Centurion milestones 2023-24
CENTURION MILESTONES
SEASON 2023-24
Following the conclusion of the 2023-24 season Cirencester Town Football Club announced that they had requested voluntary relegation from the Southern League after 28 years in the League - some of which had been spent in the Premier Division.
After completing the 2021-22 season in the ‘play-off’ positions of the Southern League – Division 1 South the Club were shunted across to the Southern League – Division 1 Central and in both the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons finished in 6th place – just outside the ‘play-off’ positions.
A commendable effort considering that for all but three of their ‘away’ fixtures there was a journey across the country of between 1.5 to 2.5 hours before and after every ‘away’ fixture and despite this as a collective they managed to finish in 6th place and record the 3rd best defence in terms of goals conceded and 3rd best goal difference - only bettered by the top two teams in the Division.
Many of The Centurions achieved personal milestones as detailed below alphabetically.
AIDAN BENNETT - joined the Club at the age of 5 years to progress through the Junior teams until he reached the First Team making - 449 appearances at Southern League level (348 starts and 101 substitute) and scoring 84 goals.
HARRY BURNS – joined The Centurions for the 2023-24 season and appeared in 35 of the 39 games played (34 starts, 1 substitute, 7 goals) and was awarded the ‘Supporters Player of the Year Trophy’.
WILL CHRISTOPHER – during an excellent season that was curtailed by injury Will reached 157 appearances (153 starts, 4 substitute, 5 goals). The two goals he scored last season were both spectacular strikes.
JOHN DENNIS – struggled with injuries that limited his appearances but during the season reached 63 appearances (49 starts, 14 substitute, 18 goals) before returning to Kiddlington F.C.
ELLIS DUNTON – first attended the Junior section of the Club as a 4-years old before progressing through to the First Team where he reached 374 appearances (345 starts, 29 substitute, 30 goals) before emigrating Australia in October 2023.
CHARLES JOHNSON – joined The Centurions at the beginning of the season and appeared in 30 of the 39 games played (25 starts, 5 substitute) – limited by injury.
JAKE LEE – also appeared for the Juniors before being recruited by Cheltenham Town at age 13-years. Jake has also played for a number of other Clubs in the local area (Bishops Cleeve, Weston-super-Mare, Swindon Supermarine) before returning to The Centurions. Last season he added another 31 starts to his tally to reach 122 appearances, adding 3 more goals to reach a total of 25.
He was awarded ‘Managers Player of the Year’ at the ‘End of Season Presentation Evening’.
REEGAN MESSENGER – another local lad that came through the Juniors to reach the First Team and during the season appeared in 35 of the 39 matches played, scoring 8 goals - reaching 77 appearances in total (62 starts, 15 substitute, 18 goals).
FELIX MILES – joined ‘The Centurions’ in October, on loan from Gloucester City, and marked his debut by scoring against Bedford Town who were top of the Division at the time. He went on to appear in 26 games in total (24 starts and 2 substitute) scoring 8 goals along the way.
At the ‘End of Season Presentation Evening’ he received the ‘Players Player of the Year Trophy’.
JORDAN MORRIS – following a 7-month absence, due to an injury sustained during the 2022-23 Season, he returned in November to take part in the County Cup match against Bishops Cleeve and went on to add 8 starts and 8 substitute appearances to bring his total appearances to 93 starts, 47 substitute, 5 goals.
JAMES MORTIMER-JONES – Assistant Manager ‘Jonah’ also made a substitute appearance in the above Cup match against Bishops Cleeve bringing his total to an impressive 370 appearances (338 starts, 32 substitute, 17 goals).
JOSH NELMES – after appearing in a further 8 games (6 starts, 2 substitute) to bring his total to 103 appearances (91 starts, 12 substitute, 7 goals) he left to join Bishops Cleeve in October.
STUART NELSON – returned to The Centurions (where it all started for him some 20-years previously as part of the Cirencester Town Academy - before embarking on a successful Professional Career with the likes of Brentford, Leyton Orient, Notts County, Aberdeen, Gillingham and Yeovil Town making some 475 appearances) and appeared in all 36 league matches and a couple of Cup games to bring his total for the season to an impressive 38 out of a possible 39 matches.
NICK PEARE – a local lad who appeared for a number of clubs before joining his home-town club from Yate Town a couple of years ago moved into defence, following the departure of Ellis Dunton and Josh Nelmes, and appeared in 32 games (26 starts, 6 substitute, 9 goals) to bring his total to 78 (47 starts, 31 substitute, 16 goals).
WILLEM POOLEY – came through the previous seasons Development Team to join the First Team squad and during the season started in 17 games and came off the bench in another 12 games. He popped up to score his only goal of the season against table-topping, and eventual Champions, Biggleswade Town deep into ‘added-time’ to secure victory for The Centurions.
He was awarded the ‘Young Player of the Year Trophy’ at the ‘End of Season Presentation Evening’.
LUCA ROBINSON – joined The Centurions at the beginning of the season and appeared in 34 of the 39 games (27 starts, 7 substitute) scoring 4 goals.
JOE TURLEY – appeared in 30 games during the season (29 starts, 1 substitute) to bring his total to 139 appearances (129 starts, 10 substitute).
BEN WHITEHEAD – returned to The Centurions at the end of October (from Swindon Supermarine) appeared in 25 games (18 starts, 7 substitute, 7 goals) to bring his total to 143 appearances (124 starts, 19 substitute, 107 goals).
A superb effort from everyone involved.
This entry was posted on 06 June 2024 at 22:24 and is filed under First Team | Miscellaneous. You can leave a response here.
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