History 3 of 4

3. Part II (2007-2013)


2007/2008 Season

The 2007/2008 season saw the club embark on its biggest challenge, as it made the move to the Herts Senior County League and a place on the non-league football ladder.

The 1st team, now solely managed by Steve King, started the season in fine fashion winning a club record seven matches in a row to top the Division One table. However, their interests in the cup competitions came to a swift end after defeats to North Mymms and Mill End Sports in the Aubrey and Herts Intermediate Cups respectively.

After a 1-0 defeat to St Peters in mid September ended their unbeaten start in the league, Town went 17 league matches without defeat with 14 wins and 3 draws including a 2-0 win over title rivals Wodson Park at Knights Templar Sports Centre to leave them on the brink of a first ever league title.

Wodson Park gave themselves a small glimmer of hope by inflicting Town's second defeat of the season in April 2008, winning 2-1, but victories against Bedwell Rangers and Sarratt left Baldock needing a victory at home to Croxley Guild to win the championship. The match was a very tense affair in difficult conditions, but a single goal from Harry Holland fifteen minutes from time gave Town the title.

The Reserve side, managed by Barry Laurence, also had a great season. They were promoted as runners-up from Herts Senior County League Reserve Division Two and also won the Reserve Cup at the first attempt beating the holders Evergreen Reserves 3-0 in the final thanks to goals from Lewis Littlechild, Ross Haskins and Adam Shelley.

An "A' team was also formed at the beginning of the 2007/08 season and they were competing in the North & Mid Herts League Division One North. The "A' team, nicknamed "The "A'ngels", by Manager Sean Ennis, was formed mainly to integrate the youngsters from the youth setup into senior football. After a difficult start they finished the season in mid-table, which was a fine achievement.

2008/2009 Season

The 2008/2009 season saw the Club move from its home venue at Knights Templar Sports Centre to the County Ground on Baldock Road in Letchworth, home of the Hertfordshire FA. This was thanks mainly to the efforts of club chairman Philip Mills and The Reds main sponsor Arena Security.

The efforts of both parties, particularly the financial backing from Arena over the past five years, had seen the Club continue to grow season after season. As part of the move to Baldock Road, the Club revised its name to Baldock Town Letchworth FC.

Baldock's first season in the Premier Division of the Herts Senior County League started with a fine 3-0 win at Bovingdon, before they were quickly brought crashing down to earth with a 5-0 thrashing at Buntingford Town. Town's unpredictable and patchy form brought them just nine wins from seventeen competitive games, but they had booked a place in the Quarter Final of the Aubrey Cup.

However, the arrival of Jack Gregson from rivals Hitchin Town Arena sparked a change in fortunes and just one defeat in their last 18 league games saw Baldock finish third and narrowly miss out on promotion. Bovingdon were the only side to claim a league victory against Town in this period and they would also end the Club's run in the Aubrey Cup. Included in this fine run was Town's record win, a 19-0 victory over hapless Bedmond Sports & Social.

The Reserve side, now managed by Antonio Cierzo, finished runners-up in Reserve Division One, but their grip on the Reserve Cup was ended by Codicote Reserves in the Semi-Final. The "A' Team also had a fine season securing promotion with a third place finish and reaching the league cup final, but went down 4-2 to Fairlands.

2009/2010 Season

After narrowly missing out on promotion the previous season, the 1st Team began the 09/10 season with renewed and realistic hopes of mounting a serious title challenge. After an early setback against Standon & Puckeridge on the first week of the season, Steve King's men embarked on a 24-match unbeaten league run, which included a 9-0 win over Evergreen, an 8-0 away win at Croxley Guild and a 7-0 win at reigning champions Metropolitan Police Bushey.

The main sources of Baldock's goals were Harry Holland and Jack Gregson, who netted 49 goals between them.

However, it was an administrational error involving the latter that effectively ended their hopes of promotion. Gregson unknowingly played in a 5-0 win over Codicote when he should have been serving a one-match ban. This led to an extra game being added to his suspension which came during two of the season's final three games and a depleted Town side lost them both to Cuffley and promotion rivals Wormley Rovers.

It was another season of excellent progress and the Club had entered the FA Vase for the first time, but exited at the first hurdle after a 6-5 shootout defeat to Ridgeons League Wivenhoe Town following a 1-1 draw.

During the summer of 2010, Manager Steve King resigned after narrowly missing out on promotion for a second successive season. As a result, his assistant Scott Grant was appointed as the Club's new manager in August 2010.

The Reserves, managed by Sean Ennis and Lee Rusbridge, once again finished second in Reserve Division One finishing nine points behind champions Hinton Reserves, whom they took four points off of during the season. The "A' Team had a difficult season under the management of Phil Farrant, finishing at the foot of the North & Mid Herts League Premier Division. The "A' Team was disbanded and replaced with a new u21 team for the 2010/11 season.

2010/2011 Season

Following the resignation of King, Scott Grant endured a tough start to the season after an impressive pre-season. His side picked up just two league victories in their opening eight games, which saw them languishing towards the foot of the table. He did however, steer the Club to the First Round Proper of the FA Vase following fine wins against Milton United and Basildon United respectively.

After a few changes in personnel though, Grant turned things around with his side winning 14 of their remaining 20 league games to finish fourth and reached the Aubrey Cup Semi-Final for the first time, where they went down 3-0 to eventual winners Letchworth Garden City Eagles.

