Match Reports
The season which was Nomads' best ever
Best season yet. It contained highs and lows but most importantly, it saw Nomads overcome a shocking start to the season and finish in 5th place, just one off promotion.
After doing so well for most of the 2006/07 season before falling away alarmingly, most of the squad kept together, hoping for better things than two 9th place finishes. Gareth Edwards departed in pre-season due to medical reasons and moving house whilst Sam Furber confirmed his departure a couple of months before. Another blow in pre-season arrived when Liam Hunt damaged his foot whilst walking down some steps at Wembley, a freak injury keeping him out until November. Adam Colbourne signed on to add competition to the defence and Kevin Page returned for a second spell after leaving Bearberry Club giving Nomads a 20 man squad.
Both Page and Colbourne impressed in Nomads’ opening friendly of the season, as did goalkeeper Luke Tucker in a 4-0 defeat at Roundhill against Manor Park Rangers. A heavy looking scoreline on paper, but considering Park were unbeaten in two years and finished the season as one of the best teams in the Bath & District Leagues, this was fairly promising. As well as that, Nomads had nine first team regulars out and had to rely on Jake Perryman, Adam Rabbitts and Liam’s 29 year-old brother Shaun making up the numbers. The next friendly was also against Bath & District League opponents, this time recently promoted Roper Rhodes in Keynsham. Craig Maidment and a rare Adam Simmonds goal put Nomads ahead twice, but Rhodes responded and eventually won 5-2. Things however looked up massively in mid-August when Griffin were demolished 8-1. The home side took the lead but faded big style, Jamie Gulliford hitting four followed by strikes from Ad Maidment and Jon Girvan, and two headers from Jas Cripps and Colbourne. The pre-season ended disappointingly with a 4-1 defeat at Welton Arsenal, Gulliford netting again after latching onto a long Nath Maidment drop kick.
The season began on 2nd September against new side Westfield at Prattens. Nomads started slowly, Darren Brooks putting Westfield ahead early on before Gulliford latched onto a poor back-pass to equalise. Tucker saved a penalty before Gulliford went on to miss three gilt-edged chances and this proved costly when Jon Tout put Westfield 2-1 up. However with time running out, Paul Matthews’ cross was deflected in by a home defender to earn Nomads a draw.
A three week break followed and the wait appeared to do Nomads no good as they fell to a 4-1 half time reverse at Paulton Rovers in the Tony Whorlow Memorial Cup. Winterfield Road was then stunned to silence when Gulliford and then a Cripps brace adding to his one in the first half, his third a magnificent looping half volley. Sam Cannon put Paulton 5-4 up before Matthews produced a rocket of a shot into the top corner to make it 5-5 in the 90th minute. Dan Hurle added two more in extra time to seal Paulton’s passage to the next round at the expense of a deflated Nomads side, who took heart from their sterling comeback.
The next game saw Nomads go back to square one with a poor 4-2 defeat against reformed Three Swans on the tiny pitch at Horningsham. The first half saw Swans pepper the Nomads goal with shots but only took a 2-0 lead before extending it early on in the second half. Paul Eastwood and Nath Witcombe came off the bench, the latter benefiting twice from the formers assists either side of Reece Irvine superb solo goal, Swans winning 4-2.
A change in formation to 4-1-4-1 paid off as Nomads progressed in the Kevin Lucas Memorial Trophy two weeks later. Paul Wilkes scored the first goal at Ston Easton against Nomads this season to give The Griffin the lead, but Cripps, Witcombe and Gulliford put Nomads 3-1 up before the interval. Witcombe then netted again before Steve Mytton completed the scoring for the visitors in the last five minutes.
The Weaver clearly underestimated Nomads by turning up looking slightly worse for wear when the sides met in torrential rain at Gypsy Lane. Darren Bird gave Weaver the lead but it was soon cancelled out by Gulliford’s glancing header from a hanging Mark Stillman cross. Witcombe then added two before the break, six goals in three games for the striker. Andrew Ellis, sick on the pitch in the first half, hit home a penalty after Simmonds handled on 73 minutes and then scored again soon after. Martin Cook’s cross-shot won it for the home side who celebrated somewhat over-the-top, their huge posse of fans rubbing it in at Nomads’ expense. It was also the only league game where Nomads players received yellow cards, Colbourne, Simmonds and Gulliford entering Steve Forrester’s notebook.
Then came the 0-0 draw at home to SureSet, who played 60 minutes with 10 men due to a player injury in their 11 man squad. It was awful and a lot of home truths came out on the forum soon after in a depressing day. The only highlight was the return of Liam Hunt after injury.
