Record Win for Essex Police In a season in which they suffered only one league defeat, Essex Police swapped places with last seasons winners Rayleigh Town, and ran away with the Senior Division Championship by a record 13 points. The next three teams in the table all finished on 44 points, but a superior goal difference over Herongate Athletic and Writtle gave Rayleigh Town the runners up spot. Herongate Athletic also flew the leagues flag in the final of the Essex Intermediate Cup, but went down by the odd goal in three to Dagenham Reserves. For the third season running, Runwell Hospital finished on top of the Reserve Division with Rayleigh Athletic matching their senior team and ending up as runners-up. Both of the Challenge Cup matches went to the previous seasons league champions, when Rayleigh Town beat Takeley and Runwell Hospital Reserves, after doing the double the previous season, beating league runners up Rayleigh Town Reserves. In the Senior Division Cup, Runwell Hospital saw off neighbours Rayleigh Town whilst in the Reserve Division Cup, Rayleigh Town defeated Takeley after extra time. Having won the Sportsmanship Award in its inaugural year, Old Chelmsfordians Senior team carried this award off once again to become the first team to win it twice. For the first time since the 1975-76 season, the league played a representative match when they played the Essex Business Houses League, a fixture which had never taken place before. The result was a two goals to nil win for the Essex Olympian League. Tailpiece
For the third season running, Rayleigh Town ended the Senior Division season having scored over 100 goals, but despite this high goal tally, they had only managed to win the division once, in 1978-79. SENIOR DIVISION TABLE
P W D L F A PTS Essex Police 32 26 5 1 77 22 57 Rayleigh Town 32 17 10 5 103 39 44 Herongate Athletic 32 19 6 7 67 31 44 Writtle 32 19 6 7 62 36 44 Benfleet 32 18 7 7 62 38 43 Standard (Harlow) 32 15 11 6 53 31 41 Runwell Hospital 32 13 13 6 56 43 39 Ongar Town 32 11 8 13 54 64 30 Takeley 32 10 9 13 61 63 29 Old Chelmsfordians 32 13 3 16 50 72 29 Upminster 32 10 7 15 42 66 27 Burnham Ramblers 32 8 8 16 48 73 24 Harold Wood Athletic 32 8 7 17 42 72 23 Dunmow 32 8 6 18 45 68 22 Great Baddow 32 6 5 21 52 78 17 Coopersale 32 4 8 20 40 67 16 Bishops Stortford Swifts 32 4 7 21 41 92 15 RESERVE DIVISION TABLE
P W D L F A PTS Runwell Hospital 30 22 5 3 82 37 49 Rayleigh Town 30 20 6 4 88 24 46 Old Chelmsfordians 30 21 3 6 65 38 45 Herongate Athletic 30 19 5 6 65 33 43 Standard (Harlow) 30 15 9 6 64 39 39 Writtle 30 16 6 8 74 39 38 Takeley 30 14 6 10 61 51 34 Harold Wood Athletic 30 9 8 13 49 59 26 Ongar Town 30 10 5 15 54 68 25 Upminster 30 9 5 16 36 53 23 Dunmow 30 8 5 17 47 79 21 Coopersale 30 8 4 18 50 77 20 Great Baddow 30 6 7 17 46 86 19 Burnham Ramblers 30 8 3 19 37 80 19 Bishops Stortford Swifts 30 7 4 19 36 76 18 Benfleet 30 7 1 22 36 51 15 |