It was unknown territory going into the Cornwall 6 a side leagues and we started off by replacing St Austell Brewery who pulled out of the middle division known as the Championship. We took over their points [ not many of them I hasten to add ] and already mid way through the season, we tried to collect enough points to survive.
In our first ever match, which was against Barney's Boys, we were taught a footballing lesson. They stuffed us 3-0 and they were clearly one of the best teams in the Championship. We also has no idea where each and every one of us best fitted in and we had tried Carl ' Webby ' Webster at the back with Ricko, Ozzie was in goal, James Triggs as striker and Dan Nicholls and Luke Styles in the midfield with Jimmy. It clearly didn't work and lessons were learned.
Unbelievably our next game was against top of the table Chenpump and we played really well to get a 0-0 draw. Ricko and James Triggs at the back with Dan Nicholls moving up front and Webby into midfield. The vibe was positive after this.
However, 3 massive defeats in the next 4 games including a 4-1 thrashing by Loco Luxulyan and a disastrous 5-0 pasting by Tesco saw the mood in the camp sink very low. The same night as the Tesco defeat also saw our first win when we took on Gherkins on the next pitch. Only a win would keep us in the division and we stormed into a 3-0 lead only to blow it with 5 minutes left as Gherkins pulled it round to 3-2 and hit the cross bar with the final kick of the game. We hung on.
Unfortunately a 0-0 draw the following week against Niles Bakery meant we were relegated by a point to the 3rd division. Cornwall 6 a side gave us the benefit of the doubt though by keeping us in the Championship due to our late arrival mid season.
The cup that followed the league season saw us find some very good form despite our lack of firepower up front. Victories over Gover and Foxes [ later became DB's ] put us into the Shield QF where we grabbed revenge on Tesco via a penalty shoot out to reach the semi final.
We met our old enemies Barney's Boys in the semis but lost to a goal in the final minute just as it looked to be going to penalties. Confidence was high going into the new season despite us only scoring 1 goal in our last 4 games and that came from midfield.
The new season started off awkwardly with 2 defeats including a season opening 4-1 humiliation by title favourites Young Gunz. Then came our best run of results ever as we grabbed 3 good wins in a row to lift us from the bottom to promotion hopefuls. Just before all this, James Triggs was removed from the team by the Captain for reasons we shall not go into anymore and Luke Styles became the Carps main man at the back.
The season took a turn for the worse after our 3 wins, that saw us go on the biggest losing streak of our existence with 6 defeats in a row. Just before the losing run began, we had played our best game ever with a 0-0 draw against Young Gunz who had stuffed us early season and were to go on and win the title. Ozzie proved he was up to the job in 6 a side with one of the most unbelievable pieces of goal stopping you are ever likely to see. How he kept that ball from hitting the back of the net still remains a mystery to this day.
New signing Richard Golley came in to try steady the ship as he had had enough of playing in goal for Tornadoes, but although we were dominating games....goals were hard to come by and the losing run eventually relegated us to the 3rd division.
We hoped the cup could now give us some confidence and we got it with an opening 1-0 win in our group game. The goal was scored by the deputising Craig Phillips. [ more on him later ]
It was also at this time that striker Dan Nicholls left the team. His strike rate was certainly poor for a striker when you check the stats. Only 4 league goals in 22 matches and it was clear to see why we had been relegated. It was later found out that he wasn't a striker at all and that he had actually been a goalkeeper at school. A goalkeeper living the dream as a striker? Well whatever, it certainly led to our downfall that season.
Ricko now had a massive problem as he didn't have a striker in the team. He was closely watching the situation of Gavin Kitts at team Tornadoes. Tornadoes captain Nick Thompson did not seem keen on Gav at all and left him rotting in the reserves for many games with only brief appearances. Ricko saw what was going on and liked the look of Gav to play as the Carps new striker having seen him score plenty at 5 a side when they were at college together.
He made his approach before the cup game against Gherkins and Thompson was quoted as saying ' I'm not going to stand in your way if you want to go ' . So Gavin Kitts was signed for Carpeteers and made an immediate impact as he scored on his debut in a 3-1 win over Gherkins that also saw Ricko score a 30 yard top corner effort !
The cup comp fizzled out for us as those Young Gunz knocked us out in the QF pretty easily but we went into our 3rd season now in division 3 for the first time and looking to start from a clean slate.
