BHA Powerchair team finishes 3rd

[Lindfield by the Pond]

Just thought I would share with you all the news that the Powerchair team season has just finished, and yet again the lads have improved their position. They have finished 3rd in the National League. For those unfamiliar, they are officially the 3rd best team in the country.

This was their final weekend in Nottingham, and started well with a 5-0 win against West Brom Throstles. This was a warm up for the weekend main event against West Brom. This match started brightly with Albion (of the BHA variety) going ahead. West Brom equalised, but within a minute of the restart we had retaken the lead. It looked like a 2-1 win was on the cards, however, in a moment of madness, with 20 seconds left on the clock, West Brom were gifted their equaliser, after a match where BHA dominated. Harsh lessons were learned.

The final 2 games played today were against Aston Villa, and although the lads were off form this morning, they managed a 3-0 win, and then put Middlesbrough to the sword 6-0 this afternoon to finish yet another record breaking season for the Powerchair team.

To give you some context, this team has been continuously improving for 6 years now.
2012/13 elected to Championship
2013/14 Won Championship and promoted to Premier League
2014/15 Avoided relegation on last game
2015/16 Finished 6th
2016 Invited to to represent 3rd English team in European Champions League
2016/17 Finished 3rd in Premier League (Should qualify in own right for Champions League)

So we hope this is enough to qualify for European football this year. It might depend on the allocation England is given, but top 3 has been enough for the last 5 times.

So just to finish, congrats to Matt (c), Fred, Lewis, Seb, Gregg, and Ollie on another fantastic season, and thanks to AITC for making this happen. They will be back in training over the summer to go one or two better next season.

Also would like to wish Matt and the rest of the England team all the best in the World Cup this summer in Florida. For those interested, there will be live streams. UTA.

 

[Winker]

Brilliant - well done. Everything Albion related seems to be on the up at the moment, great for the club and the city.

(Throstle - Old English name for the song thrush, in case anyone else was thinking of googling it ).

 

[GoldWithFalmer]

Nice read up in the match day programme yesterday,even our Deaf team finished 4th in their respective league(just missed out to Reading in a playoff) and Lewis Hammans is the first AITC player to reach 100 goals,a wonderful milestone..

Well done AITC for all the work done in support of all our respective sides.

 

[portlock seagull]

Well done lads, this is another massive achievement in the seasons of all seasons - as a club we are simply UNSTOPPABLE! Feck Crystal Palace. Oi, Real Madrid...we're coming for YOU!

Don't be surprised if we win both the title and Archer has a heart attack within the next week, the footballing GODS are with us for sure. I'd also like to congratulate the management team and all the parents who give so much time and dedication to FESTOON further glories upon our great club.

#We'reVeryProudOfYou

 

[portlock seagull]

Brilliant - well done. Everything Albion related seems to be on the up at the moment, great for the club and the city.

(Throstle - Old English name for the song thrush, in case anyone else was thinking of googling it ).

Albion - old English name for ENGLAND and smasher of glass, especially Crystal.

 

[The Albion Roar]

To clarify, England is given three CL places - top two plus the cup winners. However, Aspire PFC finished above BHAPFC, so if they beat Aston Villa PFC the Cup Final next week, Brighton will get that final CL spot.

And Aspire are expected to win.

 

[Triggaaar]

To clarify, England is given three CL places - top two plus the cup winners.

So how was our team chosen for the CL last season (the OP didn't mention us winning a cup)?

 

[The Albion Roar]

So how was our team chosen for the CL last season (the OP didn't mention us winning a cup)?

A higher rank team pulled out with 12 days' notice, so the EPFA invited the Brighton & Hove Albion PFC team to go.

 

[portlock seagull]

A higher rank team pulled out with 12 days' notice, so the EPFA invited the Brighton & Hove Albion PFC team to go.

And sadly it does come down to money I.e. If teams can afford to go. Most are self funding, which is why it was more incredible that in 11 days the fans and club came together and raised £11k to send our boys over last year. Magnificent effort.

 

[Lindfield by the Pond]

So how was our team chosen for the CL last season (the OP didn't mention us winning a cup)?

The English teams that qualified last year were Northern Thunder, Aspire and West Brom. 2 weeks beforehand Northern Thunder confirmed they could not fund the trip, and at the time we were the next best team in England, so we were invited.

This time we hope to have qualified in our own right, although last year in Denmark, there were rumours that Austria and Finland were potentially being given slots to play, which would mean the English and French allocations would be reduced from 3 to 2 teams each.