The season review for 2005/2006 was a case of a good start, a poor middle and a good end. With the setup during the summer of a brand new team things looked good at the outset as they had secured the use of Pitch 1 down at Levers, had a new kit bought by the Village Hotel Wirral and arranged after match chip butties back at the hotel. So that first competitive match as FC Village turned out to be a somewhat disappointing defeat against a side that would never win another league and fold with two games left. After recording a double figures victory in their next game the side looked to be set up with some quality new signings in Ritchie Stenhouse, Chris Hughes and Stewart Morrell to go along with the lads who had played as part of Newton for the last couple of seasons. After a minor setback when they got hammered by a team that probably shouldn’t have been placed in Div 3 of the League along came a flurry of cup games against Div 2 teams which were all won. With the capture of Andy Sweeney up front things were looking rosy but suddenly that all changed when they were due to play a second leg cup tie. Only 8 players turned up for the start although by the end they did have 11 but they lost and so started a really bad run. Eight games, 8 defeats and nearly 3 months later it was before the team would win again. In this time the side saw the departure of Tommy and Brian (Paul and Liam had only played a handful of games between them) and with the likes of Harper, Graham, Moggett and Lowry all stalwarts of past seasons only making the odd appearance now and then things gradually got worse. Every Saturday morning seemed to turn in to a phone in to see if some players could be found who wanted a game of football as others couldn’t make or just didn’t answer. Eventually at the end of Jan they got a win but even in  this match they played nearly half of it with 10 men before new signing Ritchie Aspey turned up to help out. Manager Steve also made his debut in this game but the side turned in what would be their second best display of the season as they recorded a 5-1 win after going a goal down. By now they had seen Colin Newton and Steve Murray sign on but having got a good win under their belt saw the departure of Ritchie Stenhouse and Chris Hughes. So once more the next few games was a mixture of old hands plus new signings and guest players but in these last six games they only lost two and both losses were down to the ref more than how they performed. They also registered their best win of the season as they demolished the high flying Woodchurch Rangers by beating them convincingly 5-2 and knocking them off top spot although they still have two games left which they must win if they want to be champions. On a disappointing note the Village never got to play their last game as Smart Energy called it a day with two games left so the side got the points but not the satisfaction for that opening day defeat. This was one of the major concerns throughout the season as the Division saw both Wallasey Wanderers and Slak FC fold leaving just eight teams and then Smart Energy going right at the end. On the playing front as said the best performance came in the 5-2 win over Woodchurch and the worst was a 0-3 cup drubbing at the hands of old rivals Wirral Wanderers (the first time they have lost to them). The team used an incredible 42 players of which only 1 played in every game, that being Jay. Only 13 players played more than 10 games (21 were played) and 18 people played just the 1 or 2 games and not once did manager Steve manage to field the same team 2 weeks running. This was probably the main factor as why the side failed to do better than they actually did; no consistency. Had they been able to field their best 11 for most of the season then I’m sure they would have finished higher than they did. The result against Woodchurch proved they could win against the big boys and those three cup victories against Div 2 sides early in the season confirmed it. So overall not a bad first season as FC Village with the end showing encouraging signs for next year if they can get everyone to sign on. Jay, Booey, Nic, Leigh, Dava, Cottier, Currie, Gary and Sweeney were the main stays along with Colin and Muzza who joined late on. If they can manage to get a couple of more experienced players then next season could just be the one for them.