Player Awards

Supporter's Player of the Year:  IAN RICHARDSON

Supporter's Club Player of the Year:   IAN RICHARDSON

Top Goalscorer Award:  STEVE SMITH

Player's Player of the Year:  IAN RICHARDSON

Manager's Player of the Year:  LUKE WHITLEY

• The full board of Directors was in attendence with Clive Robbins opening the meeting and Chris Reeves giving an up-to-date account of the Branksome Rec Proposal, the leaflet drop and feelings from the Open meeting at the Rec on Saturday. Thanks given to Stella and all the helpers from the Youth teams for helping out in delivering over 1000 leaflets and letters.
  
• All the Ladies and Youth teams were represented on the night and all managers / coaches introduced themselves and gave a brief statement on how their seasons had gone. Seven county finals reached with three teams winning their finals.
  
• Reiterated that the local council proposed the Branksome Rec scheme because of the fine job PTFC has done at Tatnam which the Council recognise and appreciate. That is why they want PTFC to do the same for Branksome Rec.
  
• Due to the negativity of the Open Meeting on Saturday it is absolutely crucial that everyone who supports the Branksome Rec proposal contact the Head of Leisure Services, Clive Smith. Therefore it is imperative that we show the authorities our volume of support for this proposal. Please do not pass up this opportunity believing that other people will be sufficient - if we want this to progress then we must all do our bit. Please either write to:--
  
  Clive Smith
  Head of Leisure Services
  Borough of Poole
  Northmead House                             DO IT NOW!
  30-32 Northmead Drive
  Creekmoor
  Poole
  BH17 7RP
  
  or email to leisure@poole.gov.uk adding 'PTFC Proposal' in the subject line.
  And get as many other people to do the same as well. It does not need to be a long letter / email - just a short note stating that you support the proposal and giving your name and address will suffice.
  
• In an effort to give balanced reporting the Daily Echo has agreed to another Branksome Rec article in the coming days which will allow the Football Club to set out their reasoned responses to the issues raised thus far.
  
• Canford Arena was raised from the floor as many residents had enquired as to why the Club could not move there. Chris Reeves has had a meeting within the last year on this subject (having first raised it some ten years ago). Without going into detail here it would require huge changes in the existing planning laws for there to ever be a chance of PTFC moving to Canford Arena. It is simply not going to happen no matter how much people may want it to!
  
• New main sponsor for 2008/09 (Holton Homes will remain as a sponsor going forwards too). This means the shirts will not be required after this season hence the autioning off of signed shirts. The Football Club want a 'silent' auction approach and people at the Fans Forum were able to add their bids to any of the available shirts on the night. These have been collected by the Football Club. I will seek to get a list of all the shirts and a deadline date in order that anyone not at the meeting last night can email me directly with their bids and on which shirt they would like to bid.
  
• Youth setup to become more involved starting next season. All youth team players will be issued with a card which will allow free entry to all PTFC home games. (Anyone who remembers the atmosphere the girls youth team added at the Poole Town V Wimborne Town Dorset Senior Cup game this season will welcome this!). It is also hoped that different members from different youth teams will appear as ball boys / girls at senior games next season.
  
• Tom Killick and Steve Cuss were on hand to give their thoughts on the season and to take any questions from the floor.

Since last weeks VT game at the Tatnam a lot has been going on within the club. The boys teams sent their three representative squads to the Dorset County finals in Ferndown on Sunday 13th April . The unbeaten U14 squad romped to victory in their final against Wareham 4-0 to claim the only trophy of the day, after defeats for the U-11’s and U-10’s in their finals in the morning.

On Thursday evening, a few stalwarts turned up at Hamworthy’s County Ground for the Ladies Dorset Cup final against Weymouth as our Ladies bid to retain the trophy they have won for the last two seasons. Unfortunately, fate dealt a cruel hand the evening before when our England selected goalkeeper Steph Herbert dislocated her foot in a friendly, but she still turned up on crutches to cheer her team on. The injury will take a while to heal and also means that Steph will now miss her chance to play for England Deaf Ladies. Other squad news wasn’t much better either as crucial defender Liz Warne was also unavailable. Lisa Dootson-Gill took over in goal and did a fine job between the posts but Weymouth prevailed on the night with a goal at the end of each half to win 2-0.

Finally, on this Saturday morning the Club’s board opened the doors to a public consultation at Branksome Rec concerning our plans to develop the site and faced questions from over 100 residents in a lively meeting. Busy week!

And so to today’s game. On the same weekend last year we also made the trip over to the island to play Cowes Sports. It was a bright warm and sunny day with most of us in t-shirts. What a contrast for this trip to Brading. Low cloud almost on the deck and a cold bitter wind and damp rawness that belongs to January rather than the season’s penultimate game.

