FEATURE: League champions Erdington United bring home a double trophy haul

Words and pics by Liam Smith

Erdington United are celebrating another successful season in the Sutton & District League, bringing home a double trophy haul, finishing as champions of both Division One and the George Cup.

The league season has been a massive success, with United topping the table by four points. In the 16-game season, 12 wins and two draws saw the local side pick-up 38 points. Promotion from Division One will see them enter the Sutton & District Premier Division, the highest tier of the league ladder.

The league was sealed with a game to spare, with Erdington United only needing to win one of their remaining two games, after a tight 1-0 victory to league runners-up Romulus FC. This secures a trophy double for the season as well as back-to-back league titles.

Earlier in the season Erdington United claimed the George Cup. In February at Cole’s Lane, Erdington United took on Rosey Macs, another local club, in a fiercely contested final in front of a strong crowd. It was a hard-fought victory for Erdington which saw a late goal secure the cup winning 3-2.

It was not the only cup final Erdington United reached this season; a defeat at the Birmingham FA headquarters in the County Cup final to Trooper FC was disappointing for the players and supporters, however the bad result had a tough task of putting any dampeners on the season overall.

Erdington Local spoke with Tyler Ward, the club’s manager, who said: “Overall, the season has been very positive. The league and cup double is not something to be sniffed at. I said from the start that the league was a minimum for this season.”

Tyler added: “We wanted to win the County Cup, so obviously it was disappointing to lose in that final. However, it was a good learning experience for the lads.”

Oran Grigg, defender for Erdington United, told Erdington Local: “It was a good season, we had a lot of up and down results; had more have gone our way we could have secured the league earlier. Injuries, illnesses etc made this difficult also.

“The success we had in the George Cup final beating Rosey Macs coupled with the league win overall has made it a very successful season for us.”

In terms of their aspirations for next season, Erdington United will need to be playing at the top of their game, as the Premier Division will boast new difficult challenges.

Tyler continued: “We don’t want to just take part in the Premier Division next season. I think we’re good enough to mount a challenge and we will give it a good go.”

Thomas Gardiner, midfielder for Erdington United, added: “In terms of next season we are aware of the quality that is in that league.

“We know we will need to be at our best week in week out to compete with the step up in quality. Hopefully the core group of players sticking around for next season will support us in doing that.”

Erdington United will have a friendly pre-season tournament against several local rival teams in the summer, before beginning their Premier Division campaign in September. Home games are played at Holly Lane and information on their fixtures can be found on both their social media pages and the Fulltime FA website.

For more on Erdington United visit www.erdingtonunited.org

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