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Frontline F.C: the "best football-playing team in the league", ready to turn up the heat in Showcase Match
- Rob Stevens
- 1 minute ago
- 5 min read
Frontline F.C Chairman Imran Bhatti hopes that his young stars can continue to turn up the heat in the Showcase Match against rivals F.C Baylis United this Saturday.
The two teams will compete for local bragging rights in the fourth and final instalment of the East Berkshire League Showcase series at the Arbour Park Stadium in Slough this season.
Frontline have introduced a number of young talent into the first team during the year and three points on Saturday night (7.30pm kick off) would secure them a very respectable third place finish in the Premier Division.
Bhatti explained: “Frontline F.C always set out to play football in an enjoyable and beautiful manner, with the aim of attracting younger players into senior football. This vision and strategy has strengthened our youth sections, so in years to come Frontline will be a formidable force across all age groups.
“Secondary to this, we play to achieve silverware, and this season our goals included the Premier Division title and at least one cup.
“Our young squad started the season in an electrifying pace whilst playing the beautiful game with a strong passion and immense enjoyment which has created a great brotherhood.
“The relatively young and inexperienced squad have had some setbacks with some very disappointing but self-inflicted results.The guidance and encouragement from senior members enabled us to bounce back, but valuable points have been dropped.
“Having finished the campaign as runners-up last season, and in third place the previous year, our sights were set on winning the Premier Division as well as reaching at least one Cup Final.
“Those lost points have made it hard to fulfil these goals, but a win in the Showcase Match will give us a third-place finish which is respectable considering we’ve not trained all season, have used over 40 players during the campaign, and only finished 10 league matches with 11 players on the pitch.”
Bhatti has suggested that the abilities and performances from the team has deserved more success in this campaign but, not training throughout the year has had a negative impact on their chances of success.
The Chairman explained: “The natural flair and flamboyancy our players bring to the game has left all our opposition in admiration of the talent the football club produces year after year. The Club has always valued talented young players and introduces them to senior football as early as possible.
“Eight players between the ages of 16 and 18 have made significant impacts in the games that they’ve played. The wins against Langley F.C Reserves and Old Windsor are just two matches where these young starlets turned on the heat.
“With so many commitments outside of football, the Club did not train at all during the season. This is by far the most significant contributing factor towards us not meeting our set targets for the season. This is, without doubt, the lowest moment for the team with the exception of losing a few players to extended periods of injury.”
Bhatti continued: “Recent results have been mixed but, from a neutral perspective, there’s no doubt everyone except the opposition would agree Frontline has out-played all our opponents.
“Had we capitalised on our chances, we would’ve been victorious over F.C Beaconsfield in the Semi Final of the Slough Town Cup, and the league fixtures against both Old Windsor and Britwell.
“Frontline are an exciting team that brings class to the game, and are arguably the best football-playing Club in the East Berkshire League.
“Sometimes the results don’t go as they should do, so we must not forget that form is temporary but class is permanent.”
Frontline will have a two-pronged threat in the Showcase Match in the form of leading goals scorers Sayyid Saleh (18 goals) and Imran Kassim (16). The dynamic duo have bagged 34 goals between them in just 36 appearances.
Their team will be out for some revenge this Saturday night having suffered a 4-2 defeat at the hands of their new rivals, F.C Baylis United, in the previous meeting of the two foes back in January.
Bhatti commented: “Without taking anything away from Baylis, who wanted the game more, we were short on numbers due to a lack of availability and injury.
“It was a game of missed opportunities and debatable decisions which were not in our favour.
“Baylis were there for bragging rights whereas we treated it as just another game.
“Despite the loss, we took away some positives from the game which we built and worked on during the following weeks.”
He added: “Baylis are a young side who are growing towards becoming a good team, which is a promising sight. They play well as a unit with very clear responsibilities on how to approach the game, but there are a number of areas that we will be exploiting at will.”
The winners of the Showcase Match event will have the right to call themselves the best South Asian footballing team in Slough, and Bhatti explained it is an honour to help Showcase the quality of football within the East Berkshire League.
He said: “It’s an exciting time. There’s a real buzz in the Club and everyone is looking forward to an evening of entertaining football.
“Frontline F.C have been the trailblazers in bringing South Asians to football in Slough for over years now.
“It’s an honour to be able to participate in this game, to showcase to surrounding and prospective teams the quality of football the league has to offer and, hopefully, we can do our part to attract more teams for next season.
“Both sets of players know each other very well: 30 per-cent of the F.C Baylis squad, including the manager, have played for Frontline in seasons prior to this.”
Bhatti continued: “Our youth sides look up to the senior team as role models and are very excited at the prospect of being able to watch and support the side at a stadium under lights, it’s not something that happens often.
“Thank you to the East Berkshire League and to Slough Town Football Club for allowing Frontline to be a part of this Showcase Match event.”
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