As for the Reserves, following three successive runners-up finishes in the league, they finally delivered a league title under the management of Lee Rusbridge and Mark Ephgrave. After sitting pretty at the top for much of the season, a dip in form and defeats to Wormley Rovers and rivals Hinton appeared to have given the latter a second consecutive title, but two surprise defeats for them at the last gave Town the opportunity to win the title with victory over Cuffley on the final day. After being 3-0 up, the visitors came back to 3-2 for a real nailbiting finish, but Town held on to claim a first Herts Senior County Reserve League title.

In the inaugural Herts Senior County League Intermediate Division season, the under 21 side managed by Richard Poleszuk and Pete Berry failed to deliver a single victory until the end of January 2011, breaking their duck with a fine 4-2 victory against Ware Youth. The winning feeling soon stuck and they went the remainder of the season unbeaten including a 4-2 win over eventual champions North Herts College Football Academy to finish fourth.

2011/2012 Season

The 2011/12 season saw all management teams remain in place for the first time ever and it was this continuity that would help the Club achieve its most successful season to date. The Club also returned to Baldock for the first time in three seasons - taking up residency at the former home of the defunct-Southern League Baldock Town FC in Norton Road.

After another excellent pre-season, the 1st Team hit the ground running chalking up nine straight victories which included a 10-0 win at Bovingdon and 11-1 win over Chipperfield in consecutive weekends.

There was already a sense that after three seasons of near misses, that this would be our season. However, October brought everyone's feet back to Earth as Town suffered a shootout defeat at Cuffley in the County Cup and they lost their 100% league record with a 2-0 home defeat to Sandridge Rovers.

This would prove nothing more than a minor blip though as Scott Grant's side went on a club record sequence of 20 matches unbeaten in all competitions, 18 of which were victories.

Unfortunately the run came to an end in the Aubrey Cup Semi-Final. Long time rivals for the league title Metropolitan Police Bushey came to the Arena and won 2-1 to deny the Reds a second Cup Final appearance after reaching the Anagram Records Trophy showpiece the weekend before.

The disappointment didn't last long though as a defeat for Met Police Bushey at third place Codicote gave Baldock their first ever Herts Senior County League Premier Division title.

The following Saturday's match with Goff's Oak should've been a party atmosphere at the Arena, but instead the champions were left embarrassed by a 6-1 home mauling! The visit of Cuffley on 21st April saw League Secretary Bob Brown present the league trophy to the team and they celebrated this following a 5-3 victory.

Despite winning the title, the Club were denied promotion to the Spartan South Midlands League as the North Herts Arena's 3G facility did not meet the requirements for Step 6 football. To enable the Club to continue its progress, a groundshare with Hitchin Town FC at their Top Field ground was agreed in July 2012.

News then soon filtered through that the Reserves had retained their league title on the same day without kicking a ball. Nearest rivals Cuffley Reserves had lost their final game at Chipperfield, which gave Town an unassailable two-point advantage with one game still left to play. This achievement was no mean feat by Rusbridge and Ephgrave's side, who trailed Cuffley by seven points having played a game more at the turn of the year. A January victory over Cuffley and an unbeaten league run since October gave the Reserves a deserved second title.

The 1st Team's season was rounded off with a trip to the County Ground to play Risborough Rangers in the Anagram Records Trophy Final. Although the match was not a classic, an 86th minute goal from top scorer Louis Taylor proved enough to complete a first ever league and cup double.

As for the A Team, they had a solid first season in the Hertford & District League finishing fourth in Division Three under the management of Richard Poleszuk.

2012/2013 Season

The 2012-13 season started with the loss of no fewer than seven of the previous season’s title winning side, but management duo Scott Grant and Steve Morgan stuck around and built another exciting young team.

After losing three of their first seven league games, Town went on to win 14 of their next 16 in the league to set things up nicely for a title showdown with leaders Met Police Bushey. However, it was the Met who came out on top 3-1 victors and they would go on to win the title, with Town having to settle for runners-up.

With Met Police Bushey not applying for promotion due to lack of facilities required to play at Step 6, Town were able to take promotion as runners-up and would compete in the Spartan South Midlands League Division One for the first time in 2013/14.

Grant’s men also did fantastically well to lift the Herts Senior Centenary Trophy though for the first time in April after beating three Step 6 opponents en route to their penalty shootout final victory over Broxbourne Borough.

A 1-0 win at Risborough Rangers also set up a second successive Anagram Records Trophy Final appearance. Town successfully defended the competition with a 1-0 extra-time victory over Kent Athletic in the Final at The County Ground in Letchworth. An own goal settled the tie played in front of a crowd of 273.

After back-to-back titles, the Reserves had to settle for runners-up this time around. Like the 1st Team, the Reserves had an overhaul of playing personnel and this contributed to a poor start of four defeats in their first seven league games.

A superb run to the end of the season, which saw them win 12 and draw 3 of their last 15 league games, once again took them close, but in the end Sarratt Reserves held on to take the title by a solitary point.

After promotion to Division Two of the Hertford & District League, the A Team found the going tougher and finished third from bottom. However, they did reach the Division Two Cup Semi-Final before succumbing 5-0 to Allenburys.