A top of the league home clash lay ahead for Central Bedfordshire College against second place Bedford, who needed all 3 points to be able to catch the runaway leaders and stop them winning the league. Central Bedfordshire only needed a point to secure the title.

Both teams started well and there was a lot of tension in the air, tackles were flying in and the referee was the busiest man on the pitch in the first ten minutes. The game settled own and central beds started to dominate the game and created two clear cut chances which Bryn Reynolds was unable to convert. The home team had done their homework and had identified what they believed were weaknesses in the Bedford side and it paid off from a well worked set piece which went in directly from a corner from Aaron Morgan making it 1-0. Bedford responded well and minutes after the kick off they were on level terms, after an uncharacteristic error in the Central Beds defence. This was easily finished off by the away team striker.

Central Beds didn’t panic and once again started to dominate the game after another well worked set piece was half cleared by Bedford and fell to George Higley who failed to hit the target from the edge of the box. Minutes later Higley turned provider with a great through ball for Aidan Murray, who made a great driving run into the box and finished well leaving the keeper no chance. Making it 2-1 at the break.

The 2^nd halves got underway and as expected Bedford went looking for the equaliser, but were unable to work the Central Bedfordshire keeper. This only seemed to frustrate the Bedford side more and they were soon reduced to 10 men after one of their players was given a straight red for a horrendous two footed tackle on play maker Aaron Morgan, who has just been offered a scholarship in the states at California State University. Two more bookings followed shortly after for the away side.

Central Beds kept their control and focus and were rewarded after another well worked set piece was delivered by Morgan and converted by full back Kyron Jackson at the back post to make it 3-1.

Takunda Marvesa saved a penalty in the last action of the game, before the full the whistle was blown and Central Bedfordshire were crowned league winners without losing or drawing a game, wining 15 out of 15 games.

Overall success

This victory now means that the all of the college’s three sides have played 33 games, drawn 4 and lost 0. Scoring 180 goals and conceding 41. They have won the league in the English Colleges Elite League, British College League and were joint top in the Sessa Colleges and University league (losing out on goal difference). Making it the most successful season, in the programs history and making Central Bedfordshire Football development programme the most successful programme in the Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire Buckinghamshire. As no other football programme have achieved these honours in their respective leagues during the 2009/10 season, which is an amazing achievement.

Football Development Manager Colin Sharpe commented “this has been a fantastic season for everyone involved in the football programme both on the field win two league wins and a runners up spot and in the class rooms where our students have are achieving great things and will be going onto to the next stage of their lives at their selected universities.

Today was our toughest game of the season by far and we should have had the game wrapped up before half time if we had taken our chances, but the lads never stopped working in particular Bryn Reynolds who worked tirelessly throughout the game. In nine years of delivering football programmes like these I have never had such a talent squad of players and a perfect season shows how good they are”

The college has its final Open trial at its Kings Houghton Campus on Wednesday 2^nd June at 2pm. Simply turn up on the day if you would like to be part of this wining side!

A group of sports students at Central Bedfordshire College, Houghton Regis Campus, are organising a charity event to raise funds for CHUMS charity.

The event is a triathlon starting at the Houghton Regis Campus and culminating at the Dunstable Leisure Centre. The event begins with a 20 minute swim at the Houghton Regis Leisure Centre. Once each participant finishes their swim they then get changed and either run or walk the 2.5 miles, to Dunstable Leisure Centre. Here they will be using the cycle machines to cycle for 2 miles before the event is complete.

Each participant will be trying to gain as many sponsors as possible for the event. The participants who raise the most amount of money for the charity will be receiving prizes such as a signed Luton Town FC shirt, and all of the money raised from the event will be donated to the CHUMS charity.

CHUMS support bereaved children and families in Bedfordshire following the death of someone special in their lives. The core of the work is carried out by a team of volunteers who come from all parts of the county who are all trained by the charity in loss and grief and how best to support bereaved children and their families. The event takes place on the 12^th May 2010 starting at 10am at Houghton Regis Leisure Centre and finishing at 2pm at Dunstable Leisure Centre.

Central Bedfordshire College would like to invite as many people as possible from the community to take part in the event for this great cause and hope that everyone can raise as much money as possible for the charity to help people who have lost loved ones gain support to help them through such difficult times. To take part in this charity triathlon all you have to do is contact Central Bedfordshire College to receive your sponsorship form and begin raising money for CHUMS. You can visit Central Bedfordshire College at the Houghton Regis Campus or email Colin Sharpe at csharpe@centralbeds.com for more information on the event. College representative David O’brien said “I would like to thank all of the participants and sponsors on behalf of CHUMS charity and urge others to contact the College and help raise funds for a good cause. All of the donations made are very much appreciated and we really hope you have a good day and enjoy the event.”

