A visit to far flung North Barnet on Saturday for the 1st XI to play Old Stationers, we won the match 5-2 but can take little pleasure in our victory as for most of the game we were faced by only 9 opposition players in fact at times OS had almost as many supporters on the line as on the field.
It is very sad that such a great club have reached such a position where they cannot field a full first team for a home fixture. They are not alone however and the league has some serious thinking to do to rectify this situation. The Res XI met with another defeat 5-3 against Old Finchleians and face consecutive relegations. The 4th XI continued their winning way with a 3-2 win over Old Finchleians 5's. The 6th XI suffered a blow to their hopes of winning their league with a 5-7 loss to EBOG 5th. The 7th XI eventually got to travel to Sutton where they lost their AFA Cup game 2-0 to Old Suttonians. A welcome sighting at the game on Saturday was Eddie Rowarth recently returned from 9 months as a guest of the Emir of Abu Dhabi, Ed points out that he was cleared of all charges and is considering various business ventures around the world Nothing changes.
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Not a lot to report this week, the 1st XI had no game due to an uneven number of sides in their division it being our turn to miss out this week as it turned out all the games in our division were postponed due to frozen pitches.
The Res XI lost 2-1 to fellow relegation strugglers Old Lyonians making it difficult to see us avoiding relegation. The 4th XI on the big pitch beat EBOG 12-1, as I have said before there are some very good players in this team and could make a strong 3rd XI next season if only the SAL can sort out the regionalisation of 3rd XI and lower sections/divisions. The 5th XI fixture at Broomfield was postponed. The 6th XI were the team of the week scoring a late goal to beat the Hill 3-2, they are top of their league, but before we get carried away we were playing the Hill 8th team so plenty of work to be done before we get back to their level. The 7th XI took their cup tie very seriously and hired a mini bus to travel to Old Suttonians, but to no avail as the game was called off, they diverted to the White Bear in Broxbourne where the bus remained until Sunday morning. We would like to wish our former stalwart Forbes Chapman our Best Wishes as he enters hospital for an Operation this week. Good Luck Forbes, hope to see you back on your feet very soon. Your correspondent took time out to watch the reawakening Spurs thrash WBA on Saturday, its such a longtime ago that last time they were in this position even I had not heard of The Norsemen, lets hope for a good finish to the season for both of my football loves.
Arrived at the club to watch most of the second half, we scored early in the half with another fine goal from Chris Morgan, he has integrated brilliantly as an outsider with this crowd of old school mates if we do go up we will need more newcomers to challenge and improve an already good team. Kew were a good side and probably our nearest challengers and soon equalised, as usual our side showed its fighting qualities which resulted in a penalty given and converted by John Megicks with five minutes to go. This leaves us in a great position in the league with 36 points from 13 games, lets try and finish the season with no more defeats and an unblemished disciplinary record. The Res XI travelled across the A10 to play the table topping Hill, I have not had any details of the game but we lost 1-0 with a very late goal meaning we need to win most of our remaining games to avoid relegation. Our team is much stronger now and looks good for the future. The 4th XI also travelled to the Hill and scored a narrow 2-1 victory over their 6th XI leaving us at the top of the table. The 5th XI lost 5-2 to Old Stationers Res XI. The 6th XI drew 2-2 with Old Finchleians 7th XI. The 7th XI AFA Cup tie was postponed. As you can see the leagues are all a bit of a mishmash at the lower levels and badly need sorting out. A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR READERS.
Back from a long winter break of two Saturdays, we are well up with our fixtures due to small leagues early exit from AFA Cups and ban from the SAL cups, but if we get bad weather many teams will be playing well into May and playing evening games which compromise the integrity of the league. The1st XI had on paper an easy fixture facing bottom club Old Blues, but we dropped vital points to them last year and it was a relief that we seemed to be back to our best and beat them easily by 3-0 and should have had several more to improve our goal difference, an outstanding third goal by Chris Morgan should be mentioned. Next week we are home to Kew who are second in the league and knocked us out of the AFA Senior Cup at our ground earlier in the season, a vital game for us to win. The Res XI had no game, but this Saturday are away to league leaders Winchmore Hill in another important game in our relegation struggle. The 4th XI scored another good win 4-0 at the Vamps. The 5th XI AFA Cup hopes were dashed in a 6-1 defeat at Old Parminterians. The 6th XI had an unlikely 0-0 draw at Old Parks whereby the Referee who was well in his 60s claimed it was the first goaless draw he can remember refereeing. The 7th XI beat the Vamps 5-2 thanks to some sturdy performances from this largely veterans team. This sees all our sides with the exception of the Res XI challenging for League Titles. Lets keep up our good form and make this a bumper season. |