Football Review – A Non-League Football Review

At the end of the 2021/22 season, Sporting Bengal United had suffered relegation to the Eastern Counties League Division One South. They had been in the Essex Senior League after they transferred from the Kent Football League at the beginning of the 2011/12 season, but after 10 years, the club had suffered relegation.

Their first season at Step 5 had seen the club finish 11th with 39 points. It had been an impressive first season in the division as they mingled with Hullbridge Sports, Sawbridgeworth Town and Eton Manor in mid-table before they finished 11th and 14th in the two seasons that followed. Despite finishing bottom of the division at the end of the 2015/16 season, Bengal remained at Step 5. Steve Clark had joined the club in 2015, but after some time away, he re-joined the club in January 2022 after a short time as manager of Wingate & Finchley.

“Myself and Anwar Uddin were embarking on our first managerial appointment together and the club was local to us. Anwar being a close friend of mine, and both being from east London, it was something the club approaching him about and that’s where it started” said Steve.

“I came back to Sporting in early 2022 when the club were bottom of the ESL with only four points on the board. I believed I could keep them in the division but this wasn’t to be. Those four months was an incredibly challenging period, but its a period where I learnt a lot about myself and I was keen to succeed.”

Another mid-table finish in 2016, had been followed by a 19th place finish before they recorded their best finish in the league with a 10th place finish, but they bettered that in 2018/19, finishing eighth. The 2018/19 season had seen them pick up three more points than the previous one, showing their growth in the division. After the two covid hit seasons in 2019/20 and 2020/21, the club struggled upon the return of football. After 40 games, three wins and four draws had meant they were 14 points from safety and faced relegation.

“Having been relegated, the club underwent huge changes,” he explained. “We went about building an entirely new team which we hoped would be able to compete in the top half of the table. Of course there were aspirations to do well and having so many new players, success can sometimes take longer than expected.”

He continued, “As the weeks went by, the team started to improve and results were beginning to form some consistency. We were unbeaten in the FA Vase, having gone out to Deal Town in a penalty shootout. On that journey, we had some huge results and should have progressed further into the competition, but it wasn’t to be.”

A 7-0 loss to Stanway Pegasus had begun the 2022/23 season for Bengal, but they had soon found their feet in the division as the recorded victories over Cannons Wood, Wivenhoe Town and Newbury Forest before they faced a second defeat to Wormley Rovers.

Back-to-back losses with defeats against Burnham Ramblers and NW London had been followed by a single win over Tower Hamlets, but they had lost again, to Hackney Wick. They returned to winning ways in style with four straight victories beating Coggeshall United, Stanway Pegasus [in the reverse fixture], Barkingside and St Margaretsbury but a draw [to Burnham] and a defeat to Frenford brought that to an end before they ended the season with just three defeats in 19 games, putting them 4th in the table. That finish had seen them play Wormley Rovers in the play-off semi-finals after their opponents had finished third.

Against Wormley in the semi-finals, goals from Shermandin Artmeladze and Matthew Ball had been enough for a 2-0 victory, pitting Sporting Bengal against Stanway Pegasus in the final after their rivals had beaten Basildon Town [in the other semi-final].

“Having made the final following our win over Wormley, we knew we would be facing a team that were better than their finishing position. We had to also deal with playing the fixture away from home despite finishing 4th in the league as Mile End had closed for the athletics season.”

He explained, “The expectation at this point was to win, and to regain our position at Step 5. I felt the team was more than good enough to make the playoff, but to win it was not something I felt would happen and not something the club had ever achieved previously.”

Max Booth and Callum Griffith had scored for Pegasus but a double from Daniel Jones meant the game had ended on even terms and progressed to penalties to decide a winner. It was there that Sporting Bengal United won 4-2 securing a return to the Essex Senior League at first time of asking.

Ahead of the 2023/24 season, Steve knew what he wanted to target for the season, but whether it happened was something completely different.

“My target for the season was to finish fifth. Having met the board, they were keen to understand what the expectations were and so I informed them we could make the playoff and potentially gain promotion again by doing so. There is no doubt that my ambitions had surprised the board but at the same time very excited to see what may materialise.”