Griffin exacted revenge on Nomads at Horningsham in freezing wind and rain in mid-November. Everything seemed to go wrong for Stillman as his poor back-pass was latched onto and finished by Josh Brudenell to extend Griffin’s lead after Mytton scored early on. Gulliford and a Cripps header made it 2-2 before Stillman slid in a low cross from close range for an own goal. Cripps then placed home a penalty but Brudenell added two more early in the second half to give Griffin their first win of the season, the unbelievably cold morning dampening things further.
Paulton came to Ston Easton and added to their Cup win earlier in the season by winning 3-1, though Nomads’ performance was far improved from previous games. Witcombe scored Nomads’ consolation, Tucker also saved Dan Elmes’ penalty in the second half.
Nomads gave Premier Division side Farrington Albion a scare on the long, boggy pitch at Farrington Memorial Hall. Gulliford toe-poked in early on but Albion went 2-1 up with two quick-fire goals. Cripps headed in Girvan’s hanging cross but was then guilty of rolling a penalty wide in the second half. By this point Farrington were 3-2 up and sent forward their goalkeeper Mark Batchelar to stroke home a penalty after Colbourne bundled over an opponent.
16th December saw Nomads finally win a game and crucially lift three places off the bottom of the table. Dilton Rovers were the victims, despite Gulliford missing kick-off due to arriving late and Witcombe also out, the unlikely goalscoring machine was Matthews who netted three poachers goals in the first half, Craig Maidment also hitting the bar in a one-sided game. Dilton improved and Arnaud Maitre poked in a consolation, but Gulliford came off the bench for the final few minutes and touched in Page’s free kick from close range.
The then possible turning point of the season happened a week later when Twelve Bells beat Nomads 3-1 at Ston Easton, Page scoring his first goal since returning for the club, but an early Christmas present saw manager Paul Tarrant receive news that the win had been declared void on Christmas Eve due to Bells fielding two suspended players.
With that defeat wiped out, Nomads made it six points out of six. Another Wiltshire side, this time FC St. George, came undone at “Fortress” Kingdown School. Mark Wallis put the home side ahead before Page hammered in a harshly awarded penalty after Eastwood was adjudged to have been fouled. Gulliford put Nomads ahead before Wallis equalised, but a Page long range effort sailed in past a stunned Stu Green to make it 3-2. Nomads’ walking wounded were in raptures, Cripps limped off early and Stillman had to play the final eight minutes with a tweaked hamstring as an emergency substitute on the wing for another injured player in Eastwood.
The wet January wiped out fixtures so Nomads had to wait until the 27th before the Cup game against St. George took place. The first half was tight but the second was anything but, Cripps, Witcombe and Craig Maidment, scoring for the first time this season, meant that Nomads had reached the Quarter Finals of the Division Two Cup for the second season running.
SureSet again turned up with a sparse squad against Nomads, who themselves had Luke Tucker missing for the first time since he joined the club, Nath Maidment deputising in goal. He was beaten twice early on, one of them a Matthews own goal, before Rangers went down to 10 men again due to injury. Colbourne headed in to reduce the arrears and Gulliford’s cross-shot flew into the roof of the net from a near impossible angle. Craig Maidment then made it two goals from two games when bundling in from close range to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
The David vs Goliath Semi-Final took place between Weaver and Nomads at Gypsy Lane on 10th February. David, errr Nomads, took the lead when Witcombe was bundled over and Page confidently scored from the penalty spot. From then on in Weaver showed that they can be a class apart in this League, Mark Ford in midfield producing a faultless performance and he was brought down for a penalty in one of Weaver’s four goals, Simmonds booked for the foul.
Despite this Cup exit, Nomads made light work against Dilton, Wiltshire opponents really coming unstuck against Nomads all season. Cripps, a revelation in midfield this campaign, hit two more excellent strikes, Eastwood capping his best performance of the season with a third in the second half, his first goal in 10 months. Simmonds accidentally clashed heads with an opponent and has a scar on his forehead for his troubles, though it wasn’t his only trip to the RUH this season…
Nomads’ outstanding League run continued with an impressive 5-2 win in the replayed match with Twelve Bells. Stillman took refereeing duties and watched on as Witcombe hit a brilliant hat-trick, Cripps and Matthews rounding things off with the possible goal of the season, a superb team goal after exchanging passes with three others.
Four months unbeaten was soon forgotten as St. George strolled to a 4-0 win at Ston Easton against a shell-shocked Nomads. The makeshift defence with Nath Maidment standing in for the injured Tucker in goal was torn apart as all four goals came in the first half.
