County Cup Win For Rayleigh Town In what was a wonderful season for the club, Rayleigh Town not only won the Senior League title by an impressive seven points, but also won the Essex County Intermediate Cup when they beat Leyton Argyle by five goals to two in the final at Billericay Town. This was the first time since Chadwell Heath's win in the 1973-74 season, that a team from our league had won this prestigious competition, although both Herongate Athletic and Burnham Ramblers had come close in recent years. For the second season running, Springfield finished as Senior Division One runners-up and Runwell Hospital finished in third place. After being relegated from Senior Division One last season, Essex Police bounced back into the top flight by winning Division Two by eleven points. After coming within two points of gaining promotion last season, Caribbean International gained the other Division Two promotion place. Great Baddow only managed to hang on for one season in the top flight and dropped back into Division Two with Cossor Sports. The same fate befell Rayleigh Athletic who, having gained promotion to Reserve Division One last season, went straight back down accompanied by Standard (Harlow). Takeley won Reserve Division One for the second season running and also beat Runwell Hospital in the Reserve Challenge Cup match at the start of the season. Reserve Division Two went right to the last match of the season and while Dunmow finished top with forty two points, Cossors only gained promotion on goal difference from Shell Club. The Reserve Division Cup went to Bishops Stortford Swifts, who defeated Herongate Athletic in the final and Springfield Reserves emulated their first team of three seasons earlier by winning the Sportsmanship award. For the third season running, the Leagues Representative side won their only match this time against the Essex Business Houses League, by two goals to nil. Tailpiece
In gaining promotion, Essex Police became the first team to go for a whole season without suffering a single league defeat. At the other end of the scale, two new clubs joined the League at the start of the season, but whilst Carreras just about held their own, Brentwood International suffered the indignity of finishing at the bottom of both Senior and Reserve Division Two having conceded over 140 goals in each division at an average of over 5.5 goals per match. Not to anyone's great surprise, this was Brentwood International's one and only season in the League SENIOR DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A PTS Rayleigh Town 28 22 3 3 77 19 47 Springfield 28 18 4 6 63 34 40 Runwell Hospital 28 16 4 8 53 35 36 Harold Wood Athletic 28 13 6 9 56 46 32 Dunmow 28 13 5 10 56 51 31 Ongar Town 28 14 3 11 45 44 31 Takeley 28 10 9 9 51 40 29 Benfleet 28 10 9 9 48 56 29 Rayleigh Athletic 28 12 5 11 65 59 29 Upminster 28 10 4 14 39 61 24 Writtle 28 6 8 14 38 49 20 Burnham Ramblers 28 8 4 16 31 59 20 Herongate Athletic 28 4 11 13 47 64 19 Great Baddow 28 7 4 17 36 66 18 Cossor Sports 28 5 5 18 37 59 15 SENIOR DIVISION TWO
P W D L F A PTS Essex Police 26 24 2 0 87 17 50 Caribbean Int. Sports 26 18 3 5 80 29 39 Old Chelmsfordians 26 16 3 7 68 39 35 Shell Club 26 12 7 7 65 34 31 Great Baddow Royals 26 13 5 8 65 51 31 Bishops Stortford Swifts 26 12 6 8 60 42 30 Standard (Harlow) 26 10 7 9 44 34 27 Basildon Town 26 12 3 11 44 45 27 Carreras 26 8 9 9 46 44 25 Hambros Bank 26 8 4 14 34 48 20 South Woodham Ferrers 26 7 5 14 56 69 19 Coopersale 26 7 3 16 30 62 17 Ekco Sports 26 3 2 21 23 66 8 International Brentwood 26 2 1 23 21 143 5 RESERVE DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A PTS Takeley 28 17 7 2 65 23 41 Old Chelmsfordians 28 17 4 5 70 37 38 Herongate Athletic 28 16 5 5 46 23 37 Writtle 28 14 1 11 50 47 29 Burnham Ramblers 28 9 9 8 47 41 27 Bishops Stortford Swifts 28 10 7 9 45 46 27 Benfleet 28 9 9 8 41 47 27 Runwell Hospital 28 11 4 11 52 46 28 Basildon Town 28 9 6 11 45 58 24 Rayleigh Town 28 8 6 12 39 45 22 Springfield 28 7 7 12 43 46 21 Harold Wood Athletic 28 7 4 15 37 48 18 Standard (Harlow) 28 6 2 18 28 62 14 Rayleigh Athletic 28 5 3 18 39 78 13 RESERVE DIVISION TWO
P W D L F A PTS Dunmow 28 19 4 3 84 28 42 Cossor Sports 28 17 4 5 77 33 38 Shell Club 28 16 6 4 71 35 38 Upminster 28 14 5 7 57 39 33 Ongar Town 28 12 6 8 53 31 30 Great Baddow Royals 28 10 8 8 58 45 28 Carreras 28 9 7 10 51 48 25 South Woodham Ferrers 28 9 7 10 41 40 25 Ekco Sports 28 9 4 13 56 55 22 Great Baddow 28 8 6 12 44 58 22 Hambros Bank 28 7 7 12 36 52 21 Caribbean Int. Sports 28 6 5 15 49 59 17 Coopersale 28 4 5 17 44 75 13 International Brentwood 28 4 2 20 25 148 10 |