C O M M E N T S
/  H I G H L I G H T S

ICIS 3

equal 7th out of 20

FAC

Prelim

Canterbury City

0-1

FAV

1st

Cowes Sports

2-5

LC

Prelim

Aveley

0-3

SSC

Prelim

Egham Town

1-3

AMT

Final

Bedford Town

0-2

SCC

2nd

Hampton

1-2

Chairman

Peter Atkins

Secretary

Dave Wilson

Treasurer

Peter Atkins

Manager

Adrian Hill

Home
Ground:

Banstead Athletic F.C.

Club start
their own News Line 0930-555-916

June 97 Steve Smith presents trophies with Kenneth
Wolstenholme at Bourne Hall for the Epsom Eagles

Presentation
in the Epsom Youth League.

June 97 ICIS League Division 3 is expanded to 20 teams as
Corinthian Casuals, Croydon Athletic and Ford

United join.

3/7/97
Training starts at Court Rec.

July 97 Tim Smith leaves for Redhill, Graham Meakin has
joined Southall and Alan Galloway is at Wealdstone,

while Paul
Bunter joins from Tring. Geoff Smyrk also joins in goal.

1997/98 Matt
Fowler moves up from Carshalton Youth to first team

1997/98 Neil
Robson still at Carshalton

24/7/97 Epsom
win 2-1 at Collingwood Rec v Sutton Reserves.

2/8/97 A good
1-0 win at Wick but kept in the game by some good saves by on loan keeper
Paul Smith.

7/8/97 Epsom
score first but lose 4-1 v Tooting & M away. Prog Y.

9/8/97 A 35 yard free kick from Boorman ensures that Epsom
lead at HT but they lose 2-1 at Chipstead in

the last
seconds.

12/8/97
Originally planned to have a friendly at Merstham, but I don't believe that
this was played.

16/8/97 First
opening day win since 1990 as Epsom get a 2-1 result at Wingate &
Finchley. 45 year old

Barry Silkman
was still at Wingate & Finchley, but it was a very hot day, and he
struggled.

19/8/97 Epsom
go 4-0 down at Clapton after 35 minutes, but get two back before the end.

23/8/97 Epsom
go behind but draw 1-1 at home to Camberley as Nimmo headed in Boorman's
corner.

26/8/97 Epsom
are battered 3-0 at Aveley in League Cup Prelim Round. Jones and Rawlinson
were out

injured and
Boxall was away on business.

30/8/97 A late
winner for Canterbury City sends Epsom out of the FA Cup at the first stage
again.

Boorman had a goal disallowed for offside and a clear
penalty for handball refused in the first half. Jones and

Rawlinson were
still out injured.

Aug 97 reference to Roy Marlow a sprightly pensioner who
ran a greengrocer's shop in Ewell before becoming

a sales rep
and retiring to Chessington. A former player who lived in Bramham Gardens,
Chessington is

having his
book Beyond the Wire re-published in paperback. Originally came out in
hardback in 1983.

He has a son
in Cambridge and two grandchildren.

31/8/97 Death of Princess Diana. Her funeral is to be held
on 6/9/97 and so all matches are p/p that day.

Sept 97 Jamie
Buckley joins Leatherhead from Kingstonian

Sept 97 Mark
Freeborough joins Cor Cas from Kingstonian

7/9/97 As a result, Epsom travel to Aveley on the Sunday
morning at 11.30 where they had been hammered

twice in the last five months. This time it was different,
as they recovered from a 3rd minute goal to fight back.

A fantastic Boxall goal, clipping the ball in from well
out wide set the tone and Webb got the winner after 66

minutes as
Epsom survived 6 minutes of injury time.

13/9/97 Banstead are at home, so Epsom travel to Dorking
for their home match with Tring, which the visitors

win with a
controversial penalty after Boxall had given them the lead. Tring hadn't even
appealed for it!

Sept 97 ICIS have financial difficulties and the Isthmian
League drop the name from the sponsorship. It is

replaced by
Ryman a few weeks later.

