fit players, and Becky injured but there in case of emergencies, somehow we came away with our heads held high losing 1-0. We might have sneaked extra time, but only just failed. This was the team performance of the season.

March
Another tough game started March with the visit of Torpoint but yet again we somehow managed to lose a game that we deserved at least a point from. The tough games keep coming and a fine win against Launceston in the league cup under lights at Kimberley. After a couple of blank weeks a comfortable away win at Mullion saw us keep up the pressure on the top teams.

April
A potentially tricky tie against Division 2 champions Falmouth in the league cup saw us come from behind with a powerful display once we had woken up. Marazion failed to travel as expected and Plymouth Uni stepped in at short notice to give us a game, and a comfortable win. With just two league games left, we needed three points to secure second place. First a visit to Launceston. Really we should have been dead and buried by half time but somehow we were leading going into injury time. With 15 seconds remaining Launceston equalised.
Next a visit to Blazey for a game that should never have been played. Having called off an earlier game because they couldn’t raise a team, for some totally unfathomable reason, the league make us re-arrange it. A draw and we end up sweating on Launceston v Torpoint. A Launceston win sees us finish third. Three days later a heavy defeat against the most improved side in the division in the division semi. Gette ruptures her anterior cruciate ligament and puts her out of the league cup final and most probably all of next season too. A bad end to the month for all.

May
One game left, the League Cup Final against Torpoint. We come from behind three times but lose on pens.

Season overall
P26 W17 D4 L5 F90 A48

County Division 1 3rd
P14 W9 D3 L2 F45 A16 Pts30

FA Cup
Penzance Lost 8-1

Division 1 Cup
QF v St Blazey Won 9-4 on agg
SF v Bude Lost 4-11 on agg

League Cup
1st Rond Bye
2nd Round v St Breward Won 8-1
Quater Final v Launceston Won 3-1
Semi Final v Falmouth Won 5-2
Final v Torpoint drew 3-3 Lost on pens

County Cup
1st Round v Callington Won 4-1
2nd Round v St Breward Won 7-0
Quarter Final v St Blazey Won 1-0
Semi Final V Penzance Lost 1-0

Player of the Year Sam Drewery
Players Player Martine Hill
Most Improved Emma Pemberton

2006/07 Season
15 Jul 2007

September
The opening game was to be the one we didnt want first. Torpoint at home. With new faces still finding their feet, we struggled and came out 3-1 losers. Next up was a trip to St Ives who had just been relegated and after a superb first half we got our first points of the season with an 8-0 win. It would be another month before any more league action as cup competitions took over. St Agnes were the next opposition in the League Cup. We had to recover from 2-0 down before running out 5-2 winners. FA Cup action followed with us drawn against Somerset champions Holway Utd. A disappointing performance saw us defeated 3-0 at home to round the month off.

October
Cup action again as St Breward visited in the IT Cup. A comfortable 6-0 win on the pitch, but another defeat in the traditional 'boat race' afterwards. Penzance Reserves visited next and this saw our largest win of the season 12-0 with Sam getting six. Division 1 side St Blazey were next to visit in the County Cup. A good team performance saw us run out comfortable 3-0 winners. We didnt travel out of Saltash this month, St Ives rounded off a month of home games. A 6-0 win meant we didnt concede a goal in October!

November
Three more Cup games this month started with a visit to Division 1 side Launceston. A hard fought game went to extra time where Kirsty had to leave the pitch with a serious looking leg injury. The remaining ten players showed what fight and character that was developing by closing out the remaining twenty minutes and then winning the tie on penalties. More cup success followed with a comfortable 5-1 win at Falmouth in a bad tempered IT Cup tie and then the big one, previously unbeaten Hayle in the County Cup. Hayle came to us top of the table and confident of success. However, our confidence was higher, and we comfortably beat them 6-1. Now came the rainy season as game after game was called off due to the weather.

December
What a waste of a month as games were being called off all over Cornwall due to the weather. In fact we only managed one game this month, away at Camelford. We struggled to get a side together due to injury and work commitments and were lucky to come away with a point. One good thing about not playing games was it gave time for Kirsty and Sam to get over their injuries before the fixture backlog would take its toll.

