A NINE-YEAR-OLD team have battled back from the brink of extinction to fight again in Basildon’s Sunday league.

Bunch United, who play their home games at the James Hornsby School, had a real job getting a team back onto the field this season.

Dan Stanbrook-Evans, 37, is one of the founding fathers of Bunch United in the Basildon and District Sunday League, having been asked to put the team together by a bunch of school friends.

Seven first-team players had to leave this summer, meaning Dan was sweating over whether the team would be able to field 11 players come the start of the season.

But a massive recruitment drive has seen the side come back and, despite a difficult start to the season, they celebrated their first win of the season on Sunday.

United beat Vange Red 5-2 and, despite conceding 24 goals in their first four matches this term, Dan believes the team is on the up.

“It was touch-and-go as to whether we would be ready at the start of the season,” said Dan, who is a registered player, the manager and also the treasurer. “The new boys have come in and we are slowly gelling as a team but this is certainly a season of consolidation.

“We came fifth last year and anything similar this year would be great so we can really kick on next season.”

Bunch United played in Division Two last year but, after a reshuffle of the league, they play in Division One this term although they have been up against the same opposition from last year.

The squad now has 20 players and they sit in eighth after the weekend’s result, with Signet leading the way in Division One with six wins out of seven.

Pro-Athletic B have won all five of their matches while Vange Red find themselves bottom of the pile with no wins in six games.

Callum Leader, who plays for sixth placed Talwin, is the league’s main marksmen (14), having scored an average of two goals a game.

In the Premier Division, Pro-Athletic have led the charge to sit joint top after six games. They have played three fewer games than Elgar Athletic to sit on 16 points, with Southfields following closely in third.

Southfields’ progress has been helped by the in-form Paul Wignall, who has hit 16 goals in eight games. He is one of four Southfields players to feature in the league’s list of top scorers.

Shotgate Rangers have lost all five of their games to prop up the league.

In Division Two Chalvedon, FC Redwing and Woodlands Athletic are only separated by a point at the top.

FC Redwing have three games in hand however, having won all five of their early season clashes, while Elliott Cornish, Jordan Cornish, Ben Smith and George Smith have scored 19 goals between them to date.

*Bunch United, who have struggled to secure a sponsor in recent years, have recently been offered support by The Edge bar, in Basildon.