Once a month we will look at how our chosen grass roots club for this season Croydon have been getting on.
The season for the Trams began well as they won their opening two games but followed up with two losses before managing a draw which leaves them in the league table.
Last weekend was cup fever for Croydon with a trip to Epsom & Ewell in the FA Cup after seeing off Arundel in the opening round. The game ended goalless which meant both teams faced each other at the Croydon Arena for the replay last night. We are very pleased to report that the Trams ran out 4-1 winners and are through to the next round. The reward is a home tie against Burgess Hill Town on 13 September 2014 who are currently top of the Ryman South.
After a home FA Vase tie with Phoenix on Non-League Day this Saturday, Croydon return to league duty with Beckenham Town next to visit the Croydon Arena on 10 September followed by Woodstock Sports on 13 September.
The star player for the Trams in August was diminutive forward Dan Jupe. The 24 year old former Surrey Valley player found the net on three occasions and his pace and commitment chasing every ball has caused problems for every defence that he came up against.
We got on touch with marketing director Steve Hutson who told us more about the opening month of the season;
The month of August has been full of ups and downs at Croydon FC. On the pitch, after a very strong pre-season, we achieved early league victories over Deal Town and Erith Town and then progressed into the next round of the FA Cup with a 1-0 victory at Arundel.
We came crashing back down to earth with successive home defeats to Lingfield and Fisher Athletic but now with the acquisition of a couple of new signings we seemed to have got our season back on track with a creditable draw at Cray Valley (PM) and a vital draw at Epsom & Ewell in the next round of the FA Cup.
Thanks to our association with The Eagles Beak, we have noticed an increased interest in our team through the amount of followers we have accumulated on Twitter plus, most importantly, the new faces we are seeing through the turnstiles down at the Arena. We really appreciate every single supporter who comes to watch the ‘Trams’ as the big money from Sky Sports never filters down as far as grass roots football and we are run and financed purely by volunteers who have a love for the beautiful game.
This Saturday is officially known as Non-League Day and the ‘Trams’ will be entertaining Phoenix Sports in the First Round Qualifying of the FA Vase at the Croydon Sports Arena. We hope to see many of our fellow Palace supporters in attendance cheering us on to victory and one more step closer to our Wembley dream.
League Table
| POS | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Erith & Belvedere | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 5 | 14 | 15 |
| 2 | Phoenix Sports | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 13 |
| 3 | Tunbridge Wells | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 13 |
| 4 | Sevenoaks Town | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 5 | Ashford United | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 4 | 10 | 11 |
| 6 | Beckenham Town | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 10 |
| 7 | Croydon | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 7 |
| 8 | Canterbury City | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 7 |
| 9 | Cray Valley PM | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 11 | -2 | 7 |
| 10 | Lordswood | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 9 | -4 | 7 |
| 11 | Holmesdale | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 6 |
| 12 | Lingfield | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 14 | -7 | 6 |
| 13 | Greenwich Borough | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -2 | 4 |
| 14 | Rochester United | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 11 | -3 | 4 |
| 15 | Woodstock Sports | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 10 | -4 | 4 |
| 16 | Fisher | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 17 | -9 | 4 |
| 17 | Corinthian | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 3 |
| 18 | Crowborough Athletic | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 12 | -7 | 3 |
| 19 | Erith Town | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 11 | -8 | 1 |
| 20 | Deal Town | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 12 | -9 | 0 |
You can find out more about the division that Croydon are competing in this season by going to the official FA website here or go direct to the Croydon FC site here.
