President's Patter for 7th Jan 2017

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.