Central Bedfordshire College’s 2^nd Team finished off their season unbeaten with 8 wins and 2 draws in the Sessa University and Colleges League.

They were robbed of the league title by West Herts College, who were scheduled to play Barnfield College for the last game of the season. Barnfield were unable to field a team, sadly gifting Herts the 3 points which took them level on points with Central Beds with a better goal difference of 2.

Central Bed’s 2^nd Team Coach, Danny Roberts, commented, “It’s a shame to lose the League in that manner but that’s gone now and we are happy to finish runners up. It is still a great achievement for these young lads, some of whom are aged 16 playing against University players who are aged 18-22 and rely heavily on their physical presence, whereas we always get the ball down and play”.

The 2^nd Team squad are still in the Cup Competition and have just been drawn against QPR Community Trust Programme in the Quarter Finals. This came after they knocked out current holders Nescot in the 5^th round with a goal in the 85^th minute from Terry Campbell and an outstanding performance from Kyrln Brooks Lynch, who was exceptional at the back.

Former Leicester City Star, Matt Elliott’s, Leicester squad visited Central Bedfordshire College for their second encounter of the season. The first of which was a closely competitive game, eventually won by Central Beds 3-1.

Central Beds started the game brightly, despite having not played in a couple of weeks due to the recent bad weather. The team dominated the first 20 minutes but were unable to create a clear goal scoring opportunity. That was until skipper, Lewis Osborne, turned three Leicester players inside out and calmly curled the ball into the top corner of the goal from 20 yards, giving Central Beds a well deserved lead.

A fantastically timed run by Ryan Ellingham followed shortly after. Ryan cut in from the right hand side and ran in on the blind side of the Centre Half. An excellent through ball from Aaron Morgan, the leagues top goal scorer, did the rest making it two nil.

At the restart, Leicester started to play even more longer balls and their pressure paid off after Central Beds failed to clear a corner properly. The ball seemed to cross the line for a goal kick. The Leicester players reacted quickly and crossed the ball into the box for a simple tap in, making it two one at the break.

After a change in formation at the break, Central Beds started well and were rewarded 5 minutes in with another goal from Ryan Ellingham. Ryan, who ran onto another through ball, took it from the Centre Half and was then able to take it round the keeper and finish well. Aidan Murray followed this with a goal directly from a corner.

Lewis Osborne once again was at the heart of things, slotting a ball through for Aaron Morgan, who finished elegantly by kicking the ball over the keeper from 30 yards.

Football Development Manager, Colin Sharpe, commented, “It is great to get another win against such good opposition. What was even more pleasing was the fact that we limited them to only one shot on goal in the whole game, and that ball had gone out of play. I put this down to the way that the whole team defended and kept their shape out of possession, in particular Centre Half, George Higley, who had the his best game of the season by far.”

The college are still currently recruiting for this year’s courses simply visit www.dunstable.ac.uk/football for more information or contact csharpe@dunstable.ac.uk to find out more.

Next up for central beds is a home game against Oxford United.

In an exciting game against Oxford City, Central Beds came out top with a final score of 16-1 in their favour. It is not only an impressive score but also a College record and better still, a league record. This is another great accolade for Central Bedfordshire College with their strong Football Development Programme.

Bottom of the league Oxford City lay in wait for Central Beds and after a very close 4-3 game at home, Oxford were probably hoping for an upset against the top of the league on their home ground.

After such a disappointing result and performance from Central Beds last time these two sides met in the league, the team were told that another performance like that would not be acceptable. Even though Beds won the game and had four players missing on England trials.

Central Beds started the game brightly and were playing some fantastic football and they deservedly took the lead through Jake Bewley. Bewley was on hand again minutes later to double the lead with a great long range effort.

All the signs where there that it was going to be a good day for Central Beds as Morgan scored twice followed by a goal poachers finish by Bryn Reynolds, moments before the half time whistle. It was 5-0 at the break, with oxford not managing one effort on target.

Central Beds were warned at half time not to be complacent in the second half as they knew that Oxford would be coming out with all guns blazing as they were now playing for pride!

The second half became the Ellingham and Murray show as they notched up a staggering 9 goals between them with Ellingham getting 5 and Murray 4, his was followed up by two more from Reynolds to complete his hat-trick.

