By Andrew Long
AFTER what seemed like a season that would never end due to the horrendous weather, Callington Town Football Club were recently able to celebrate a really successful season before turning our attention to the upcoming campaign and essential works on the Ginsters Marsh pitch.
At a packed celebration, three of our four sides were able to hand out the awards for the season. With a brand-new management team and almost a brand-new team, the South West Peninsula League Premier West side exceeded everybody’s expectations with a seventh place finish with Dean Southcott’s charges creating a real buzz with a local side that had attendances soaring throughout the season.
The winner of the Players’ Player award went to Connor Pritchard-Lee, with Harry Southcott and Fraser Ferris picking up the Manager’s Player trophy.
Teenager Finley Skews won the Supporters’ Player accolade whilst Kieran Prescott and Ben Langton picked up the Chairman’s Player award. The final trophy for ‘Leading Goalscorer’ was won by Kevin McCallion.
For the St Piran League side who compete in the Premier Division East, every winner was under 18, which was a testament to how well this young side had competed in this very competitive league. The Players’ Player award went to Elliot Haxell with Supporters’ Player being won jointly by goalkeeper Karl Peters and captain Kaspar Putna.
The Manager’s Player award went to Ed Harrison with James Brenton picking up the ‘Leading Goalscorer’ trophy.
Our women’s team handed out the Players’ Player trophy to Harriet Hall, Manager’s Player went to Sarah Angier while Chloe Yorath picked up the leading goalscorer gong.
The event culminated with two very special awards, the first being the Richard Pridham Memorial Award for the Clubman of the Year which went to Ally Skews and a very competitive Young Player of the Year competition was one by Rhys Lindsell.
The final team awards are still to be handed out as the veterans team were still playing and had an incredibly successful season winning the Eastern division of the Cornwall Veterans League and also the knockout cup.
Moving forward, over 30 volunteers turned up at the start of the month to start work on the pitch getting it ready for the new season.
Preseason training is now underway and already there are a number of fixtures in the book as the club builds up to a new season.
The buildup begins on Monday, July 8 when the first team host Western League Premier Division outfit and fellow Cornish outfit St Blazey at Ginsters Marsh (7.45pm).
They then welcome St Blazey’s league rivals Barnstaple Town on Saturday, July 13 before tacking another Step Five outfit in neighbours Saltash United a week later. Both matches are at home and start at 3pm.
A fourth Western League club in Torpoint Athletic who are under the new management of Ryan Fice arrive on Tuesday, July 23.
Their first away action of pre-season is at two-league higher Tavistock on July 30 (8pm).
Keep up to date with the club’s social media channels for further developments.