20/9/97 Epsom get a good draw at Camberley. Much better
than recent games. Unchanged for the fourth

consecutive
game. A possible Epsom penalty shout was ignored in the final minutes.

27/9/97 Epsom defeat the eventual Champions Hemel
Hempstead 2-1 at Merland Rise. Tony Boorman scored

with a free kick after 28 minutes while Hemel were setting
up their wall. Bunter got the winner with 14 left.

30/9/97 Epsom extend their away league scoring run to 40
but lose 4-3 at Dorking. The four Dorking goals

were scored by
former player Marc Rivers and future player James Earp with two each.

Oct 97 Jamie
Buckley joins Hayes from Leatherhead

4/10/97 Epsom win at Three Bridges 3-1 in an FA Vase tie.
Epsom only looked good in the final 30 minutes,

where goals
from subs Cawthorne and Steve Smith won the tie after HT was 1-1.

11/10/97
Flackwell (H) is p-p as Flackwell were in the FA Cup. Rearranged for 3/2/98.

Oct 97 former
player Clive Gartell departs his position as Molesey Manager.

Oct 97 former
player Murray Jones transfers from Crawley Town to Sutton United.

Oct 97 former
player Warren Burton transfers from Sutton United to Banstead Athletic.

18/10/97 Epsom are battered at Ford United and trail 5-0
before Micky Owen scores in the final minutes. Ford

then scored a
6th to win 6-1. Only 1-0 at HT. Parish HT for Ford.

25/10/97 Epsom lead but lose to Hertford 2-1 at Merland
Rise. They remain unbeaten. Controversial winner.

28/10/97
Epsom depart the SSC 1-3 at home to Division Two Egham, despite leading 1-0
at HT through

Danny
Arkwright.

1/11/97
Kingsbury (A) is p-p as Epsom have a FA Vase match. Rearranged for 2/12/97.

1/11/97 Epsom's dream trip to play on the Isle of Wight in
the FA Vase turns into a nightmare, as Epsom are

"udderly terrible" at Cowes. The Surrey Comet
headline summed it up but they finished with nine men after an

appallingly one sided refereeing display. Bennett was sent
off after pushing away a player who had run 40

yards to get
involved in an argument, and Kevin Webb was sent off for retaliating after
being badly fouled.

8/11/97 Epsom beat Southall 6-0 but at 1-0 an accidental
collision leaves keeper Geoff Smyrk with a broken

leg after 50
minutes. Nigel Bennett went in goal.

12/11/97 Matt
Elliott plays for Scotland making his debut by benefit of a maternal
grandmother Agnes.

Game is v
France @ St Etienne.

15/11/97 Dave Hyatt returns to the club but Nigel Bennett
and Kevin Webb start three match bans as Epsom

let another lead slip, this time at East Thurrock where
they are defeated 3-1. Andy Nimmo had scored after 8

minutes but
they were only ahead for six minutes.

22/11/97
Corinthian Casuals (H) is p/p. Waterlogged.

25/11/97 Two brilliant goals in extra time by Andy Boxall
and a superb keeping performance by Hyatt earn

Epsom a 2-1
Amt win at Bracknell. 0-0 after 90 minutes.

27/11/97 Former coach in the early seventies Eamonn
Mulligan died aged 60. He was also captain of the

Epsom Bowling
Club. He had previously had a leg amputated and was in failing health.

29/11/97 Nimmo
is also now suspended as Epsom get a 1-1 draw at Harlow. A well deserved
point.

Former
International Captain David Howell (39) played for Harlow.

Nov 97 Club
announce that they have brought forward the Aveley game forward from 1/1/98
to 23/12/97.

Dec 97 Dave
Hyatt rejoins from Banstead Athletic

Dec 97
J.Elliott joins from Sutton United

2/12/97 Epsom win 1-0 at Kingsbury although scorer Andy
Rawlinson is sent off for comments made to the

referee about not allowing a substitution quickly enough.
He was sent off so the sub didn't go ahead anyway!