Football Development Manager, Colin Sharpe, commented, “We dominated the game from start to finished and could have scored more if had not been for the Goalkeeper. We remained professional throughout and worked very hard as a team to insure that they didn’t get sight of our goal. However they did nick a last minute consolation goal which was a good sign as they never gave up despite the score, which is a credit to them”

Next in line is a top of the league game against the only other unbeaten team in the league, 2^nd place Bedford.

Central Bedfordshire College got their first six pointer of the season over Birmingham City FC Community Trust. With five 1^st team players missing through injury and a 6 week Christmas break from matches it was interesting to see how top of the league Central Beds would start this game and they didn’t disappoint their manager or themselves.

They dominated the first half with all of the procession but were unable to make it count with a goal until a well worked set play was hit in by one of the City players right on the stoke of half time. City didn’t register a shot on target in the whole half.

With the second half underway Central Beds started well and scored just minutes in with a goal from Bryn Reynolds, this was followed shortly after by a great individual effort from Aidan Murray taking it to 3-0.

A piece of sloppy defending gifted Birmingham a free kick in a dangerous position and the city player took full advantage, catching the Central Beds keeper sleeping, making it 3-1. Central Beds didn’t loose their heads and continued to break up everything that City threw at them, this was mainly down to midfielder David O’Brien who was exceptional.

Top goal scorer, Ryan Ellingham, also got his name on the score sheet with a simple tap in after a great one touch move starting on the left and finishing at the back post.

Debutant Glenn Clark scored his first goal for the College by lobbing the goalkeeper from twenty yards with a move which he started from left back. Two minutes left on the clock and plenty of tired legs on the field, City found a half chance and managed to score in the second half of the game, followed shortly by the final whistle.

The first team are next in action against Oxford City FC.

Central Bedfordshire College are holding open trials at their Houghton Regis sports campus on Wednesday 17^th 12pm-2pm.

Oxford and Cherwell 3 vs.4 Dunstable College.

With Dunstable missing 4 key players away on England College’s trials and last year’s top goal scorer, Dunstable inevitably fielded a team weaker than usual. In this top vs. bottom clash, there was no sign of missing these influential figures as it was Dunstable who took the lead after 15 minutes of constant pressure with a 35 yard strike by man of the match David O’Brian.

Dunstable piled the pressure on with the O&C keeper having the game of his life in goal saving everything that was thrown at him. Once again, the pressure told as Dunstable increased their lead with a poachers finish from Jordan Riley. O&C Managed to scrape a goal right at the end of the 1^st half, after sloppy play by Josh Gooding. Gifting O&C a lifeline.

The 2^nd half began with O&C playing with more belief and that belief was rewarded with another bizarre goal, this time due to the misjudgement of a shot by Dunstable’s keeper. Dunstable realised they had a game on their hands and David O’Brian took the game by the scruff of its neck and scored 2 goals in the space of 5 minutes. Oxford pulled one goal back, but Dunstable held on with a few nervy moments, to maintain their 100% unbeaten record this season.

Defeat in the cup!

Loughborough 5 v Dunstable 3

Once again, for various reasons Dunstable again had to put a weaker side out against Loughborough College in the National Cup competition and they feel behind early on to a well executed move. Dunstable had their fair amount of chances but were unable to make them count. Loughborough had a further four more shots on target and scored with all of them making it 5-0 at the break.

Dunstable started the second half well, but again missed several chances that would have normally been put away however they did manage to score three times through Lewis Osborne 2 and Bryn Reynolds.

Dunstable next game before the college Christmas break is away to Birmingham FC at the premiership teams training ground.

Yet another away game lay ahead for Dunstable College, this time the hosts were Birmingham City FC Community Trust who are linked to the Premier League Giants.

The game was played at Premier League’s state of the art training ground, which is used to hosting youth teams such as Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and now Dunstable College 1^st team.

After a traffic delayed journey, the game finally got under way with Dunstable showing no signs of complacency after the last cup game. They moved the ball around really creating lots of opportunities to take the lead but were unable to make the possession count with a goal. It looked like it wasn’t going to be their day until top marksman Ryan Ellingham popped up to finish off a good move commencing from the left at close range taking his tally to 12 in 7, hence giving Dunstable a one nil lead at half time.

As expected Birmingham City came out with all guns blazing. Dunstable were resilient and were able to handle everything that was thrown at them with relative ease until Jake Bewley was deemed to of tripped one of their players inside the box awarding them with a penalty, which was put away well, making it 1-1.

