Page 9 - Bristol Telephones FC v Sherborne Town 131121

Visitors Sherborne Town F.C.

The club regained the right to compete in the F.A.Vase due to the
erection of the floodlights. In past years Sherborne Town have
reached the 1 round on 3 occasions, and in season 2006/7 they
st
reached the 4 round, this season the club were awarded the FA
th
“Team of the round” for the 3-0 away victory against Premier
division Willand Rovers.
As mentioned previously, part of the 5 year plan set out in 2001 was
to not only upgrade the ground facilities, but also to improve the
quality of players, to enable the club to gain admission into the
Toolstation Western League. Under the leadership of Martyn Starnes
he slowly, season by season, lowered the average age of the playing
staff and also attracted quality players with a genuine hunger for the
game.
This combination led to the team finishing in the top 6 of the Dorset
Premier League for five seasons running, leading to the long battle
to convince the “powers to be” of the club’s determination to join
the south west’s premier football league.
In the season 2003/4 the club finished in 4th position and also won
the Dorset Senior County Cup. Application was made to the Western
League but unfortunately the Dorset Premier League refused to give
their assent to the club crossing the pyramid at that stage. However,
unperturbed, the club learnt valuable lessons, and with a new
strategy the club set about the small task of winning the Dorset
Premier league with a team comprising an average age of 21.
With the last game of the 2005-6 season Sherborne produced an
excellent performance to beat Bridport Res 2-0 away to secure the
runners up position, and days later the news broke that the club had
at last been accepted into the Western League.
So as the club enters a new exciting era of playing in the Western
League, the F.A.Cup, and F.A.Vase, its worth supporters
remembering how far the club has come in the last decade, its also
worth remembering that previous winners of the Western League
such as Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United, and Portsmouth
were small clubs once!
.