6/12/97 Andy Boxall scored after 38 seconds and gets
another in the second half as Epsom win 2-1 at Lewes.

Epsom are now
up to tenth place.

10/12/97 former player James Dack plays for Ryman League v
FA XI at Kingstonian while with Sutton United.

He also
represents Ryman League v Combined Services FA at Imber Court on 4th Feb
1998.

Dec 97 former
player Noel Frankum transfers from Molesey to Leatherhead.

13/12/97 In a strange game with Ware at Merland Rise,
there are no goals until the last six minutes when the

visitors scored. Epsom equalised on 90 only for Ware to go
down the other end and score again for a 2-1 win.

20/12/97 A late goal (86) from Andy Nimmo preserves the
scoring record at Hornchurch, where they take a 1-1

draw from
Bridge Avenue. Paul Bunter unwell at HT and replaced by Graham Berry. Two
points dropped.

23/12/97 Aveley (H) is p-p. Waterlogged. Prog Y.
Rearranged for 24/3/98. All games off this day in Division 3.

27/12/97 Two
goals from Kevin Webb help Epsom to a 3-1 win over Croydon Athletic at
Merland Rise.

Rawlinson
missed this game with his two match suspension after his Kingsbury sending
off. Andy

Boxall mispen
(HIGH) at 0-0 after 34 minutes but Epsom produced a solid performance.

Jan 98 Warren
Burton joins Banstead from Sutton

Jan 98
S.Ireland joins Walton from Woking

Jan 98 David
Jones joins Hampton from Sutton

Jan 98 Jamie
Buckley joins Carshalton from Hayes - former Fulham Junior

Jan 98
A.Munslow joins Chipstead from Epsom

3/1/98 Epsom
have no game this week.

Jan 98 former
player Alan Galloway transfers from Wealdstone back to Southall.

10/1/98 Epsom lead at HT but a highly controversial goal
in stoppage time gives Tring an equaliser. A player

looked offside but the linesman had slipped and couldn't
indicate that this was the case. Then right at the end,

Tring broke
for goal but the whistle blew as the player was clean through.

13/1/98 Epsom claim the scalp of another Division 2 side
in the AMT beating Windsor & Eton 4-1 at home.

Nimmo was ill, Bunter was injured and Boorman was working
in Switzerland and Chris Wood left the field with

a broken nose after 26 minutes. Martin Jones returned to
action as a late sub. They face Marlow (H) in QF.

17/1/98
Wingate & F (H) is p-p. Waterlogged. Rearranged for 21/4/98.

Jan 98 former layer Alan Pardew joins Whyteleafe where he
meets up with his former teammate Lee Richardson

who is Manager there. Both played for Epsom briefly just
after the Pat O'Connell walkout. Apparently, this

was Pardew's
first ever club as he joined them in 1978 from school.

24/1/98 Epsom win 3-2 at Wodson Park to gain revenge for
Ware's 2-1 win in December. Two goals in a minute

for a full strength Epsom, who have now lost just one game
in ten (v Ware). Epsom were behind after 16 but

goals from Boxall and Webb on the 42 and 43 minute mark
were added to by Nimmo in the second half. A late

Ware goal made
no difference.

27/1/98 Epsom win 4-2 at Walton & H, who field their
reserve side in the SCC tie. Bennett has chicken pox.

Bunter was out
injured and Steve Smith injured after 19 minutes. Joao Tome debut replacing
Boxall.

31/1/98 Epsom
fail to score in a league match for the first time this season as they lose
1-0 at home to

Clapton. Only
the second time in 54 league games that Epsom have failed to score. 86th
minute winner.

3/2/98 Epsom
edge past Flackwell 1-0 on a Tuesday evening at Merland Rise.

7/2/98 Epsom lose 1-0 at Champions elect Hemel Hempstead,
and fail to score in an away league match for

the first time in 49 attempts. A fantastic record ends.
Neither team looked like scoring, but Hemel got the

winner after
78 minutes.

