Union of Football Academies Season 5 Roundup

Division 1
Faversham Town claimed the UFA title for the 3rd time in their history, beating off the challenge of Relegation Fodder to top the table by 6 points having only lost four games all season. Strawberry Fields pipped Wymondham FC to third place by just a single point, resigning Wymondham to their worst finish in the UFA to date.

At the bottom of the table Queens Park Stone Age, Derry City and FC Dallas were relegated, with Linton Brown finishing 2 points clear of the relegation zone on 29 points.

• UFA Division 1 Player of the Season: Thom Bjork - for the second season running, an average rating of 7.90, including 49 goals and 6 assists from his 33 appearances for title winners Faversham Town.
• UFA Division 1 Golden Boot: Thom Bjork - An amazing 49 goals in 33 appearances for Faversham Town, his UFA second golden boot award.
• UFA Division 1 Golden Gloves: Saul Blanco - 15 clean sheets in 33 appearances for Wymondham FC.

Division 2
4ytry made short work of their first season in the UFA, winning the Division 2 title with a 9 point lead at the top of the table, they will be joined in Division 1 next season by The Mighty Iron and Wilbury Wanderers. Huish FC will be kicking themselves after missing out on promotion by just a single point following a final day showdown with Wilbury to decide 3rd place. A 0-0 draw was enough to see Wilbury retain 3rd spot. This is the second season in a row that Huish have Narrowly missed out on promotion to Division 1, but their young squad has time on their side yet.

• UFA Division 2 Player of the Season: Manuel Cagliano - an average rating of 7.33, including 2 goals and 14 assists from his 30 appearances for The Mighty Iron.
• UFA Division 2 Golden Boot: Rudy Ahamada - 33 goals in 33 appearances for 4ytry.
• UFA Division 2 Golden Gloves: Diego Hernandez - 19 clean sheets in 34 appearances for title winners 4ytry.

UFA Challenge Cup
Relegation Fodder met last seasons beaten finalists Hammers United in a final that got off to a slow start with both teams defenses dominating the opposition forward line. The first goal of the match came from a lightning quick counter attack, with Hammers' players commited up field for a freekick on the edge of the area, Fodder's Enrique Galvan intercepted the cross and hit a 40 yard pass upfield for an unmarked Lima Ferreira to latch onto and dispatch past Alan James in the Hammers' goal.

Relegation Fodder sealed their first Challenge Cup victory in the 82nd minute courtesy of an excellent goal from subsititute Marcelo. Following excellent work from Bernardi down the wing, Marcelo took a first time shot from just outside the penalty area smashing the ball into the far corner of the goal leaving James grasping at thin air.

UFA Super Cup
The UFA Super Cup saw this year's Challenge Cup victors Relegation Fodder attempt to defend the Super Cup they won against Wymondham last season. Meeting them in the final was Cat Vegas' Birmingham Bearded Women.

The capacity crowd only had to wait 10 minutes for a goal; Mariano Gamboa heading in from a corner kick to put the Fodder 1-0 up. Fabio Bernardi made it 2-0 shortly after the hour mark and it looked like BBW were going to be on the end of a heavy defeat at this point. On the 50 minute mark BBW thought they had pulled a goal back when Calle's deflected shot looped over Lynch in goal, but it was ruled out for offside. 10 minutes later, on 64 minutes they finally scored a deserved goal when Andre Teixeira broke the offside trap and slotted past the onrushing 'keeper.

With 15 minutes left to play BBW drew level when Mickael Forest rose above a flat footed defense to head in at the near post from a corner kick. From such a comfortable position Relegation Fodder looked in serious danger of capitulating under the pressure from BBW, however the Fodder's two star players linked up expertly to score the winning goal in the 77th minute, Teixeira's defense splitting pass to Bernardi allowing him to round the keeper and slot home experly from a tight angle for his second of the match.


UFA U19 Division 1
The UFA U19 Division 1 season saw the most amazing title battle this writer has ever seen, with a single point seperating the top five teams. Last years champion's, Relegation Fodder, defended their crown claiming the title by a single point over a chasing pack of 4 teams who all finished on 75 points -- Balls of Steel, Wandsworth Rovers, Strawberry Fields and Ariadni FC could only be seperated by goal difference after a 34 game long season. 2nd and 3rd place was only decided by +2 goal difference.

• UFA U19 Division 1 Player of the Season: Marcelo Souza Campos - an average rating of 7.52, including 33 goals and 7 assists from his 32 appearances for Wandsworth Rovers.
• UFA U19 Division 1 Golden Boot: Marcelo Souza Campos - 33 goals in 32 appearances for Wandsworth Rovers.
• UFA U19 Division 1 Golden Gloves: Davor Krajnc - 19 clean sheets in 32 appearances for Wandsworth Rovers.