LAUNCESTON Football Club’s first team manager, Gary Jeffery, believes his side’s achievements during the 2017/18 Carlsberg South West Peninsula Football League Premier Division campaign are comparable to Burnley.

While the Lancashire-based club, who are also known as the Clarets, were defying the odds to finish seventh in the Barclays Premier League and qualify for European football for the first time in 51 years, Jeffery’s own side were rubbing shoulders with Cornwall and Devon’s biggest clubs and finished in the same position as Sean Dyche’s men, a vast improvement on the 11th they managed 12 months previously.

Given a much smaller budget than many of his rivals, the Pennygillam-based club enjoyed their best season for five years since they finished fifth in the 2012/13 season.

They finished with 65 points, a 30% improvement on last term’s efforts, while the most impressive figure of all is that they scored 89 goals from their 38 league games, a 59% increase.

That was in no small part due to striker Sam Davey, who scored 39 goals in all competitions and provided 17 assists.

At the same time, only 54 goals were conceded, which was 25% better than the year before.

They received just three red cards and 45 yellows, a statistic which places them in the top six in the fair play league.

Although the season finished last month, Jeffery is still keen to point out his side’s accomplishments.

He said: “What we did this year was unbelievable, I was shocked when I saw the statistics.

“It’s a bit like what Burnley did in finishing in the top seven in the Premier League.

“Our budget is probably lower than all the teams that finished above us and some below.

“I’ve got one of the smallest budgets, so to finish above the likes of Plymouth Argyle Reserves and Helston Athletic was just brilliant.

“We ended up just one point off sixth and we probably could have finished higher, but the table doesn’t lie.

“I’m really happy with how we finished but there’s still room for improvement next season.

“The lads know where we went wrong and we now have a massive chance to better ourselves, especially with Plymouth Parkway being promoted.”

Last summer Jeffery saw a big overhaul of his squad, bringing in plenty of fresh faces to complement what he had, and the results were impressive.

They got off to a steady start before the horrendous weather, which meant that only one league game was played at Pennygillam between November 18 and April 5, which seemed to put them off track as they lost six of their next seven games in all competitions, although those matches were played in a period of four months.

However, they regrouped and went on a remarkable run towards the end of season, winning 10 and drawing one of their final 15 games as they played three or four times a week from April 12 to May 10.

Jeffery was quick to highlight why they did so well.

He said: “There were a number of reasons. It started with the efforts of pre-season and we just clicked as a team.

“There’s been a development in the players and credit needs to go to the lads.

“We had 13 games in 28 days at the end of the season and our lads really rolled their sleeves up. In some of those games we were short but we still managed to produce the goods, which is a credit to the boys.

“Obviously Sam Davey will get many of the plaudits as his goalscoring record was phenomenal and defensively we improved, which is great credit to the back four or five.

“We also had much better strength in depth as shown by teenage midfielder Reece Thomson, who really found his feet. In one game against Cullompton Rangers he controlled the game from start to finish.

“But to be honest it was just a strange season with the weather and everything, so the boys deserve all the praise they get. Some of them lost out on money and work towards the end of the season to play for us.”

One man Jeffery was keen to praise was midfielder Callum Watson, who enjoyed his breakthrough campaign at Step?Six level.

“Callum was the standout individual, he really found his feet and was always one of the first names on the teamsheet.

“His energy and work ethic and the way he performs so consistently is just brilliant, especially as last year he was in and out of the team.”

Looking ahead to next year, Jeffery is hoping for even more consistency.

He said: “This year we started really well and had a blip around Christmas before we were knocked out of the League Cup and Cornwall Senior Cup to Sticker and Mousehole, although in January when we played those games we couldn’t really train, so it’s hard to blame the players for that.

“At that time we also lost two of our key signings from the summer in goalkeeper Cory Harvey to Bodmin Town and Liam Prynn to Tavistock, which was disappointing, and we barely had a home game for a few months so that was without doubt the most difficult period of the season.

“However, we started and finished well and could have ended up finishing higher. So next season the aim is to make sure we’re consistent throughout the 38 games.”

After 18 seasons at the club coaching the various teams, Jeffery has agreed to continue in the role.

He said: “After a period of reflection I’ve decided to stay on and continue from where we’ve left off and we should be in the FA Vase this year after doing the ground improvements!

“At the moment we haven’t lost anybody although there’s still the uncertainty as to whether Liam will stick to his retirement and I’m looking for at least two or three new signings although I’m looking for a defender, a central midfielder, a winger and a striker.

“However one bit of good news is that goalkeeper Josh Colwill has agreed to stay on for next season after coming back in the spring from Australia.

“But we’ve got three or four talented goalkeepers and I’m excited about the prospects of Tom Watson, who’s the younger brother of Callum. He’s a goalkeeper for the Plymouth Argyle education team. Although he’s only 18 I rate him really highly!”

Pre-season starts on Tuesday, June 26 while the club have already confirmed that they’ll travel to last year’s champions Plymouth Parkway as well as hosting Holsworthy, Plymouth Marjon and Elburton Villa as they warm-up for the big kick-off in August.

See next week’s Post to find out who won what at the club presentation evening on Saturday night.