Cambridge went into the 2018 Loaded WaiBOP Championship as defending titleholders.
The Reds played nine teams, home and away, in a revamped competition but struggled for much of the season.
In 2017, coach Adrian Clark had led a young Cambridge team to the title but the club declined to accept promotion to the Loaded WaiBOP Premiership because of the club’s inclusion in this year’s Northern League second division, requiring the Reds to field first and second teams in that competition.
That meant Cambridge were represented in the Championship by its Waikato A team from 2017.
WaiBOP Football’s Operations Manager Paul Stewart said: “These movements have ultimately left us with a ten team Championship, rather than the preferred twelve team competition.
“It’s good to see Kawerau Sports and Ngaruawahia United back in the fold and they replace Tokoroa and Wanderers.
“We’ve lost the reserve teams from both Rotorua United and Te Awamutu, which initially left us with nine sides in the Championship,” explained Stewart.
“So we offered the three available spots in the league to the highest eligible Waikato A and Bay 1 sides, with only Cambridge from Waikato A choosing to take advantage of the opportunity.”
Fixture list
Click on result in following table for match report
| 7/4/2018 12:30pm | Cambridge | v | Kawerau Sports | LOST 1-3 |
| 14/4/2018 12:30pm | Te Puke United | v | Cambridge | WON 3-2 |
| 21/4/2018 12:30pm | Cambridge | v | Tauranga Blue Rovers | LOST 2-3 |
| 28/4/2018 | BYE | |||
| 12/5/2018 12:30pm | Otumoetai | v | Cambridge | DRAW 0-0 |
| 19/5/2018 12:30pm | Matamata Swifts | v | Cambridge | LOST 0-2 |
| 26/5/2018 12:30pm | Cambridge | v | Waikato Unicol | LOST 1-5 |
| 2/6/2018 12:30pm | Taupo | v | Cambridge | LOST 0-8 |
| 9/6/2018 12:30pm | Kawerau Sports | v | Cambridge | LOST 0-3 (default) |
| 16/6/2018 12:30pm | Cambridge | v | Te Puke United | LOST 1-2 |
| 23/6/2018 12:30pm | Tauranga Blue Rovers | v | Cambridge | LOST 1-4 |
| 30/6/2018 | BYE | |||
| 7/7/2018 12:30pm | Cambridge | v | Otumoetai | LOST 2-3 |
| 14/7/2018 12:30pm | Ngaruawahia United | v | Cambridge | LOST 0-4 |
| 21/7/2018 2.45pm | Cambridge | v | Matamata Swifts | WON 2-1 |
| 28/7/2018 12:30pm | Waikato Unicol | v | Cambridge | LOST 1-5 |
| 4/8/2018 12:30pm | Cambridge | v | Taupo | LOST 1-2 |
| 18/8/2018 2.45pm | Cambridge | v | Ngaruawahia United | LOST 0-3 (DEFAULT) |