January
More wet weather to start the month before we eventually meet Stoke for only our second game in two months! Eventually we run out 6-2 winners. Camelford are our next opponents and after a dodgy start, we win 2-1. For the final game of the month we head to Truro for a County Cup Quarter Final. Travelling with a full squad, we arrive to find a ploughed field for a pitch. After walking the pitch and a team meeting, it is agreed that we would not play the game on a dangerous surface. Fortunately the ref agrees with us and we head home after a totally wasted day.

February
Again more games called off as we only play twice this month. The league are beginning to panic as we are so far behind. First up is another trip to Truro for the County Cup. This week we are short on numbers and come away on the wrong end of a 6-1 score line. Our only other game is a trip to Division 1 side Dobwalls in a League Cup Quarter Final. A new Saltash record is made in this game for the fastest goal. It took just 16 seconds for Emma to score as we go on to win 3-0 and set up a Semi Final against Truro. So far we have only played 7 league games and we are still in two cup competitions!!

March
March at least saw us play three games on consecutive weekends. After two washouts, our first opponents were Torpoint. In a poor game, both sides struggled and unfortunately we struggled more than them and lost 2-1. On our travels again we went to Falmouth and won comfortably 6-2 before defeating Wadebridge at home 4-0 in the IT Semi Final. With the fixtures now really stacking up it would be a tough run in with the possibility of midweek games too.

April
With six games scheduled for April and a weekend off because of Easter, we knew this would be the make or break month of the season. It all started badly for us with an April Fools Day defeat at home against Falmouth. Having beaten them heavily twice already this season, somehow it wasnt our day and we lost 2-1. On Easter Sunday we were supposed to meet Truro in the League Cup Semi Final but we couldnt get a team together to play. A couple of phone calls later, Truro gladly accepted the offer of a midweek game at Kimberley a couple of weeks later. Now came our biggest test. With five games in fourteen days including a cup semi, a cup final and two games against our biggest rivals for promotion Hayle.
Hayle visited the week after Easter and we comfortably won 3-0. Next, four days later, Truro came up for our re-arranged League Cup Semi. This was a game played at suicidal pace from the first whistle to the last and our finest team performance to date saw us narrowly defeated 1-0. Three days later we were away at Penzance and a tired team duly won 7-2.
Next up was the big one. The IT Cup Final at Blaise Park against Torpoint. Fears that this could be one game too many looked like coming true as Torpoint rattled our cross bar twice inside the opening ten minutes. Somehow, everyone re-grouped, settled down and took control of the game racing into a 3-0 half time lead. The second half never saw us in danger of throwing the game away and we won our first piece of silver-ware 4-1 with an outstanding team performance. Our final game of a hectic month saw us travel to Hayle knowing if we won (which we did 1-0), we would only need one more victory from our three remaining games to get promoted.

May
With two games against bottom club Wendron scheduled, it looked odds on that next season we would be playing in Division 1. Our visit to Wendron was first up and in the first half we made hard work of it leading 1-0 at the break. The second half however was a different story as we cruised to a 6-0 win and Division 1 football next year. Our final fixture was a re-arranged midweek game against Stoke Climsland as Wendron forfeited the return game with us. A controlled performance saw us run out 2-0 winners to finish a memorable season.
Can we top our performances next year? With the right additions to the squad we have now...I think so!!

