Ellington FC manager and captain say just missing out on promotion will spur them on this season

Ellington FC missed out on promotion last season by three points. Picture: BB Photography

Ellington narrowly missed out on promotion from the Team Valley Carpets Second Division last season and now manager Tony Messenger and captain Mark Cooper are preparing the team for another shot.

Finishing fifth last time around, ‘Ella’ found themselves eventually missing out by just three points, as Ponteland United Reserves, Newcastle University A and Wideopen took the three promotion spots.

The withdrawal of Blaydon Community from the Northern Alliance meant Wideopen took the final promotion spot and that’s what is spurring Messenger and Cooper on for the season ahead.

That, and the injuries they endured, has prompted a plethora of new signings; fresh young faces who have hit the ground running in pre-season – Cameron Elliott has bagged eight goals in his last two having arrived from Blyth Town Reserves, and Jospeh Hecel, who played for Ashington Reserves previously, has three-in-three.

Other signings are Anthony Richardson, Ethan Taylor, Jordan Thomas, Oli Cairns, Jordan Fitsimmons and Kyle Cannon.

Messenger said: “We were really disappointed not to gain promotion last season, but there were just so many players injured all at once towards the back end of it.

“Something I’ve worked hard on in pre-season is to bring in young, committed, Alliance-level players so we can push on this season as we have the ambitions to go as high as we possibly can as a team.

“They’ve all slotted in very well and, with only losing a couple of players, it shows we’ve a togetherness.

“Our aim is to always be in the top half of the table, and hopefully we can be fighting for promotion in what again is a tough division.”

Reiterating his manager’s thoughts, Cooper added: “There were a lot of injuries towards the end of last season and that cost us.

“Tony (Messenger) wants the team to go as high as we can, and last season it was weird as we all had some crazy results; we hoped to go up but not doing so will motivate us this time around.

“The new, fresh players, they’re a good fit, and that’s showing well during pre-season, more as we’ve previously struggled with strength in-depth.

“I’d like a top two, three finish, to go for promotion, especially as we usually do reasonably well in cups and have beaten some good, higher-ranked sides in the past.”