This goal seem to motivate Dunstable even more as if they had a point to prove and the football that was played was exceptional and they deservedly took the lead again with a clinical finish from inform David Obrien to make it 2-1 to the visitors.

More flowing football followed the restart of the game and then another goal from skipper Lewis Osborne finishing off a great move. Dunstable could have scored more, hitting the woodwork twice in the later stages of the second half.

The game finished 3-1 to Dunstable College.

After the game the College received an accolade from the Birmingham City academy coach saying that was the best football he had seen in a long time and also the three officials stated they it was the best that they had seen in a few years.

Colin Sharpe, Football Development Manager at the College commented:

“To receive accolades from such experienced coaching staff of a premier league coach and from highly experienced officials is fantastic news for us. It shows the direction that Football Development Programme is heading in, and also shows all the hard work that has been put into the programme by myself, coaches and the players”

TWO OF DUNSTABLE Colleges players were also indentified at the game by an American University Scout, who was watching, regarding the opportunity to study and play in the United States after they have finished their college course.

To find out more about this exciting programme, which combines 3 A levels with quality football coaching and competitive college fixtures, then simply visit

Accolade.

Dunstable will be travelling to Cambridge for their next fixture.

Visit for www.dunstable.ac.uk/football for more information.

Dunstable College have been selected to host this year’s regional trails on behalf of the English Colleges Elite football league of which they participate in. Teams from the eastern region of the country that play in the ECFA have been invited to send their best three players to represent their colleges at the trial which will be held at the colleges sports campus that boasts as swimming pool, indoor football hall, basketball court, fully equipped gym, sauna steam and spa, sports therapy rooms and numerous grass football pitches.

The players that have been put forward will take part in an eleven vs. eleven game whilst being watched by the ECFA selectors Russell Horsley and Colin Sharpe, who will be responsible for selecting players for the next phase.

Successful players from our regional trial will then represent the South in an game vs the best players from the North. Then a final 22 players will be put forward to a training weekend at Lilleshal National Sports centre where the final squad will chosen to represent English colleges against opposition such as Estonia, Australia and Romania who they played against last season.

Dunstable College would like to wish their candidates the best of luck for their trial. The students that have been put forward are Lewis Osbourne, Kyrln Brookes-Lynch and Aaron Morgan with George Higley, Ryan Ellingham and Jake Bewley on standby.

Central Bedfordshire College are proud to announce an exciting development with two very exciting links with two American Universities, Tiffin University in Ohio and Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina.

The links will provide Central Bedfordshire College Students a fantastic opportunity to study, train and live in the United States.

Belmont Abbey’s Assistant Soccer Coach, Stuart Gore, visited Central Beds College whilst he was in the UK recruiting in the American off season. Stuart had been reading up on the college’s recent success in all three of their leagues and how the College is currently at the top and phoned ahead to see if he could come and watch the students play and train.

Stuart was that impressed with the talent that the college had to offer he immediately got in touch with his Manger and the link was set up, he also called the head coach Tiffin University, Ohio, and recommended to them that they also could benefit from a link to Central Bedfordshire College and that link has also been established.

Partnership

This partnership between the two universities will allow the Central Bedfordshire College students who meet the strict criteria to study their chosen degree to benefit from a fantastic experience living and studying in the United States. It will also allow them the opportunity to achieve their degree and graduate debt free.

Scholarships

Scholarships are only offered to students of the highest calibre both academically through their sporting excellence, in this case football. The students will receive an academic scholarship and a sporting scholarship which will pay for the majority of their tuition fees. Both of the schools fee are around $20,000 a year and our lucky students will only have to pay approximately $4000 depending on their grades and their footballing ability. On completion of their degree in the states the students will be debt free and be ready to start their careers.

Two students have already been offered scholarships and there is plenty of interest for next year.

Recruitment

Central Beds players will be recommended to the universities by Colin Sharpe the Football Development manager at the college on an annual basis. Stuart and the other American coaches will come over to the college in the off season to take a look at the players for themselves and check their academic grades with the college before the players are 100% selected and offered places. The college will also be invited over to the states to participate in tournaments against other colleges in Ohio and North Carolina.

Future

Overall these links with Belmont Abbey College and Tiffin University will allow Central Bedfordshire College a unique opportunity to send its most talented students to gain an American soccer scholarship in the states. Also this link will also attract more local players to the programme as Central Beds are the only college in the county that can offer such an excellent opportunity.

For more information on this exciting course simply

contact csharpe@centralbeds.ac.uk or visit www.centralbeds.ac.uk/football