Brading won a free kick just outside the Poole area in the sixth minute. Scott Jones got in front of Harvell at the near post as the ball floated in and chested it over the line to give the home side an early lead. Poole responded by stepping up the pace and set about Brading’s goal. Stuart Brown and Dan Cann were the target men with Shane Ayres and Sean Hogan working the right wing, Trefor Smith and Kevin Gill working the left and Matt Holmes and Taffy Richardson driving in from the centre. Ricco and Luke mopped up any loose balls leaving Jason Harvell alone in the Poole half trying to keep warm.

The pressure produced few real chances but it was only to be a matter of time. It came on 25 minutes from Luke Whitley who made a huge leap to head home Shane Ayres cross in from the corner. All square at 1-1.For a few minutes it looked as if Poole would get another. Taffy arrived just too late to turn in Luke’s cross at an empty far post on 31 minutes and Holmes blazed a shot over a few seconds later. Brading won a free kick again outside the Poole area on 33 minutes but this time fired the shot wide. It was their only other strike of Harvell’s goal in the first half although the home side managed to finish the first period strongly.

Half time 1-1.

Trefor Smith opened the second half with a rocket that painfully curled just wide of top corner of Brading’s goal as the Dolphins began to hammer at the home side’s defence. Again it looked likely that a goal would soon come, but up popped referee Mr Anton Beavis to throw his influence on the game. Brading’s skipper Danny Hatcher momentarily lost his cool and thrashed out a foot at a prostrate Poole player with whom he’d just tangled. It should have been a straight red but Hatcher got off with a just a caution. Having already booked Dave Greening in the first half for a couple of weak fouls, Mr Beavis now began issuing yellows for no more than contact with Taffy and Trefor being awarded for Poole and Scott Jones and Ollie Buckett for Brading. With the exception of Hatcher’s mad moment there wasn’t really a bad foul that warranted the caution they received while some others that were strong candidates went utterly unnoticed. This inconsistency took the edge of the game and further goalmouth pressure at either end became a scarce commodity. It was a shame. The best chance for Poole to claim all the points came with 20 minutes left to play. Fawzi Saadi had a fierce shot headed off the Brading line only a minute after Taffy’s header from Luke Whitley’s cross had been saved at point blank range.

Brading almost stole it at the death when Dave Greening was denied hero status by Luke’s hook off Poole’s goal line after Harvell had been beaten for the only time in the game. Final score 1-1. One highlight was the adult debut of Ashley Ayley, coming on for Stu Brown on 86 minutes. Only a crowd of 75 witnessed it but in future years when this lad’s career has climbed the heights that select band will be able to say they were there!

Poole: Harvell, Whitley, I. Richardson, Hogan (Saadi), Ayres (S. Smith), S. Richardson, Gill, Holmes, T. Smith, Brown (Ayley), Cann

Tom retained the starting eleven from last weeks fine win over Wimborne to tackle fellow table toppers VT at the Tatnam. But for the first ten minutes it was the visitors who held sway and ran the game. Some of the Dolphins squad had very poor games and would have been very disappointed with their personal performances. Not least was Taffy who was not on the pace at all. VT's quick passing game worked a treat and everything seemed to fall to them, whether by luck or judgement but Poole's defence held out with Mr Cool Aaron Skelton turning in a brilliant performance at the back even though he was carrying an injury and was due to be replaced early in the second half.

It took Poole 11 minutes to settle in and gain their first strike on goal coming from Cann's long throw-in which Culliford headed on towards the far post, but Ian Richardson arrived a fraction too late to turn the ball in. Barry Mason was marked out of the game on VT's right wing by the tenacious Kevin Gill, but on 13 minutes Mason managed to slip by Ian Richardson as he made a rare defensive error and go for goal but he blazed his shot high and wide.

Trefor Smith made a solo run but fired wide soon after, it was the highlight of his day as our tricky dribbler is currently on 9 yellow cards and keen to avoid another booking before the end of the season, and thus seemed not to be fully on his game. Poole now had their best period of the game and matched VT's efforts in the midfield. Taffy turned Luke's cross over the bar with a header on 25 minutes and three minutes later Cann fed the charging Brown in for the best shot of the day, which rifled off the post from 20 yards out with namesake Matt Brown in the VT goal rooted to the spot. Harvell had a few efforts to save at the other end but nothing that really looked like getting by him.

Half time 0-0.

Poole just didn't show up in the second half, with the exception of their defence. And with Stu Brown tiring after running his socks off in the first half Dan Cann looked increasingly isolated up front and getting visibly more frustrated with each passing minute. Brown was replaced by Saadi after 69 minutes and Hogan came on for an injured Andy Culliford on 62 minutes having taken a knock in the ribs that required some attention. Even Steve Smith's introduction to join Saadi and Cann up front failed to goad Poole's attack into action and Matt Brown was rarely challenged.
However, his counterpart at the Poole end was pulling off some brilliant saves at VT started to find space at will in Poole's half. Hunt fired just wide on 54 minutes,and Harvell tipped over Ashford's freekick on 60 minutes. Kevin Gill got a yellow for one too many fouls on Mason and was involved in a clumsy challenge on Ashford with Skelton a few minutes later but when Mr Treleaven reached once more for the book, it was Aaron who was cautioned. From the free kick which Dean Blake fired in Harvell stretched to snatch it around the post as it bounced goalward.

