At the end of April 2018 Chase Kings Football Club played the Solent Churches League Cup Final against Cosham Baptist (the only team to have beaten Chase this season) at Romsey Town FC and won 3-2 in a thrilling encounter through goals from Matt Griffin and Ryan ‘Spud’ Lewis with a winning goal coming twenty minutes from time by players’ player of the year Joe Bassett.
The game heralded the chance for the Waltham Chase team linked with the Methodist Church to win the treble – all the competitions they had entered this season – and having won the top title in the Solent Churches League at the beginning of April, the two Cup Finals in one week posed a big challenge. But on the previous Tuesday evening a group from the church went across in a mini-bus to Ringwood to see Chase win 2-1 with goals by Tom ‘Tevez’ Yates and Mark Shambrook against the formidable AB&C St. Peter’s from Dorset and lift the Hampshire FA Faith Cup to secure the second trophy before the following Saturday’s third against Cosham. Last season Chase went 424 minutes without scoring a goal, had never won a cup before or the top league in their history (since 2005) and therefore to do so this year with three trophies won has been a remarkable achievement – all in the first year of shirt sponsorship by Neil’s Electrical Services.
Under new team management Co-Manager Neil Strange and 63 year old Steve Bridge in his rookie year as an adult team Co-Manager (after being the club photographer for five years) with some new players added to the existing hardcore, this was a tale of the unexpected!