Feb 98 former
player Murray Jones transfers from Sutton United to Tooting & Mitcham
United.

10/2/98 Epsom bounce back with a 2-1 win over Marlow in
the Associate Members Trophy Quarter Final. This

was the third Division 2 side they have beaten in the
competition and will now play at Wealdstone in the Semi-

Final. Epsom
went behind after only 4 minutes but while Marlow were briefly down to ten
men, Epsom

levelled it up through Kevin Webb after a corner was
flicked on. Chris Wood then scored after 33 minutes to

put them ahead
for good. The ball went through a hole in the net, which was repaired at HT.

14/2/98 Good form continues with a 2-1 win over Dorking at
Merland Rise. It was patchy though, sometimes

great, and at other times average. Andy Boxall scored with
a 30 yard free kick after 11 minutes against keeper

Chris Roberts, who would find himself at Epsom in 2007/08.
Dorking equalised in the second half, but Nimmo

restored the
lead after 72 minutes.

17/2/98 A Nimmo goal saw Epsom ahead at Hampton at HT in
Southern Combination Cup, but two goals in five

minutes lost
the match 2-1

21/2/98 One of Epsom's best displays of the season as they
crush Flackwell 3-0 at Wilks Park. Martyn Jones

limped off after 19 minutes with an injured hamstring so
Kevin Webb went further forward and scored twice.

24/2/98 Poor
performance sees a 1-0 defeat at home to Corinthian Casuals

28/2/98 Ford
then do the same on the Saturday as they also score the only goal in the
second half.

Mar 98 Craig
Belgrave joins from Croydon Athletic

7/3/98 Epsom lead at HT but second half defensive mistakes
again cost them, this time at Hertford. Wood and

Bunter were out but Epsom dominated and Steve Smith scored
just before HT, but goals after 77 and 90 won

the game for
the hosts.

March 98 Paul
Smith joins Epsom from Croydon Athletic. Would go on to play in the Football
League.

14/3/98 Epsom
score twice in a minute to beat Kingsbury 2-0 at home. Kingsbury are bottom
and a very

young side, and although Hyatt had a fairly quiet
afternoon, it was still hard work for the outfield players to

break the
visitors down. A Boorman free kick broke the deadlock after 36 minutes, and
Nimmo after 37.

17/3/98 Epsom travel to Edgware to do battle with high
flying Wealdstone in the Semi-Final of the AMT, and a

first half
goal from Andy Rawlinson (11th minute) saw them through 1-0.

21/3/98 Epsom
fall back to earth with a 1-0 defeat at Tring to Southall. They beat them 6-0
earlier in the

season. An unattractive game. Graham Meakin and Alan
Galloway both played for Southall. Stuart Miller is

also there but is currently injured. Bunter and Cawthorne
came in for the rested Kevin Webb and Micky Owen.

It transpires that professional snooker player Alfie
Burden is on Southall's books. Did he play in this match?

24/3/98 Epsom bounce back with an emphatic 4-2 victory
over Aveley. It looked like Epsom would be 2-0 up

at HT but they pulled one back just before HT with a harsh
penalty and equalised 35 seconds into the second

half. Goals
from Steve Smith and Bunter from 25 yards ensured the win.

28/3/98 Even better this day as Epsom hammer East Thurrock
United 7-2. Apparently the Thurrock keeper had

boasted before the match that he had never conceded a goal
at Merland Rise! 7-2 was harsh as Epsom took

advantage of the visitors pressing forward to try and save
the game, and their slim promotion hopes. They even

had more of the ball. Epsom scored first after 38 minutes
and a Boxall free kick made it 2-0 at HT (41). Kevin

Webb was booked and will now miss the game against Harlow
on 11/4/98. Boxall HT taking his tally to 21.