Despite an opening win over Niles Bakery thanks to a Carl Webster goal, their were to be massive changes still around the corner for the season ahead. Luke Styles had been showing a lack of commitment to the team and had failed to show up for 3 of the last 4 matches and with the lads very unhappy and feeling let down...his contract was terminated.
Of course, now we only had Richard Golley in the defence with Ricko and Webby in midfield along with Jim Martyn and Gavin Kitts for strikers. In yet more changes, Gavin Kitts was moved into defence as cover for the meantime leaving us with barely any attacking options yet again. Jim's strike rate of only 4 goals in 2 seasons was another problem for us.
After our opening win, then followed two lacklustre defeats with us scoring no goals. Something had to be done. Ricko was in the processing of trialling St Blazey hot shot Gareth Geach who was a free agent at the time. It was a bit of a gamble and the Carps boys were not exactly cheering when Geach appeared and went straight into the side as the main attacker. It could have been a waste of time and everyone was sceptical of Geach in the beginning.
Also, by now, Neil 'Hoops' Slaughter had become the Carps number one fan and assistant to Ricko and he was there every game cheering us on. Even he had doubts about bringing in an unknown player like Geach.
By the final whistle of the Gover match though, Gareth Geach was signed up for Carpeteers full time as he was the missing link we had so desperately needed. We romped to our biggest win ever with a 5-1 victory and Geach had smashed a hat trick on his debut leaving the rest of the squad with no doubt as to who should now play as striker.
Things weren't straight forward after that though. 2 more games without scoring left us scratching our heads yet again as our season wasn't exactly flying. It was the next game against Blades [ later becoming Kernow ] that kick started the promotion charge of that season. We went 6 games unbeaten including 4 wins and 12 goals scored. Stand in appearances and goals from the likes of Nathan Ball and Jack Walker were also appreciated.
This left us on the brink of the title in a 4 way go with Blades, Gherkins and Gover. The final night of the season we had to play Gherkins and Gover in a double header that would decide the title and promotion places.
It was a dull wet night and it was a strange one because in some respects we didn't seem up for it. I don't know, well it just all seemed to slip away far too easily as Gover saw us off 2-0 with a team of many new players from the side we beat 5-1 just 2 months earlier.
A win against Gherkins would have saved our season though [ Andy Geach filled in on the night ] but it all went wrong. We played hard against them but fell to bits after they took the lead. We lost 3-0 and our season was destroyed. We felt terrible...everyone trundled off home gutted and despondent. We felt like it had all been a waste of time and that we had thrown 2 months of great wins and great football down the drain with a shocker all on one night. We came 4th in the end as Blades snatched 3rd. Gover and Gherkins went up to the Championship.
Next was the end of season cup comp and 3 wins out of 5 put us into the main QF of the cup and we were playing well you couldn't doubt that. Craig Phillips was to trial for us in the latter stages of the cup with a possible full time move the following season.
One of our best wins ever happened in that QF. We came up against a Premiership St Stephens team who had just won the Championship and the 3rd Division the season before that. They were unbeaten in 30 games apart from once but we nailed them 3-0 here to go into the SF.
Against Redditch in the SF we conceded one of the most freaky goals of all time as a Carps defensive clearance bounced off the chest of a Redditch player and into the Carps goal from 25 yards to end our cup run. We had dominated the whole game and that result wasn't fair at all but it's football for you.
Many of the Carps players [ including Richard Golley ] were adamant that if we were going to gain promotion in our 4th season then we would need to bring in new players. Gav Kitts and Golley had settled in well at the back of the Carps defence with Ricko, Jim and Webby running the midfield. Ozzie was still very important to us in goal and Gareth Geach was critical as our striker.
When news that Premiership striker Craig Phillips had been ousted from Poltair Predators Ricko was quick to act and immediately had a meeting with Craig about bringing him into the team on a full time basis. This player was too good to let go and he was never likely to be a free agent ever again. Quite simply put ' he had to be signed ' . Caretaker manager Hoops agreed that Ricko should pursue Craig's signature and the deal was struck within hours at the local Shoezone shop in St Austell.
