Cookham Dean u16s create history by winning league and cup treble

Cookham Dean's u16s team have created their own piece of history this season by becoming the first team at any age group to lift the Berks & Bucks County Cup, league cup and league trophy in a single season.

Having already lifted the County Cup with victory over Newport Pagnell Town on penalties and claimed the Wycombe & South Bucks League Cup after a comprehensive 5-2 victory over Ruislip, Dean held their nerve in the title run in to claim a well-deserved league title as well.

The title race didn't exactly go down to the wire, with the team sealing the championship before the final game which a crucial and well-contested 1-0 victory over local rivals Burnham u16s.

They finished the campaign with a record of 25 wins, five draws and one defeat in all competitions. That saw them come incredibly close to an ‘Invincibles season’, losing just once in the run in against Wendover.

“I've been told by the Berks & Bucks FA that no age group has done that before,” said coach Dominic Gavin. “It's a first.

“It was a tough run in. On May 21, we had Burnham, which was a tough local derby at our ground. They wanted to rock the boat because they didn't want one of their local rivals winning the league, but we scraped through, winning 1-0 in a well contested game. Harvey Brooks got the goal.

“Their keeper made a fair few saves and so did ours to be fair. I think 1-0 probably did flatter them as we didn't take our chances and they had a couple as well. We actually won the league that night, so there was nothing riding on the final game. We had the runners-up Downley in the last game of the season. We ended up beating them 4-0 with Connor Downey scoring first, then Alex Vick scored two and Lennon Moore got the fourth goal. It meant that we won the league by seven points in the end.

“Before those games we'd drawn against teams lower in the league. They either went out there thinking it was job done, or we couldn't put those teams to bed early. They froze a little bit thinking too much about it, but fair play to the other teams. Every game we played was like their cup final because over the years we haven't lost that many games. Every team will get a side out to play us and would play their hearts out against us. But the last game was pleasing because, whether we lost, drew, or won, we’d already won the league. We went out, played freely, and claimed an emphatic 4-0 win.

“We had 31 games including cup matches. We lost one, drew five and won 25. I've been very impressed with the boys; they've gone out and performed. They can hold their heads up high and say they won the treble, even before Man City this year. We are very proud of them all, they have worked so hard and played really good football.

“The one defeat came against Wendover at our ground a few weeks before the end of the season and they beat us 2-0. In those last six games, we had two draws and one defeat, so it was getting nervy. But our goal difference was scored 87 and conceded 30.

“I've said to boys, if they want to continue next season, I'll be there to continue it. Seven or eight of them have said they want to continue so we've entered them into the league. But many of them play Thursdays in the Allied Counties, they play JPL on Saturdays, and they play for me on Sundays. If the team is there to play next year, we'll hopefully show people it's not just a one-off.”