It rained cats and dogs as the much-anticipated clash with Bearberry Club took place on 9th March. Despite losing Tucker shortly before kick-off due to illness, Matthews took over the gloves and Gulliford opened the scoring early on. Page then smashed in a volley much to his delight against his former club. The game became bad-tempered with Cripps lucky to escape punishment for a late lunge on Gary Chivers and each side became guilty of over-zealous tackling. Matt Crozier completed the scoring with a sweet strike near the end.
Due to adverse weather, it was another three weeks before Nomads played again, and it was a game to forget. Anthony Lock and Ashley Doel both scored hat-tricks for Three Swans, who despite turning up in the last minute, made up for lost time in an 8-0 demolishing act on Nomads.
It looked like another defeat was set to follow when Adam Tovey and two for Dan Hurle put Paulton 3-0 up against Nomads at Norton Hill Rec. However, with just over 15 minutes remaining, an astonishing comeback took place. Gulliford scored twice from close range before Simmonds clashed heads with Hurle and earned another trip to A&E, Dave Southgate taking his place. Cripps then jinked his way past the Paulton defence and curled home to make it 3-3 against a stunned Paulton side, their promotion bid harmed in the process.
Nomads couldn’t stop leaking goals though and let in three more early on against a lively Westfield side on a foul Thursday night in April at Ston Easton. Gulliford lobbed in to make it 1-3 but the visitors added two more in the second half on a deteriorating surface. There were a couple of red mist moments and Westfield almost threatened to walk off the pitch after stand-in referee Tarrant awarded Nomads a penalty when the offence appeared to take place outside the box, he changed his mind after much protests.
The next game was a farce. A referee didn’t show so Weaver Manager Paul Marsh, a qualified official, stood-in. He proceeded to give Weaver a penalty after an even opening, being the only person in the County who thought that Tarrant handled a cross rather than calmly chesting it down, the resulting spot kick scored. Gulliford equalised despite a suspect offside flag going up. Reece Irvine, Weaver’s mid-season signing from Three Swans made it 2-1 after a Tarrant mistake and it was three soon after the break. Cripps’ neat long range effort made it 2-3 despite almost every single decision going in Weaver’s favour, the final one being when the game ended over 10 minutes early just as Page launched a long throw-in into the box.
Thankfully Permaframe Manager Malcolm Parsons was available to referee Nomads’ next game at home to The Griffin. He was hardly noticed throughout whilst as for the game it looked like Nomads’ poor run would continue with another defeat, Josh Brudenell beating Tucker at his near post to make it 1-0 to the visitors. Simmonds then scored his first goal for the club in a competitive game and Cripps soon doubled it up when he beat Hunt on the line to bundle in. Craig Maidment then thundered in a header to make the game safe.
The lowest Nomads could finish was now 6th as SureSet lost 8-0 to champions Weaver whilst Nomads were on the pitch next door at Gypsy Lane beating Twelve Bells. Despite a third of the side turning up drunk, Nomads coped well in the scorching heat and notched up a second successive 3-1 win. Craig Maidment’s long range strike made it 1-0 before Darren Brewer stroked in a penalty after Tucker upended him. Matthews’ nice finish made it 2-1 before the interval and Colbourne rose like a salmon from Girvan’s corner to make it three on 53 minutes.
Nomads knew that a win over Bearberry could result in a 5th placed finish depending on Westfield’s result against Twelve Bells. Fittingly, the game was played at Roundhill, where Nomads’ pre-season began some 10 months earlier in similar muggy conditions, and Southgate was also made captain as the Assistant Manager was to leave the club after the game due to moving to Yate with his pregnant fiancée, his daughter due in September. Bearberry improved drastically from their faltering performance two months before but paid the price for not making their chances count. Craig Maidment looped the ball over Marc Cooper from 10 yards to make it 1-0 and Tucker then kept Nomads in it with a series of fine saves. His drop kick then set Gulliford away to place the ball wide of Cooper from an acute angle to extend the lead, before Gary Chivers came off the bench to halve the deficit. An exciting game saw chances come and go but Nomads held out for a vital win, celebrated afterwards with a bottle of champagne and a barbecue at Crozier’s gaffe, most of the players relaxing from on the pitch pressures.
The news soon filtered through that Westfield failed to show up for their game with Twelve Bells, the away side awarded the points. A top five finish was a great end to a much-improved season. Faces will probably come and go in the summer but the spirit lives on and with the majority of the squad staying together for the past three seasons, things are certainly on the up…