Where one problem was sorted another one arose. Despite the news of Craig's transfer from Poltair Preds to Carpeteers being the biggest transfer of that season and probably one of the best ever, the deal was not met with any enthusiasm from one player in the Carps camp. All of the players were delighted to have Craig on board for the new season but Richard Golley left the team within days and rejoined former team Tornadoes.
Tornadoes boss Nick Thompson even made him Captain in an attempt to entice him back to the team in which he played as goalkeeper before joining Carps over a season ago. Thompson knew he had made a big mistake letting Golley leave in the first place and duly let him have the captaincy and an outfield position this time around.
Carpeteers were without a defender going into the new season and Ricko decided he would have to drop from midfield to defence with Gavin Kitts to fill in the void left by Golley. Craig Phillips and Gareth Geach were now a formidable partnership up front. However, Craig had to play centre back with Ricko in the first game of the season as Gavin Kitts was unavailable.
The rumours were that Gavin was on his way back to Tornadoes with Golley [ they are best friends and still are ] . Gav did decide his future lay with Carpeteers though and he was more than happy to continue being the centre back, after originally being signed by Ricko to play up front!
The 4th season was a total romp for us. It all came together very nicely. 13 wins out of 14 games with only 6 goals conceded ALL season. Only a rare lapse of concentration at the mid point when we lost to Premier Printers 1-0 cost us the chance of going the whole season unbeaten.
Their were some tough games that season mind. Argonauts pushed us all the way but we held on to win 2-1 and the title decider against Kernow at the end was a real battle. Again we came away 2-1 winners and won the league by 9 points.
There was no denying that the final ingredient to the team was Craig Phillips as he and Geach enjoyed a season of total domination on the strikers charts smashing in 23 goals between them. Ricko and Carl Webster played their part grabbing 6 goals between them. Gavin Kitts was a total rock at the back of the defence with Ozzie doing a sterling job in goal for us. Jimmy had a great time as he deservedly got his hands on the silverware.
Even the mighty Hoops came on and got a goal from the penalty spot on the final day of the season. Wonderful times. Richard Golley was certainly not missed during the season although Tornadoes improved upon his return, gaining promotion to the Premiership. Rumour was now out that manager Nick Thompson secretly wanted Gav Kitts back at Tornadoes after seeing his incredible performances for Carpeteers, but Gav was staying loyal and going nowhere,
In the cup, we were unbeaten in all 6 of our group games which meant we reached the QF of the main cup comp. We saw off Football Furians 1-0 before losing on penalties to The Badgers in the semis. We seem destined to always go out at that stage.
For our 5th season we were back in the Championship and with the strongest team we'd ever had. We weren't sure how we would fair but it soon became clear that we had even improved another level ourselves. We did the nigh on impossible and went the whole season unbeaten as Champions scoring more goals than our division 3 title the season before.
Wins over Kernow 8-2 and 7-0 , 5-3 and 4-0 over Gherkins and our biggest win to date, 9-0 over Gover [ revenge ] meant we were a team really playing well together and our team spirit on and off the pitch was really good. Hoops even grabbed his first ever outfield goal in 38 years against Gover. Everything was good for us.
In fact the season had not gone too well at all at times as Ricko suffered several injury problems which caused him to miss a lot of games and likewise Gareth Geach who missed nearly half the season with an ankle sprain. This makes our achievement of going unbeaten for the whole season even more incredible and the likes of Webby, Jimmy, Gav, Craig and Ozzie had to be at the top of their game to cope with the absent players. What a season !!!
Someone who does deserve a special mention for having an amazing season is Andy Geach. Andy filled in for his brother Gareth when he was out injured and proved to be a fine player scoring 14 goals along the way and undoubtedly helped us to lift the title. He was so good in fact, Ricko was happy to sign him up for good and he joined the Carps full time.
So back to back titles and promotions were complete after some early dark days struggling to survive in the 3rd division. Some mighty fine players came into the team along the way and at last after 5 seasons, the Premiership was upon us. First of all though, it was into the cup for another crack at trying to end our Semi Final hoodoo.
4 wins and a draw saw us top our cup group and we were into the QF's of the main cup again. This time we defeated Premiership runners up DB's 1-0 and moved into the SF very hopeful of going all the way. However our tough draw continued as Premier League champions Chenpump awaited us. A tense game went against us as a deflected goal gave Chenpump a slender 1-0 win. The SF jinx was back to do us again.