Competitions 2006/07
Division 2.......2nd
P16 W12 D1 L3 F63 A15 Pts37

season overall.... P28 W20 D2 L6 F101 A31

FA Cup 1st Qual Round...Saltash Utd 0 Holway Utd 3

County Cup
1st Round....Saltash Utd 3 St Blazey 0
2nd Round....Saltash Utd 6 Hayle 1
Quarter Final....Truro 6 Saltash Utd 1

League Cup
Prelim Round....St Agnes 2 Saltash Utd 5
1st Round....Launceston 1 Saltash Utd 1 (won 3-2 on pens)
Quarter Final....Dobwalls 0 Saltash Utd 3
Semi Final....Saltash Utd 0 Truro 1

IT Associates Cup
1st Round....Saltash Utd 6 St Breward 0
2nd Round....Falmouth 1 Saltash Utd 5
Semi Final....Saltash 4 Wadebridge 0
Final....Saltash Utd 4 Torpoint 1

2005/06 Season
15 Jul 2007

August
August saw us play three friendlies the first of which was away to Roche. We won 12-0, which, considering we only took 11 players with us, was a fantastic morale booster. Seven days later, we stepped up the level of competition by playing away at St. Blazey. Again another fine performance and we could feel a little disappointed to come away losing 1-0 after competing well for long periods with our first division opposition. The final pre-season friendly was against Plymouth Argyle Reserves under floodlights at Kimberly on the following Thursday. A cracking game against a side who would run out Devon cup and league double winners. There were some fine individual performances and things seemed to be coming together for the season ahead.

September
Our first league fixture saw us take on Wadebridge at home. After a nervy first half, Wadebridge were swept away with a seven goal second half performance to give us a 9-0 victory. After the high of seeing us take our first three points, the low came a couple of weeks later when they were taken away from us for playing an ineligable player!. A week later saw us travel to Ilminster for our first forray into the FA cup. One of our finest performances all season saw us run out 6-1 winners. Cup action was the order of the month as our third game was against Penzance Res in the League cup. Again another good victory, 6-0, but the following week everyone knew was going to be tougher against Penzance South Western league side in the next round of the FA Cup. Indeed this was a real lesson for us, losing 11-0, but everyone to their credit never gave up battling away.

October
October saw the start of our injury crisis with us losing 5 players with long term injuries. Our first game was in the League Cup away at Penzance Res. With our squad short of numbers due to unavailability and injury, we lost this second leg tie 3-1 but still progressed 7-3 on aggregate. League action was next on the fixture list with unbeaten Camelford the visitors. After a hard fought game, we came out 2-0 victors, injuries again took their toll on the squad reducing numbers further. The next two games saw two competetive battles with St Columb Minor. The first was in the County Cup and saw a superb battle and we were unlucky to come away losing 1-0 especially after playing the last 20 mins with only 10 fit players. The second encounter was in the league and again we were on the wrong end of a 2-0 score line. Our final game of October saw us play the students of Tremough in the IT cup 1st round 1st leg. A one sided game saw us run out 12-0 victors.

November
November saw only three fixtures for us. The first was the second leg IT Cup tie against Tremough. Alredy leading 12-0 on aggregate, an easy tie was anticipated. Travelling down with only 11 players either fit or available from a squad of 18, this game set two new records for Saltash. Firstly we set a new high score winning 18-0, 30-0 on aggregate, and also Emma Nichols set a new individual record by scoring 5. Our next game was going to be tougher, a lot tougher, as Torpoint were the visitors. With the team on a high after our win the previous week, the momentum was continued as we ran out 1-0 winners thanks to a Ness Nickson special! However, victory was gained at a cost with three players visiting casualty that evening. The final game of November saw Newmoor visit Kimberly. A disappointing performance after last week saw us scrape home 2-1 and move into 4th place in the league with games in hand.

December
Our first fixture saw us travel to meet St Columb Minor (again!) in the League Cup 2nd round. A down pour thirty minutes before kick off turned the game into a lottery which Minor had the winning ticket coming out 3-0 victors. The pitch was such a state, that the Cornish water-polo championships were held straight after the final whistle! Then it was back to league action with a visit to Roche. Again under strength due to injury, we ran out comfortable winners 5-1. This win moved us up to third in the league and Roches' goal was a classic which will forever live in Saltash folklore. Dan came rushing out of her area to clear a hopeful long ball, kicks it directly at Coxy who was chasing back. The ball hits her on the knee and ballooned into the back of the net from 25 yards!! Next came a welcome break for Christmas and gave some of our walking wounded chance to recover. Our league record so far was
P6 W5 L1 F18 A4 Pts12

