RESURGENT Haxby United are already plotting back-to-back titles after winning the York Minster Engineering Football League premier division for the first time in 27 years.

United beat 2009 champions 8-0 in their final game to clinch the top flight crown after a long-running struggle for supremacy with Dunnington and Old Malton St Mary’s.

Manager Dean Rogerson and assistant Rich Leeming steered United to 19 wins and only five defeats in their 26 league games, enough to secure the title by five points.

Long-serving secretary Chris Watkinson said: “We’ve done really well to win it – it’s a fantastic achievement. Dean and Rich got some great players in. The squad has been really strong and we’ve got goals from all over the pitch.”

A sequence of 13 straight league wins was the ideal way to open the campaign, with striker Darren Brandon in unstoppable form and former York City player Marc Thompson bossing midfield.

Captain Neale Holmes and new addition 20-goal Gaz Newton, a previous champion with Huntington, also played starring roles.

Although Brandon and Thompson were snapped up by Northern Counties East League division one side Tadcaster Albion mid-season, United snared top replacements in ex-Huntington duo Gaz Mitchinson and Chris Dyson, who netted 25 goals.

The title triumph has banished the memories of a turbulent period in the club’s history, which saw them close to extinction as recently as 2006.

Haxby United were formed in 2003 when Watkinson’s Haxby & Wigginton merged with Haxby Town. Despite some early successes, including winning the York FA Cup at York City’s Bootham Crescent ground in 2004, they finished bottom of the premier division in 2005/6.

Watkinson said: “The club was on the brink of collapse when I received a phone call at the end of that season from Rich Leeming, who was Sheriff Hutton secretary.

“He wanted to see if he could hire a pitch the following season as they wanted to move from Sheriff.

“I told Rich we were struggling and managed to persuade him to fold Sheriff and merge with Haxby United. The result was fantastic.

“That season, we returned to the premier division as emphatic champions, playing some of the best football I have ever seen.”

Having finished second in the top flight in 2007/8, legendary York City full-back Andy McMillan became the club’s fourth manager in three years the following season.

He left mid-term and was replaced by Rogerson, who guided the club to sixth before embarking on last season’s glory run.

Now Watkinson is eyeing more silverware, saying: “We scored more than 100 goals, we are run by a 29-year-old and we have a youthful team, so the future looks bright.”