2005/06 - Under 12

The 2005/06 season was a gruelling test for the under 12s, that almost ended in glory. Moving into the Harrogate & District section 'B' after a tough year in the Garforth League, the team benefitted from the addition of a couple of new players, but for most of the lads this was their third season together. The season got off to a flyer on a Friday night against Guiseley, and this set the pace for the opening few games of the season. Whinmoor swept most of their opposition aside until the only two unbeaten sides in the league met in mid-October, where Whinmoor were unfortunately outplayed in a heavy 5-1 defeat to Old Modernians. Straight after this, Whinmoor played the other major contenders, Otley, and one of the highlights of the season was a superb 5-2 win. Harry Uttley and Danny Squires were providing most of the goals between them, but they were getting excellent support from around the entire team - in fact, by the end of the season, only two outfield players had failed to find the net. In the league cup, Whinmoor met section 'A' side Pannal Sports in the second round, and swept them aside, just before hitting their highest score of the season, beating Bardsey 13-0.

After Christmas, Whinmoor still only had 1 league defeat on their record, but they went out of the cup in controversial style at Harrogate Railway, where the offside rule appeared to have been abolished for 2006! A draw at Horsforth in February followed by a shock defeat at Wetherby in March meant that we had lost too much ground on the Old Modernians to challenge for the title, but promotion was still onthe cards, particularly after the best performance of the season in a 5-1 mauling of Horsforth. The run-in was one of the craziest fortnights in junior football, with no less than 7 games being played in 15 days. After starting off with a defeat at Boroughbridge (the 9.30 kick off meant that we were 4-0 down before some of the team had even opened their eyes!), the boys then proceeded to win 5 of their last 6 games, and a very narrow defeat to Old Modernians being the only blemish. We were 3-2 down late in that game, and pressing for the equaliser, when the eventual champions broke away at the end to give the scoreline a flattering appearance. The last four games in particular were impressive, all four being away from home, being played over eight days, scoring 24 goals and only conceding one. The final game, away at Otley, where we only just managed to scrape a team together, ended the seaosn on a high.

Eventually, Whinmoor missed out on promotion by a single point, after playing an almost inhuman 26 league games, winning 21 of them and scoring a magnificent 142 goals in the process. The golascoring partnership of Danny Squires and Harry Uttley took the player of the year titles, with the two of them sharing 83 goals between them, Harry notching 49 and Danny helping himself to 34.

* Cookridge deducted 9 points,
** Guiseley Blue deducted 3 points