Our first Premiership match was against Craig Phillips former club Poltair Preds and we duly got off to a great start winning 4-0, Craig getting 2 of the goals. He took the captains armband for that game.
After a tight 0-0 draw against Tesco and narrow 2-1 win against Football Furians, we were riding high in the top 3. It all suddenly changed though as life in the Premier League caught us out and it showed we would need to adapt to the climate of the higher quality on offer. 3 defeats and 2 draws from our next 5 games left us dicing with relegation. This was tough and the title suddenly seemed a million miles away.
With goals being conceded by us left right and centre, some teams decided to try and take advantage of the situation. Weak division 3 sides that laughably are now extinct, tried to tempt Ozzie with the easy life of playing back in the bottom league. Ozzie began to question his own ability between the sticks and was photographed in talks with opposition teams.
Eventually he came clean and admitted that Carpeteers was his team and that he was going to focus hard on sorting out his season at the top. With Ozzie focused once again the next tactic to stop the slide was to bring Craig back to sit in front of the defence rather than attacking midfield. It worked a treat for us and we won the next 4 games , 6-0, 3-0, 2-0, 2-0. We were back, and the title hunt was still on.
3 wins in our last 6 games meant we finished a clear 3rd of 10 teams in our first Premiership season. It was a campaign of learning as much as anything and realistically we knew we were never going to romp away with this league like we had the two seasons previously even before it had started. It was a success for us all round really despite some inner camp turmoil during the middle part of the season.
Tempers had begun to flare after 5 games without a win but manager Ricko and assistant Hoops knew it would be a season of trying things out and keeping our heads on the ground and remaining calm. Eventually it worked out ok but there was no denying the domination at the top of the table. The Roses won well with DB's in the runners up spot again. We were 8 points back in 3rd and just couldn't live with them this time around. Maybe next season.
With the cup starting again Craig Phillips was seen putting pen to paper with DB's who apparently had offered him a lucrative deal to play as their main striker next season. After many days of uncertainty and turmoil once again in the Carps camp...Craig put pen to paper and signed a new improved deal with CARPETEERS and everyone was glad to see it finally happen.
The cup was upon us once more before going for a second Premiership title shot. We made a good start to our group with 1-0 wins over Hotshots and Estudiantes from the lower divisions, Ricko's new golden boots gunning down the latter team run by Gareth Massey. Injuries creeped into the side that saw Webby, Ricko and Andy Geach miss parts of the cup matches, and 2 sloppy draws against Gherkins 0-0, Badgers 1-1 and a shocking 0-1 defeat to Average Joes saw us fail to qualify for the main cup for the first time in 5 attempts.
Most people agreed though that the Shield comp [ which we were now in ] had a stronger line up than the top cup but we didn't lose focus and stormed into our first ever final with a 2-0 QF win over Neil Truan Motors and a 1-0 SF victory over Poltair Preds. Only our old rivals Chenpump stood in our way who had incredibly been relegated to the Championship after winning the Premiership the season before.
After a tight scrappy game that had few chances, a sudden death penalty shoot out was to decide the winners. Craig Phillips stepped up first but was unlucky enough to have his kick saved and Chenpump tucked theirs away to take the Shield.
Despite this loss we were still very focused on the new Premiership season, our 7th season in existence. However big decisions were to be made before the off and Jim Martyn's contract was terminated at the beginning of the season. After several team discussions all the players agreed it was for the best for the team as Jimmy's heart didn't seem in it anymore in recent times. In fact he had not been seen up at the games for over 5 weeks even to watch or cheer us on and Ricko and Gav were forming a formidable partnership in the defence that had helped steer us to 3rd the season before. We wish Jimmy all the best in the future and for his services in the lower divisions.
A scrappy 1-0 win over One Team to open up our Premiership account was good enough and we took 3 wins from our first 5 games, including a 6-1 thrashing of Gareth Massey and his Badgers team. Steven Dash joined us part time to fill in when needed as he was a free agent after being booted out by Adam Tuck at Chesney United last season.
A 0-1 defeat to top of the table Poltair Preds left us fuming and the referee banned after some dreadful decisions went against us costing us dearly. Then, after losing to Neil Truan Motors 1-2 on a night to forget, things suddenly got real tough for us and yet more inner team problems reared up just when you thought things were stable.
