2018/19 last ever season

HCL Prem

Sun Sports continued their preparations for the new Herts Senior County League Premier Division campaign with a change of advertised friendly.

Rather than playing a Harpenden Town Development squad as originally planned on Tuesday, Sun entertained Watford-based Glenn Sports Club and ran out 4-3 winners at Bellmount Wood Avenue.

Danny Regan and Jonny Hopkins were both amongst the goals as they edged out their opponents by the odd goal in seven.

Tomorrow they entertain Essex Olympian Premier Division side Bishop’s Stortford Swifts in a 3pm kick-off ahead of their season opener against Ware Sports the following weekend.

Sun Sports manager Sam Duff plans for bright future after club avoid folding

The power of social media is seen with increasing regularity and has certainly been felt at Sun Sports over the past week.

On Monday night a tweet delivered the news dreaded by any football club - Sun would be folding after failing to secure the sponsorship required to fund a campaign in the Herts Senior County League next term.

Just 24 hours later, Sun’s fortunes had turned 180 degrees and a club with over 100 years of heritage would live to fight another day.

For manager Sam Duff, losing a club of Sun’s standing to the history books was unthinkable and his relief is clear for all to see.

“It has been worrying to see such a big club with a lot of history potentially going to pot,” Duff said.

“We lost two or three sponsors who we thought were solid and when the tweet went out we were very much folding.

“After that announcement was put out, we managed to gain a couple of sponsors which will see us through. That will help us get kit and funding for the season which costs four or five thousand pounds.

“It wouldn’t be right for a club like Sun to stop and it made perfect sense for us to do everything we could to keep the club running.

“We wanted to make a point of giving it a really good go, getting things set up right and putting in the foundations to continue the Sun Sports story.”

With the club’s future up in the air, preparation for the new season has been put on hold while matters behind the scenes are dealt with.

Duff has seen other clubs look to tempt his players to depart for pastures new, but such advances have been met with little enthusiasm by a committed squad.

The Sun manager was quick to praise his players and says the hard times the club have faced have only served to create a positive mood ahead of pre-season starting on Tuesday.

“It is massive that the players have stayed on and we can’t thank them enough after what they have been through,” he said.

“We start pre-season next week and the players have been dying to get going. We weren’t sure if we would be able to even start pre-season.

“Once the news broke the boys were delighted and there is a real buzz about them again now.”

After earning promotion from Division One last season, Duff is targeting a top half finish in the upcoming campaign.

He feels folding after such a successful season would only have added to the pain and is eager to write the next chapter of Sun’s story.

He said: “We got promoted from Division One and we didn’t want to finish on that. We worked so hard and it didn’t feel right.

“I still think we have plenty of work to do on and off the pitch, but Sun Sports is one of the biggest clubs in Watford so it was wrong to end by folding.”

 

Sun Sports’ struggles go on though, as a 4-0 loss at Weston made it seven defeats from seven games for the basement side.

Bushey Sports Club continued their good start to the Herts Senior County League season with a 5-1 victory at basement side Sun Sports.

Bilal Butt scored twice for the visitors, who also had Adem Ali, Vincent Rispoli and Adam Wallace on target to leave their side third in the Premier Division table.

For Sun though, their struggles continue and they remain without a point after a ninth straight league defeat.

Bushey Sports Club moved level on points with second-placed Letchworth Garden City Eagles after a 4-1 victory over Herts Senior County League Premier Division basement side Sun Sports.

Adem Ali, Bilal Butt, Ralique Lawrence and Chad Flaherty were on target for the home side on Saturday, who trail leaders New Salamis by six points having played one game fewer.

It took them 12 games but Sun Sports have their first points of the season on the board after beating Ware Sports 2-1.

Sun remain at the bottom of the Premier Division but are now within three points of Evergreen.