Two wins and a draw had given Steve Clark’s men an unbeaten start of the season, before their first loss of the season had come against eventual champions Tilbury. Despite the defeat, Bengal returned to winning ways as they embarked on a 7-game unbeaten run, ended by Woodford Town, but again, back-to-back victories got them back of their way towards where they wanted to be.

A 3-0 defeat against Frenford was followed by five wins [coming against Halstead Town, Coggeshall Town, Buckhurst Hill, Hullbridge Sports and Ilford, but that run was brought to an end by Great Wakering Rovers. The Bengals could only manage a draw against Stanway Rovers before they faced a defeat to Little Oakley, but despite a win over Coggeshall Town, their form dropped. Five consecutive defeats for the east London club had made it a tough run, but they ended the season with a 9-game unbeaten run, putting them fifth. Despite the bad form, they managed to beat Wakering to the final play-off spot by three points. The final positions in the table meant Sporting Bengal United faced 2nd-place Woodford Town whilst Romford hosted Barking.

“The fixture against Woodford was another chess match. There was a lot of match ups across the pitch with both teams playing very similar systems and I felt the Woods were very disciplined in their approach which stifled and frustrated us. Once we got to grips with them and settled into the game I felt we were too strong and should have taken the game away from them before the final whistle.”

The semi-final with Woodford had finished one-a-piece. James Jewers had put the Woods just ahead before the half-time break, but following the sending off of Enock Soganile, Sporting were able to level the game through Joe Gregory. The tie was decided from the spot, with Clark’s men edging it 5-4 and setting up a final with Romford, who had edged Barking 1-0. Although Woodford were higher in the table and favourites to progress, the mentality of the Bengal boys meant the tie was never that straightforward.

“The mentality of the team had developed throughout the season. Mentality is built of the back of consistency and a dedication to a particular way of playing. The core of the group were the leaders in demonstrating that mentality and the work ethics which is then picked up by the players coming in and the younger less experienced players. To do what we did in the circumstances we faced required so much more than just winning mentality.”

Again Romford remained favourites for promotion. The Boro had finished 3rd, level on points with Woodford and just below the Woods having conceded one more goal, but how it looked on paper wasn’t defining in how the tie would go.

“We felt Romford were a top side: resilient and ruthless and packed with experience and know how. We prepared the players for what was going to be the toughest game of our season against a team who on paper were the favourites, but in order to beat any top side you must try to find their weaknesses and exploit them. We felt we knew what that particular weaknesses was and and so we used that to our advantage. Did I think we were capable of going 3-0 up? Absolutely not!” He explained before continuing. “The way we were operating over the last 4 weeks, I could not see how we were going to lose. It is sometimes difficult to figure out how to win certain games, and sometimes it takes me all week to figure that out, but on the day of the final, the energy amongst the group was so bright and so strong that Romford were up against an impossible force they simple could not overcome. It was just a group who believed they could do the impossible and that’s what we did.”

“To see your team go 3-0 up, you are literally left shell shocked. The players were in charge and the only job I had to do was encourage. They were in the zone of pure enjoyment. That feeling where you are not thinking, you are just playing. Almost like a dream where you are playing with no fear and complete freedom.”

Jay Knight had got Bengal on their way with a goal in the 32nd minute, before a quick fire double from Joe Gregory and Rian Patel had put the Bengals well ahead in the tie before Romford added a consolation goal. The performance had come from what the club had worked on all season, paying off when it mattered and putting Sporting Bengal in a position they had never been before. With them reaching new heights ahead of the 2024/25 season, Steve Clark remained optimistic and looking forward to the new season.

“The club have been so good to me in all the time I have been here. I have been given everything I have asked for and there has never been anything but support. The board have given me complete autonomy over the club and without that freedom to express myself none of this would be possible. The club and myself will now set some new targets and that will be agreed when we meet next week to plan a way forward. I have no doubt the chairman will want more success so let’s wait and see. For me it will be about learning about the division and the level of opposition and then once we find our feet we can then start looking at loftier expectations when the time is right.”