It had seemed that Dan ' Ozzie ' Osbourne had been settled with the Carps after turning down a move to a weak division 3 side before the season had started, but another offer, this time from Chesney United was tempting him away yet again and with Chesney offering him free football at the 2008 Xmas tournament Ozzie couldn't resist saving some cash and duly left Carpeteers.
With Captain and player manager Ricko refusing to pay for any of his squad to play in any match in any tournament, the gauntlet was laid down. ''Anyone who thinks they shouldn't have to pay can leave the team''. That was the message sent out to all players. The Carpeteers held urgent talks and all decided they were sticking together and Chesney United goalkeeper Jason Hoare was quickly snapped up to fill the vacant gloves left by Ozzie.
Jason had been instrumental in helping Chesney gain promotion from the 3rd division and the Championship last season and the team was delighted to have him on board.
With the turmoil still on everyone's minds and Craig Phillips unavailable for our next game, bottom side Gherkins duly took advantage of our confused state and rushed into a 3-0 lead before we realised what was going on. Jason could not have had a worse start to his Carps career but back we came to make it 3-2 and somehow we never got the equaliser.
It was the next game that really kicked off our season again. With 3 defeats in a row [ our worst run for 85 matches! ] we knew we had to beat Chesney United or the title was as good as over as early as game 8 / 18. You couldn't fault our spirit as we dominated the match to win 1-0 when it should have been 5 or 6 and Jason kept a great clean sheet. The charge for the title was back on. 21/1/09
CONTINUED AND UPDATED 26 / 10 / 09
What followed the Chesney victory and all the turmoil mid season, was a sensational run in until the end of the season, with 10 straight games without defeat with 6 wins and 4 draws. Unfortunately, despite playing hard ball with all of our opponents and grinding out results to avoid defeat, it was our attacking which perhaps suffered as we ended up drawing too many matches and perhaps being too cautious.
In those games, eventual shock champions One Team, long time leaders DB's and the ever dangerous Poltair Preds and Neil Truan Motors, all threw the kitchen sink at us but couldn't beat us. The DB's game in particular was frustrating in that Captain Ricko will not forget a glaring miss in front of goal when the game was delicately poised at 1-1 with just 5 minutes left. As it turned out, it made no difference to our actual position come the end of the season.
The run in did feature some great victories though. A battling 3-1 win over Football Furions amongst them, an easy 3-0 win over rock bottom Badgers who continue to employ the utterly useless Gareth Massey, who predictably dragged them to relegation this season without even a hope of looking good.
Carps saved the best til last though with 3 great victories to end the season on a high, and 3 clean sheets to match, as all players dug in deep. A 5-0 thrashing of Gherkins [ who like Badgers, also ended up relegated ] saw the Geach brothers in scintillating form and Ricko playing with a broken nose! The best win of the season maybe came in the penultimate match as Steve Dash gained revenge on Chesney Utd for booting him out, with 2 clinical finishes to destroy them good and proper.
A solid 3-0 win over Team Supreme in the final game of the season meant we sneaked into the runners up spot in the Premiership final table, level on points with Preds and DB's and 6 points behind incredible winners One Team. Congratulations to them it has to be said.
The cup followed an incredible season for us, something we have still yet to get our hands on. We do always play for the big cup however, while many of our rivals field weak sides to lose games, play in the weaker competitions, and grab weak silverware. Not us.
Neil Truan ended our undefeated streak of 10 games in our first cup match. Then there were 2 easy wins against low league sides Burton and Jedi Mind Tricks, who thought that Gareth Massey could tear Carpeteers apart despite dragging his Badgers team into last place in the Premiership. JMT also included other former Carpeteer flops amongst their ranks and predictably, JMT were beaten.
What followed though brought everyone down to Earth with a bang as a new looking Boyzone outfit destroyed us 3-0 and then an unbelievable 1-0 defeat to Gover !!! [ who we had beaten 9-0, 12 months earlier ] despite us camping in their half for the whole match, hitting the woodwork 6 times ! and having all the possession, Gover broke away in the final minute to score and win.
We crashed in the QF of the Shield to Londis in a somewhat poor way to end our Shield campaign. The news of Hoops damaging knee ligaments and Andy Geach limping out with a twisted ankle also gave us cause for concern going into the new season.
