County Cup Double

As if last season was not bad enough, this season we had to wait until April and May for the heavens to open and cause more cancellations of matches than in any other months of the season. As a result the season was not concluded until the End of May

Once again two of our teams won through to the final of the Essex Intermediate Cup with Rayleigh Town finally beating Harold Wood in Extra time by a single goal. The match was unfortunately marred by a Harold Wood player breaking his leg during extra time. Bishops Stortford Swifts went one better than last season when winning the Hertfordshire Intermediate Cup convincingly by three goals to nil.

Bishops Stortford Swifts started the season as they meant to continue beating Rayleigh Town in the Senior Challenge Cup match while Frenford Senior won the Reserve Challenge Cup

The season started on a somewhat sour note when Runwell Hospital advised the league that they were unable to field two teams. The Management Committee agreed to allow them to continue with one team following assurances that all would be well by the end of the season. This proved not to be the case and Runwell were unable to complete their final Senior fixtures and subsequently pulled out of the league.

As happened last season Bishops Stortford Swifts left it until the penultimate match of the season before clinching the Senior title for the second season running with Rayleigh Town coming second once again by overtaking long time league leaders Shell Club in their last match of the season.

Essex Police had led Reserve Division One since the turn of the year but some bad results in the latter part of the season, and a final run of 15 out of 16 points, saw Takeley overtake them thanks to an extra time goal in their last match of the season.

In winning Senior Division Two, Nortel (Harlow) remained undefeated for the whole of the league season a remarkable achievement after only escaping relegation by one point at the end of the 1998-99 season. Harold Wood Athletic finished off a good season by winning their first ever Intermediate League trophy when finishing as runners up.

The new teams did well in Senior Division Three with both Wanstead Town and Manford Way gaining promotion at the first attempt. Manford Way also won the inaugural Denny King Memorial Cup after a thrilling two leg final against Barnston A.F.C.

Metpol Chigwell followed on from last seasons Reserve Division Three championship by winning Reserve Division Two and they are joined in the top Division by Ekco First Data whose first team moved in the opposite direction.

Manford Way finished a good first season as runners-up to Port of London in Reserve Division Three.

In the Senior Division Cup, Frenford Senior added a new name to the cup when they overcame Nortel (Harlow) in the final on a wet night in May. The Reserve Division Cup saw a shock result when Division Three Chalvedon beat the Cup holders Kelvedon Hatch by the odd goal in three.

Nortel (Harlow) became only the third team in the leagues history to go a whole season without losing a league match.