2008/09 Player of the season countdown

#21 David Baird

Apps: 3, Assists: 1

Hands up if you predicted at the beginning of the season that Dave Baird would be considered Banter's "worst" player in our 2nd season? No-one? Thought not. You might even be forgiven for thinking that this list is upside down. Not literally of course, that would be silly.

After becoming many people’s favourite and handed the manager’s player of the year award in 2007/08, his second season should only have been better. Sadly, The Icon picked up a knee injury in the 2nd game of the season and only managed to come back 6 months later to play in the final match. In short, a basic lack of games played means Banter's youngstest finds himself bringing up the rear this year.

After a good summer playing Power League and a good performance in the first pre-season game, he went into the Croydon Postal match high on confidence and played in central midfield with Jonny Gill. The pair of them made a good account of themselves, the vote for man of the match – despite a heavy loss – was tight, with Baird narrowly missing out to his midfield partner. He got an assist to Wommy a game later against Madras, with a lovely through pass before he was taken off and the team fell apart.

His goals, energy and drive on the wing and in the middle have been sorely missed this year so lets hope a decent pre-season can see Dave overcome his injury nightmare and really kick on for us next season.