Apr 98 Steve
Agutter joins Cor Cas from Molesey

Apr 98 P.Smith
joins from Croydon Athletic

4/4/98 Epsom win 1-0 at Corinthian Casuals to gain revenge
for their earlier home loss by the same score.

It was Epsom's third straight win on a windy day and moved
them up to ninth. Nimmo was out injured while

Casuals were
missing their leading scorer Clifford West the former Auriol Schoolboy.
Former keeper

Clive Offer played for Corinthian Casuals. Epsom scored
with the wind and held on against it in the second half.

11/4/98 Harlow
(H) is p-p. Waterlogged. Prog Y.

14/4/98 Wingate & Finchley (H) is brought forward to
this date from 21/4/98 as Epsom were in the Vandanel

Trophy Final. It saw Epsom's fourth straight win 2-0. Game
only just went ahead due to sleet before the match.

Kevin Webb was out for this game suspended but goals from
Steve Smith and Andy Rawlinson saw off the

visitors.

18/4/98 Epsom extend the run as Lewes are beaten 4-0.
Lewes mispen (HIGH) at 0-0 after 16 minutes, but a

controversial penalty award to Epsom was scored by Steve
Smith after Rawlinson had limped off after the

challenge from the keeper. Epsom scored again in the 46th
minute, and Lewes fell apart. They had only got 4

draws in
seventeen away matches up to this game.

21/4/98
Associate Members Trophy Final at Hendon. Lost 2-0 to Bedford Town,
despite

hitting the
woodwork three times in the second half, as Epsom already trailed 2-0

at HT. They arrived only half an hour before the kick off
due to coach problems. Bedford scored

after 29
minutes and again after 42 as a shot deflected in off Nigel Bennett.

21/04/98 Team
Photo in programme - get  a better copy
of this. When was it taken?

25/4/98 Epsom lead 2-1 largely thanks to Matt Purcell's
swerving 25 yard strike after 16 minutes which put

Epsom 2-0 up. HT 2-1, but the second half saw Epsom
concede four times. Epsom stay seventh. Purcell was

making his
full debut having joined from Croydon Athletic!

27/4/98 Epsom
lose 3-2 at home to Harlow Town who gain promotion with this result.

May 98 Nigel Webb, Tony Webb and Noel Frankum all play for
Leatherhead in the Suburban League Cup

Final winning
3-1 on penalties after a 3-3 draw aet

2/5/98 The final game of the season saw Epsom behind at HT
after leading, but settle for a 2-2 draw at home to

Hornchurch.
Near the end a Martyn Jones header hit the bar with the keeper beaten.

It transpires that Paul Smith who played in goal this day
would go on to play League football. He left us for

Walton & H before joining Brentford. He was then
signed for £500k by Southampton where he was on the

bench at Old
Trafford in January 2004.

2/5/98 Annual Presentation at Cuddington Golf Club. Prog
Y. Andy Nimmo was named as Player of the Year

and Danny Arkwright got the Players Player of the Year.
Ricky Dymond won Reserve Player of the Year and

Joao Tome won the Reserve Team Players Player of the Year.
Adrian Hill won the Clubman of the Year award

while Micky Hudson won the Most Improved Player of the
Year award. A special award also for Dave Wilson

to mark his 25
years service at the club.

May 98 Former
player Jimmy Dack wins Sutton United Player of the Year award.

Joe Francis is
at Kingstonian and Neil Robson is at Carshalton Athletic with Les Cleeveley..

Reserves:   Suburban League South Division

Position  11th (15)

Dorking resigned, only 15 finished season

SLC

1st

Slough Town

2-3

SPC

2nd

Whyteleafe

0-4

SLS

group

6th out of 7

July 97 Ray
Purvis takes over as Manager of Reserves

July 97 Keeper
Danny Robinson returned after a year away.

Lost 4-0 to
Vandyke Colliers Wood in a friendly probably on 29/7 but possibly as early as
22/7.

Aug 97 Darren
Webb awaiting his five week suspension from a sending off the previous
season.

