June 2015 - Reserve Team moved to the South & East

After their superb 2014-15, the clubs reserve team have been moved to the South & East Division of the SSMFL Reserve Section for 2015-16.

Sweeping all before them in the North and West Division, on paper the South and East looks a much more stronger league. Including AFC, there will be 8 SSMFL Premier Division reserve teams in the league and the rest are made up of Division One teams. The North and West are mainly Division Two clubs.

The club looked at entering the Suburban League, but with only 9 teams competing in the North Division, it felt there would have not been enough games for the team and the new division looks just as strong as the Suburban.

Manager Paul Axten said " while we enjoyed ourselves in the North and West, I felt we were not tested every week. Moving to the South and East will be a different proposition. When we played Sun Sports and St Margaretsbury in the play off games, we knew those are the type of games we need week in week out" he continued " It will be a much harder task to be successful in that league, but that is what these young lads need to improve and if they do break into the 1st team, they need to be playing more competitive games and they will get them in the South and East Division"

On the Suburban League, the club looked long and hard at entering that competition, but felt the move of division was more than beneficial for the team. The team will be playing at much better grounds and their home kick off times will move to 3pm. A spokesman for the club said " I think it is a myth that the regional divisions of the Suburban League are stronger than the SSMFL. Over the past 4 seasons, our reserve team have faced Suburban teams in the County Cup and on every occasion have beat the opposition quite comfortably, to the extent of putting 8 past Dunstable Town in a Quarter Final and beating Leighton Town 3-2 when they were top of the league. Also a 2-0 win over Barton Rovers when they were vying for the title was achieved. You will nearly always find that SSMFL teams win their respective County Cups of which Suburban teams participate in, for example we have just won the Bedfordshire Intermediate Cup and Sun Sports did the same in Hertfordshire knocking out 2 Suburban teams on the way"