However the new season started brightly with 2 wins and a draw from our first 3 matches. This set up a mouth watering tie against Chesney Utd who had 9 points from their opening 3 games and looked very dangerous having signed Martin ' Slugger' Sleaman from Football Furions during the close season.
The 'big' match was just that and with Chesney's new star signing at the centre of it all, they ran out 3-0 winners over a Carpeteers team that threw the kitchen sink at them. Former Carps keeper Dan 'Ozzie' Osbourne was star man, keeping out shots from everyone of the team from all angles.
We did not let it get to us and bounced back with a 6-2 mauling of Boyzone the following week and a nice win over One Team [ champions of last season ] who were now rock bottom with 6 defeats in 7 games.
With the title charge back on track, we again suffered our usual mid season dip in form to lose to former Premier League champions Chenpump due to lack of players available.
2 more good wins for us put us back into 2nd place but Chesney were running away at the top with a 100% win record after 7 games. The next game was against the improving Football Furions, and Furions destroyed us 3-0 after a tense looking match that seemed to be heading for a 0-0 draw. 3 late goals from Furions when we pushed for the jugular, finally ended our title hopes except for miracles.
Of the remaining 8 matches of the season we won 5 of them to finish a close 3rd place, just 3 points behind Furions and 8 behind Chesney Utd. We scored more goals than last season, although conceded more as we attacked a lot more. The only reason we didn't become champions was that we didn't win the games against the top 2.
6 of the last 10 games of the season were played on the grass pitches due to the relaying of a new astro surface at Poltair school and we took to the grass well, only losing one game 3-1, which was to eventual champions Chesney.
The shock of the season was champions from the previous campaign, One Team, disbanding.
On the squad front, Craig Phillips enjoyed a very fruitful season grabbing 20 goals, including his 100th Carps strike in the first game on the new astro surface vs City Boys. Injuries were scarce apart from Hoops' ongoing treatment for a niggling knee injury along with a double toe nail removal. Ricko Barker had a torrid 2007 with injury after injury [ including a very painful in growing toe nail problem like Hoops ] but has worked back to fitness with heavy running and training sessions and came through the whole season having played a part in every game. He also had his best goal scoring season for 8 seasons.
Gavin Kitts filled in between the sticks on many occasions if Jason Hoare was absent and impressed several times. This adds an important new dimension into the team to fall back on if required. Jason Hoare left the team at the end of this season to pursue new work ventures abroad. We thank him for his time in Carpeteers.
Another long time hero to play for Carps also hung up his boots during the season. That was Carl 'Webby' Webster. Webby notched 31 goals in his time with the Carps from midfield and played a huge part in the rise from Div 1 to the Prem in recent seasons. Him and Ricko were the 2 originals who pushed the team onwards with the new signings coming in like the Geach brothers and Craig Phillips.
Webby will be missed in the centre of the park winning all those headers and passing the ball around so well and despite him concentrating on other projects now, including a career at 11 a side football with Mount Charles, he has said he is happy to fill in if needed at any time.
His shirt will be hung above the mantle in his front room with pride and we all thank him for being a top player.
After 3 seasons in the Premiership, with 3, top 3 finishes it was once again onto the elusive cup competition that still continues to elude us.
Captain Ricko took a well earned break for the 3 week comp as he concentrated on his Eden Half Marathon race while skipper Craig Phillips took on the job of steering the team to some virgin silverware from the cup.
5 straight wins with 5 clean sheets followed and we topped the group in fine style. New goalkeeper Shaun 'Moley' Hicks also making his debut during the cup run with a debut clean sheet and also Ben Hemingway doing a fine job between the sticks as he to kept a couple of clean sheets for us. Well done Ben. He's never been on a Carps losing side yet !
Sadly, Carps met a real tough City Boys team in the QF of the cup who wanted this comp more than anything. They inflicted our heaviest defeat for 168 games as they thrashed us 4-0. It was a total shambles and new Carps keeper Moley was left with no chance. This was not what the Carps wanted going into the new season.
However, on a real foggy and miserable evening to start the 4th Premiership campaign of the Carpeteers, we fought out a 2-1 win over Neil Truan Motors to get the season underway with a bang and hopefully better things will come of it...
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