18/8/97 Former keeper Simon Melius plays for Tooting &
Mitcham in the opening fixture of the season. Epsom

win 2-1 with
goals from Matt Bott and Steve Smith.

23/8/97 Tony Webb the former player and future Assistant
Manager plays in goal for Leatherhead at Fetcham

Grove. Epsom
lost 2-0.

25/8/97 Epsom led 2-0 but Sutton came back to win 5-2 in
Suburban League Shield. Tome and Bott scored.

1/9/97 Epsom defeat Dorking 3-0 at Merland Rise but have
an anxious wait to finish as the lights went out with

ten minutes remaining and everyone had to wait while they
reset. A ten minute delay. Mark Webb scored twice.

6/9/97
Carshalton Athletic (A) is p-p for the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales.

6/10/97 Kew Association are defeated 4-2 at Merland Rise
on a Monday night in the Surrey Premier Cup. They

arrived with just ten men due to traffic troubles and did
not get an eleventh player on the field until five minutes

had been
played.

1/11/97 Joao
Tome is "unavailable" for the 2-1 defeat at Raynes Park Vale.

10/11/97
Carshalton Athletic (H) is p-p.

17/11/97 Epsom lose 1-0 at home to Crawley. Tony Hoy is
sent off and receives a five week suspension..

26/11/97 Epsom
defeat previously unbeaten Banstead 5-4 in Suburban League.

1/12/97 Tom
Murphy is sent off for two yellow cards in a 3-1 home win over Molesey.

8/12/97
Croydon Athletic (H) is p-p.

13/12/97
Tooting & Mitcham United (A) is p-p.

15/12/97 Epsom
draw 2-2 at homme to Leatherhead. Tony Webb is in goal again for Leatherhead.

5/1/98 Raynes
Park Vale (H) is p-p.

10/1/98 Epsom get a 2-2 draw at Croydon Athletic. James
Degale is injured and requires an ambulance, while Joao

Tome is sent off for two yellow cards as many players
talked their way into the book.Martin Jones returned after

12 months out.

2/2/98 and 7/2/98 Joao Tome is suspended for two games,
following his sending off at Croydon Athletic on 10/1/98.

7/2/98 Only eleven players are available for the 3-1 loss
at Corinthian Casuals and Tom Murphy injured his

hamstring in
the first half. He remained on the field as a passenger for the rest of the
game.

24/2/98 Goals
from Matt Purcell and Joao Tome are not enough as they lose 3-2 at leaders
Fisher.

2/3/98 Debut for Paul Smith (18) who played in a friendly
earlier this year. He joined from Croydon Athletic, but

Epsom still
lost 1-0 at home to Carshalton Athletic.

7/3/98 Tooting
& Mitcham United (A) is p-p.

16/3/98 Epsom ease any relegation fears with a 4-0 win
over Raynes Park Vale. Joao Tome scores twice more.

16/3/98 Raynes
Park also have a player sent off for spitting in the second half.

28/3/98 Epsom
travel to Crawley's new stadium for a Suburban League game and are beaten
2-0.

21/4/98 Epsom
Reserves win 4-2 at Tooting & M with two goals for Jason Emmerson. The
Manager of

Tooting &
Mitcham was former player Paul Meredith.

Friendlies

H/A

Score

Prog?

24/07/1997

Sutton Utd Res

A

2-1

Rawlinson, Dymond

26/07/1997

Banstead

A

1-1

Bott

26/07/1997

Banstead

A

0-2

RES

29/07/1997

Westfield

A

1-2

Boxall

29/07/1997

Vandyke Colliers Wood

A

0-4

RES

probable
date - def midweek

02/08/1997

Wick

A

1-0

Jones

HT 0-0

02/08/1997

Wick

A

0-4

RES

07/08/1997

Tooting & M

A

1-4

Y

Wood

HT 1-1

09/08/1997

Chipstead

A

1-2

Boorman

HT 1-0

09/08/1997

Farleigh Rovers

A

2-2

RES

Morrison, Murphy