On 75 minutes Gibbens was given enough space to curl a high ball inches wide of the top corner and Harvell made another point blank save from Blake's shot a few minutes later. Poole had a minor flurry at the death with a soft shot from Fawzi Saadi being the best effort in the entire second half. Again Poole turned in a lacklustre and poor performance at home, in contrast to last weeks game. VT were the better team on the day, but Poole's back three and Jason Havell saved the blushes of many of their teammates. The draw and a point each handed the title to AFC Totton who beat Brockenhurst 2-0 anyway in front of another huge crowd of 579 but it is deja vu for the chasing pack as Poppies drew at Alresford 1-1 and Moneyfields held Wimborne at their ground by the same score. So VT are still second, Poole third, Poppies fourth and Wimborne in fifth.

Poole: Harvell, Whitley, I. Richardson, Skelton, A. Culliford (Hogan), S. Richardson, Gill (S. Smith), Holmes, T. Smith, Brown (Saadi), Cann

Poole opened brightly and had their passing game up and running quicker than their opponents. it was clear from the start that Wimborne had remembered the damage that Trefor Smith had done to them this season and he was targeted right from the first whistle. He'd already picked himself up from a couple of challenges but on 11 minutes Wimborne skipper Paul Roast went in far too dangerously and the referee was absolutely correct to issue a straight red card. It was the sort of challenge that simply cannot be tolerated in the current game.

As often happens the ten man team dig that little bit deeper and for the next ten minutes Wimborne looked a better side. On 16 minutes a shot beat Harvell but a defender (Luke?) managed to clear the ball away for a corner whilst back peddling towards the Poole goal. A controversial moment followed just a minute later. Cann cleverly chested the ball through to Stuart Brown and he was away one on one with the keeper. A chasing Wimborne defender wrapped an arm around Brown and tugged him back. It wasn't even subtly done and was as blatant a professional foul as you are likely to see. In the split second to make the decision the referee (and in particular the linesman who was looking straight at it from just a few yards away) realised that to recognise the offence would mean that another straight red would have to follow. Unfortunately they took the easy option and allowed play to continue claiming there had been no foul, in which case Brown should have been booked for diving which clearly he had not. It was a terrible decision.

Poole were now enjoying far more space against the ten men and Kevin Gill in particular had acres of room to work in down the right hand side. On 36 minutes Poole took the lead. Dan Cann whipped a perfect corner into the box and skipper Ian Richardson rose unchallenged to thump the ball into the net. It was no more than Poole deserved at this stage.

On the stroke of half time Poole should have doubled their lead. Another Cann delivery, this time from a freekick, found Andy Culliford at the back post and, for once, Culliford failed to find the back of the net as his header went wide of the post.

Half time: 0-1.

The second half was all one way traffic as Wimborne were simply pinned back from start to finish. On 53 minutes Gill played the ball into Cann in the box and he spun and shot just wide of the right hand post. On 61 minutes a Cann long throw was allowed to bounce and Ian Richardson headed it towards goal. After a mad scramble on the goalline the ball was eventually cleared at the second time of asking. As the ball came out it dropped to Cann again and his volley went just wide. It was now chance after chance for Poole and but for some poor finishing and some fantastic goalkeeping by Hutchings in the home goal this game could have ended up five or six nil and no-one could have complained. On 62 minutes Culliford struck a sweet volley but this went straight into the keeper's arms. Five minutes later and both Culliford and Brown had a further two good chances but the Wimborne goal continued to lead a charmed life. A minute later and Brown raced clean away again but this time his shot was poor, scooping it high over the bar.

Two more minutes passed and Trefor Smith cut in from the right and his left foot shot was tipped onto the underside of the bar, rebounding and hitting the keeper before bouncing for a corner. The resulting corner saw the ball drop to Ian Richardson again and his shot went just over. Within another minute Poole had carved through again. This time Gill played the ball into Brown who squared it for Culliford but his close range shot was well saved by the keeper's legs.

Pete Smith came on for Brown on 83 minutes but after clattering the sponsor boards within four minutes he had to be replaced by Sean Hogan. In the dying minutes there was the biggest roar of the afternoon from the Wimborne supporters as they managed to get into the Poole half and earn a corner. Harvell dealt with it and that was the end of the game.

A terrific performance from Poole again as they outplayed and outclassed Wimborne all over the pitch. Whitley, Skelton and Richardson never looked under any pressure and the workrate of Taffy Richardson, Gill, Holmes, Culliford and Trefor Smith in midfield was first class. Both Cann and Brown worked their socks off up front to complete a fine team performance.

Poole: Harvell, Whitley, I. Richardson, Skelton, A. Culliford, S. Richardson, Gill, Holmes, T. Smith, Brown (P. Smith) (Hogan), Cann