Post by sheffielddons on Sept 9, 2016 9:45:58 GMT
What a season this has been, going all the way to the wire before Sheffield lifted the EL title. The title win certainly puts Sheffield, previously known as Owlerton, in a league of their own when it comes to lifting silverware at all levels of the sport - the Dons have won the UL, PL, EL, AL and (now defunct) DL titles! The only comparable clubs are Aberavon (with wins in the UL, PL, AL & DL) and Rye (UL, PL & AL winners) in terms of winning silverware across all the leagues in the sport.
In the final analysis the title came down to bonus points with two sides scoring more match points and three others matching Sheffield's 19 point total but thanks to 8 bonus points picked up, from a possible 9, the Dons took the title by a 2 point margin over Falmouth. Falmouth were in fact the only side to beat Sheffield on aggregate over the whole season, once in the league and then crucially repeating the feat in the KOC Final to deny us a double. I guess in many respects the meetings that were close run for the bonus were the most important ones - a fantastic team display to win 91-89 at London and some heavy scoring from Simon Stevens and Iain Hines to do the same at Stockport. Our performance at Charlemont was also vital as we lost number 1 Iain Hines to injury in the first race but Stevens and Janek Bartousek really stepped up to ensure we took the aggregate point. Also we have faced two run offs for the extra point, including in our last meeting, Bartousek doing the job against Estuary and Jernej Keglovits likewise against Thornaby.
Looking down our side everyone has contributed throughout. Club legends Simon Stevens and Iain Hines, both having had testimonials with us, were excellent; whilst only maintaining their averages their away displays were vital and riding just 0.38 behind their combined figures away from home gave us a level of consistency some other sides didn't have. It's hard to say enough good things about Jernej Keglovits who came in to replace the injured Hines at the end of the season - particularly his 15 point maximum and runoff win in the final meeting plus he also scored 41 from his other 3 matches with us.
Janek Bartousek has made strides this year, just about holding his starting average on the away tracks and upping his figure by 0.75 overall with some excellent displays which suggest he is ready to go even further. Arlo Evaristo was steady and did was we needed from him, particularly at home where he rode nearly a point and a half over his starting average. Lukasz Szymkowiak was a little disappointed with his season, dropping over a point from his average, but once he dropped to reserve he turned in some key point winning displays for us.
Zoltan Stepukhin was the big success story of the season on a personal level and the Kazakhstani rider is developing into an excellent prospect; he picked up good scores at reserve as we expected he would but continued to do so after moving into the main team, from 10 in his first meeting after stepping up through to a vital heat 14 win in our last match. Zoltan is still young and I'd love him to come up to the PL with us and continue to challenge himself now. At the tail end we never found a breakthrough rider but Armando Danielli held his average for us, from the tricky number 6 spot, and his score of 7+2 at home to Blunsdon was a key performance. Daniel Gold came in to replace him and whilst he didn't kick on as hoped for he showed he has talent, no less so than when bagging 6+2 on his debut against Charlemont, and the lad has a future in the sport if he can get the right break.
To top off a wonderful season the side of course reached the KOC final, Hines and Stevens won the EL Pairs Final and JJ rider Lee McAuliffe progressed really well to finish joint 4th in the JJ standings. There has already been interest in Lee for next season and we will continue to watch his development with real interest.
We now wait to see how things fall once the leagues have been allocated for next season, which riders want to stay and we will build again for hopefully another season of moving the re-launched Sheffield Dons club forward. I can't imagine the club without Simon Stevens and Iain Hines involved so hopefully the pair will be back to lead us once more and I think if we can keep the more promising lads from last season we can compete at any level. I'm pretty sure Chantry will want to hang on to Stephen Trowbridge but, assuming we are in the PL, wouldn't it be wonderful to see all three of our testimonial men, still the only ones in the sport as far as I'm aware, back with us next season?!
In the final analysis the title came down to bonus points with two sides scoring more match points and three others matching Sheffield's 19 point total but thanks to 8 bonus points picked up, from a possible 9, the Dons took the title by a 2 point margin over Falmouth. Falmouth were in fact the only side to beat Sheffield on aggregate over the whole season, once in the league and then crucially repeating the feat in the KOC Final to deny us a double. I guess in many respects the meetings that were close run for the bonus were the most important ones - a fantastic team display to win 91-89 at London and some heavy scoring from Simon Stevens and Iain Hines to do the same at Stockport. Our performance at Charlemont was also vital as we lost number 1 Iain Hines to injury in the first race but Stevens and Janek Bartousek really stepped up to ensure we took the aggregate point. Also we have faced two run offs for the extra point, including in our last meeting, Bartousek doing the job against Estuary and Jernej Keglovits likewise against Thornaby.
Looking down our side everyone has contributed throughout. Club legends Simon Stevens and Iain Hines, both having had testimonials with us, were excellent; whilst only maintaining their averages their away displays were vital and riding just 0.38 behind their combined figures away from home gave us a level of consistency some other sides didn't have. It's hard to say enough good things about Jernej Keglovits who came in to replace the injured Hines at the end of the season - particularly his 15 point maximum and runoff win in the final meeting plus he also scored 41 from his other 3 matches with us.
Janek Bartousek has made strides this year, just about holding his starting average on the away tracks and upping his figure by 0.75 overall with some excellent displays which suggest he is ready to go even further. Arlo Evaristo was steady and did was we needed from him, particularly at home where he rode nearly a point and a half over his starting average. Lukasz Szymkowiak was a little disappointed with his season, dropping over a point from his average, but once he dropped to reserve he turned in some key point winning displays for us.
Zoltan Stepukhin was the big success story of the season on a personal level and the Kazakhstani rider is developing into an excellent prospect; he picked up good scores at reserve as we expected he would but continued to do so after moving into the main team, from 10 in his first meeting after stepping up through to a vital heat 14 win in our last match. Zoltan is still young and I'd love him to come up to the PL with us and continue to challenge himself now. At the tail end we never found a breakthrough rider but Armando Danielli held his average for us, from the tricky number 6 spot, and his score of 7+2 at home to Blunsdon was a key performance. Daniel Gold came in to replace him and whilst he didn't kick on as hoped for he showed he has talent, no less so than when bagging 6+2 on his debut against Charlemont, and the lad has a future in the sport if he can get the right break.
To top off a wonderful season the side of course reached the KOC final, Hines and Stevens won the EL Pairs Final and JJ rider Lee McAuliffe progressed really well to finish joint 4th in the JJ standings. There has already been interest in Lee for next season and we will continue to watch his development with real interest.
We now wait to see how things fall once the leagues have been allocated for next season, which riders want to stay and we will build again for hopefully another season of moving the re-launched Sheffield Dons club forward. I can't imagine the club without Simon Stevens and Iain Hines involved so hopefully the pair will be back to lead us once more and I think if we can keep the more promising lads from last season we can compete at any level. I'm pretty sure Chantry will want to hang on to Stephen Trowbridge but, assuming we are in the PL, wouldn't it be wonderful to see all three of our testimonial men, still the only ones in the sport as far as I'm aware, back with us next season?!