Arundel FC

Arundel FC’s annual end of season awards ceremony took place last night in the clubhouse.

Spirits were good after a good end to the season with 5 wins and a draw following an ultimately disappointing campaign which saw the Mullets fail to build on their runners-up finish last season, eventually placing 12th in Division 1 this time around.

The first awards to be handed out were that of the reserve team.  Following a season of turmoil for the reserves with manager Malcolm Hardwood given the sack in the new year and thus the majority of the squad leaving, 15 odd players were signed on at one point just to field a side.

Given that only two awards were given out for the second string with managers player, chosen by Richard Towers going to teenage goalkeeper Rhys Griffiths who also had a successful spell in between the sticks for the first team at the end of the season. The other award for top goalscorer went to one of the few players present for the entire campaign, striker Richard Harewood who found the net 16 times in the league, which was 3rd overall for the Reserve Section Premier Division behind Charlie Francis (23) of Eastbourne Town and Shane Saunders (18) of Eastbourne UA.

The first award for the first team was for managers player  and itwent to defender David Walker, who had a very solid season at the heart of the defence as also captained the side a number of times in the absence of club captain Josh Biggs. Walker had a very successful evening also taking home the Supporters Player of the Year award and also the award for goal of the season for his wonder strike against Pagham at Mill Road way back in August.

The Player of the Year award voted by the players themselves went to Matt Axell who had a good second half to the season at either left back or left midfield managing to also contribute 9 goals, including 4 in the last 6 games.  Axell was also the most used player this year, featuring in 43 games.

The final award of the evening went to striker Scott Tipper who picked up the award for first team top goalscorer, netting 22 times overall.  The awards were followed by a lot of drinking and some quite shocking karaoke by some of the players and management!