Donald MacCuish Chessington KCFC Midfielder

CKCFC 2nd XI embarked on what was to be a historic season way back in the late September sunshine. Following a gruelling pre-season consisting of a couple of hours run around in the park followed by a few pints afterwards, CKCFC were feeling fit-ish and fired up for the season that lay ahead.

First up were Hersham RBL. All knew it was vital to get off to a winning start and it was achieved with a good deal of professionalism as CKCFC despatched of their opponents 3-1. Stockbridge announced his intentions for the season in true style with a couple of goals and things were looking good.

Nash: Vital goal against Oxshott

Next up for Chessington was a first home game of the season against league newcomers Oxshott Royals. This was not a game for the faint hearted and proved to be one of the toughest tests of the season. It was Jason Nash who was the hero of the day scoring a wonder goal with minutes left on the clock to spark wild celebrations from the home crowd.

The CKCFC bandwagon was off and running and Chessington annihilated Red Star 7-1 the following week. This game marked new signing Rudi Sewell's full debut for the club and he got off to a dream start with a double, not to be outdone Stockbridge also grabbed two and Soutan also marked his debut with a goal; complemented with another 'Nashy' strike and Ball's first goal of the campaign this kept CKCFC on top of the pile in Div 5. This really was unchartered territory for the 2nd XI - goals galore and a strike force to be reckoned with.

Next up were Old House who were duly despatched, Stockers AGAIN with another brace, but it was Jon Davies, coming back from injury, who got the all important goal in a 3-2 win.

CKCFC were soon brought back down to earth with a bump. A depleted team travelled to darkest Cobham to face Oxshott. It was a bad day all round, an own goal and hotly disputed penalty helped contributed to a 3-0 defeat. Things didn't feel so great now but it was Darkside who felt the back lash as Chessington looked to get their title charge back on track and this was achieved with a fairly comfortable 3-1 victory.

The next two Saturdays saw Chessington amazingly lose 2-1 to Red Star and battle out a hard 3-3 draw with Kingsnympton. These two results took a back seat to more important matters. Early season Player of the Year contender Stockbridge suffered an horrific broken leg against Kingsnympton which put him out for the season. The plan was to fly him to The States for revolutionary keyhole surgery, however club funds could only stretch as far as a small bandage and a tube of Ralgex. Good news these days though, the 'Big Man' has battled through to make a speedy recovery and is already focused on the 2003/04 campaign.

Come on Ref - you've got to be joking! I never touched him! - James Shute (2nd Nov 02 vs. Kingsnympton)

After these set backs   Chessington roared back with  a   5-0 drubbing of Darkside,  Dwight opened his account for   the season with a couple of    goals matched by Sewell. MacCuish also weighed in with what is surely the goal of the season - a stunning 25 yard volley right into the top corner!

Cup matters were next on the agenda with a 2nd round clash against RBL in the Teck Cup. Chessington fielded new signing Graham Webb who proved his class on the pitch by totally running the show as Chessington eased into the next round. Heartbreaking news followed though as a controversial league ruling meant we were excluded from the next round and denied an encounter with fierce rivals Oxshott.

Player/Coach Dwight: Led some first class warm ups this season.

Centre back stalwart Keiron Wicks was making the odd cameo appearance and it was his and Webb's  inspirational 2nd half display against Westside III that dragged the team back from a 2-0 half time deficit. Chessington without doubt played their best football of the season in this game as they eventually registered a comprehensive 4-2 victory. On this type of performance no team in the world could have coped with CKCFC's attacking play.

The result at Westside brought to an end 2002 with the record books showing that CKCFC 2nd XI had been defeated on a mere three occasions this year. Surely Manager Shute was doing something right. What it was, no one (not even himself) knows, but it seems to work and 2003 looked like being a fruitful year.

January proved to be a quiet month with only a friendly against Westside Res. (KDL Div 4) to keep the boys away from a trip to the sales with the missus. A 4-2 win was recorded but the score line far from reflected the trouncing CKCFC gave their opponents.

Fairly comfortable back to back victories were registered against Old House and Westside III in February with super striker Sewell bagging a hat-trick against Westside.

An unforgettable game against Tolworth, perhaps for all the wrong reasons was the next victory CKCFC recorded in their quest for the title. In footballing terms though it was the mother of all comebacks with Sewell grabbing the winner in the dying seconds.

Come on Ref - you've got to be joking! I never touched him! - James Shute (1st Mar 03 vs. Tolworth)

The league campaign was drawing to a close and one more victory would see Chessington crowned champions but first up were League Cup matters. CKCFC blew away Heathfield III 7-1 with Sewell getting four of the goals and Ball making his case for Goal of the Season with a mesmeric 50 yard run and finish. This set up a Quarter Final encounter against NPL Res. (KDL Div 3). Chessington put up a great fight and were unlucky to go down  1-0 but much heart was taken from the game in terms of the performance and again a Cup Semi Final against Oxshott was denied.

This brought Chessington to their final game of the season against Hersham RBL. A nervy 2-0 victory was accomplished, and with Sewell fittingly sealing it in the closing stages of the match meant Chessington had done it at last. The confidence and belief in the team was evident all season and to finally achieve their goal of Div 5 Champions was met with initial relief but one it sank in joyous celebrations were witnessed.

Each player in the squad deserves special praise for all their efforts this season and there's no doubt we can be up there in Div 4 challenging for honours next season - Bring it on!