January
First up was a visit to Stoke Climsland. This was another first for us, as we actually had four subs available for the first time this season. After trailing to a Danni Thomas goal, we fought back well and ran out comfortable winners 4-1. Our second fixture was against Minor in the League Cup. On another horrible day for weather, we lost 3-1 on the day and 6-1 on aggregate. Minor had to work hard for their win coming from behind to another Nickson special from 25 yards! Cup action continued the following week with a trip to Falmouth for the IT Quarter Final 1st leg. A hard fought game with our first draw of the season 0-0. Our final game of January saw us travel to meet Minor, for the fifth time in all competitions, in the league. Sitting at the top of the table with a 100% record to their name, Minor had a shock coming. At half time, we were deservedly leading 2-0 and in control. However, we couldnt maintain the level of performance and came away with a bitterly disappointing 2-2 draw having been denied a penalty claim in the last minute.

February
Falmouth provided the opposition in the IT quarter final second leg which, after a bruising encounter, we ran out 2-0 winners to progress to the Semi. Two away trips were next for us. First up a trip to Camelford. Another solid team performance saw us run out comfortable winners 4-0. This was followed by a trip to Newmoor. Another difficult pitch, and after a few scares another 4-0 victory. Finally a home game against Stoke Climsland and a 1-0 win to round the month off. How we came away with all three points is still a mystery as Climsland hit the woodwork three times and had a goal ruled out too.

March
March saw the eagerly anticipated IT semi final 1st leg with Torpoint at The Mill. Another hard fought battle ensued and a fine 1-0 win with guess who scoring another special (Ness). St Breward were the visitors the following week and another team record was set when we won 4-0. This was our sixth clean sheet in a row.

April
This was a disappointing month for us. First up was Wadebridge where we had to come from behind to win 3-1. The following week saw us entertain Roche and comfortably win 7-0. Next the big one. Torpoint at home in the cup semi 2nd leg. For whatever reason it wasnt going to be our day. Already trailing 1-0 to a 5th minute goal, Sam handled on the line and was sent off. The next 25 minutes were a total nightmare (our worst performance of the season) as we didnt compete and all of a sudden couldnt defend corners! At half time we were losing 4-1 (4-2 on agg). Tempers flared and tackles flew in during the second half as battle commenced. Torpoint having two sent off and going through 6-3 on aggregate. Normality returned the following week with a good performance and a 7-0 victory away at St Breward.

May
Having to wait a couple of weeks for our final game, put us in the position of knowing what we had to do to claim runners-up spot. Torpoint had beaten Minor and only a win would be good enough for us. Unfortunately we were up against it with Torpoint going ahead from a hotly disputed penalty, and then after somehow managing to stay on the pitch their keeper saved a penalty of our own five minutes later. We lost 1-0 that day, but we got our pride back and showed just how far we have come as a team since those friendlies back in August.
Well done girls, you have made an old manager very happy. Heres to next season.

Competitions 2005/06
Division 2 East.......3rd
P16 W13 D1 L2 F57 A9 Pts37*

season overall... P29 W19 D2 L8 F106 A37

FA Cup
1st Qual Round...Ilmimster 1 Saltash Utd 6
2nd Qual Round...Penzance 11 Saltash Utd 0

League Cup
1st Round
Saltash Utd 6 Penzance Res 0
Penzance Res 3 Saltash Utd 1 (won 7-3 on agg)
2nd Round
St Columb Minor 3 Saltash Utd 0
Saltash Utd 1 St Columb Minor 3 (lost 1-6 on agg)

County Cup
1st Round...St Columb Minor 1 Saltash Utd 0

IT Associates Cup
1st Round
Saltash Utd 12 Tremough 0
Tremough 0 Saltash Utd 18 (won 30-0 on agg)
Quarter Final
Falmouth 0 Saltash Utd 0
Saltash Utd 2 Falmouth 0 (won 2-0 on agg)
Semi Final
Torpoint 0 Saltash Utd 1
Saltash Utd 2 Torpoint 6 (lost 3-6 on agg)