1st XI
Drew 3-3 with Globe Rangers at the JFS. Our scorers were Jason McKeson, Lionel Morgan & Shane Miller.
2nd XI
Won a hard-fought game with Pegasonians 2-1 at the JFS. Our scorers were Lewis Henry & Jason Choat.
MOM - The whole team - Excellent team performance against opposition who's manager told us it was the "best they'd played all season" !!
3rd XI
Our understrength team gave a fighting display despite losing 4-2 at Hamptonians.
We conceded two early goals then a John Pfeifer through ball found stand-in striker Paul Buckley who flicked the ball over the keeper & headed home. We then did "our usual" & fell asleep for 10 minutes which Hampton took advantage of by bagging two goals leaving us 4-1 down at the interval.
However the team buckled down & gave a good second half performance keeping a cleansheet with Paul Buckley latching onto Jumaane Xavier's through ball in the dying minutes & netting a consolation goal for us.
MOM - Paul Buckley
4th XI
Lost 3-1 at the London Academy ground against Latymer Old Boys V's.
Having previously lost to this team 5-0 in October we knew that Latymer liked to play football & unfortunately they didn't disappoint.
However with a makeshift team (inc the recall of 2 retirees) we put up an excellent first half blockade (succesfully parking the bus) & nicking a goal when Imran Khalid ran at Latymer's defence & cooly netted midway through the half.
In the second half somebody moved the bus & we conceded 3 goals but the team's effort couldn't be faulted & we probably upped our fitness by chasing the oppo's shadows.
MOM - Dave Parker (our youngster at the back gave 100% for 90 minutes)
1st XI
Away game at Globe Rangers postponed due a waterlogged pitch
2nd XI
Completed the double over Salvatorians IV beating them 5-1 at the JFS.
Scorers were Ben Coomber & Brian Back with a brace each plus one from Shane Parker.
MOM - Mark Evans & Grady Allen
3rd XI
LOB Minor Cup run came to an abrupt end losing 5-0 at Kempton Park against Isleworthians III.
4th XI
Drew 0-0 at the JFS against league leaders Mayfield Athletic Reserves.
1st XI
Inter North game at Egbertians postponed due to a waterlogged pitch
2nd XI
Held to a 2-2 draw by Challoners Reserves at the JFS ground.
Challoners were a goal up at half time. We managed to equalise through a Matt Elash header early in the second half. Challoners went back into the lead by converting a penalty & we scored a last minute equaliser also from the penalty spot converted by Wayne Impey.
MOM - Wayne Impey
3rd XI
Drew with leaders Salvatorians V 3-3 at the JFS.
With 7 wins out of 8 in the league Salvos were brought down to earth in the first half when we deservedly took a 2-1 lead into the break thanks to Danny Hartigan poaching 2 goals seizing on Salvo's defensive hesitation & cooly taking the ball round the keeper for the first goal & lobbing past him for goal no. 2. Following Dan Judge coming on as a sub early in the second half his first contribution was to steer home from close range following a Romaine Lewis long throw. Unfortunately in the latter stages we conceded two goals to end up with a 3-3 draw, a result we would have been happy with at the start, but on reflection we deserved to win this one.
MOM - Lewis Chinn (his defending improves every game)
4th XI
Lost 3-0 at Southgate against Minchendenians V
1st XI
Lost 4-1 at home to Magdalanians. Jason McKeson scored our goal.
2nd XI
Beat Vaughanians III 4-3 at the JFS. Ben Coomber scored twice & Jason Choat & debutant Sid Callum added further goals.
We were 2-0 up by halftime. Vaughans pulled a goal back immediately after the break. We then scored a third but lapsed allowing Vaughans to hit back with 2 goals to equalise at 3-3. Then with minutes remaining Rob Curl crossed for Jason Choat to head home the winner.
MOM - The whole back four - Lee & Ben Delderfield, Brian Coomber & Jason Choat performed admirably covering our missing centrebacks this week.
3rd XI
Lost 5-4 to Parkfield IV at Merchant Taylor's School.
We were 3-0 down in 35 minutes but Doug Coull pulled a goal back before the break HT 1-3. We got our act together in the second half, attacking Parkfield & Simon Broadhurst scored to reduce the arrears to one goal. However Parkfield scored a fourth before Simon grabbed another to make it 3-4. Just as we looked to be in a position to equalise Parkfield broke & scored a (decisive) fifth goal & though Paul Buckley scored with a 20 yard freekick from the corner of the penalty box after good work by Jumaane Xavier it was too late & time ran out for us. A good comeback but we had left ourselves too much to do by our poor start.
4th XI
Lost 4-1 to Uxonians in the LOB Nemean Cup at the London Academy ground. Jason King netting our goal.
MOM - Rob Speller, Imran Khalid & Ali Behrami
1st XI
Reptonians pulled out of the LOB Challenge Cup game so we go through to the next round with a walkover
2nd & 3rd XI's
Both league games postponed due to the rain
4th XI
Continued our disappointing away league form losing to Mayfield Reserves 5-0 at Firs Farm.
MOM - Rob Speller
1sts
Beat UCL Academicals III 8-1 at the JFS.
Jason McKeson led the scorers with 4 this week, Shane Miller netted two with one each for Matt Elash & debutant Shola Oyedele.
With no less than five first team players out we had to call upon our resources. Luckily, one of the players who came in was Lionel Morgan, and when he plays he makes everybody play.
Lionel was superb, two steps ahead of everyone and at the heart of all that we did that was good. He dictated the game with his vision and amazing ability. It really is a pleasure to watch him play. And this time he brought a friend, Shola Oyedele, who was at Wimbeldon with Lionel, was calm and composed in the centre of midfield and always seem to have time on the ball to pick out the simple pass and just kept the play ticking over. He also got a debut goal when he side footed home a shot from just inside the area.
However, lets not forget our very own superstar, Jason McKeson was unstoppable scoring 4 goals. Its quite s sight when Jason pushes the ball into a bit of space and turns on the afterburners leaving defenders falling at his feet as he glides past them. All those who have played with the big man know and love this sight very well. I’m just glad it’s not me trying to catch him. He took the ball round the keeper for two of his goals and smashed the ball home to make sure. Another of his goals came when he turned the defender in the box and whacked the ball home. Simply unplayable.
Simon Jennings, who is deputising for Sezer, was very good in goal. He wasn’t busy but his concentration was 100%. When he was called into action he was brave and powerful. He also tipped over a very good freekick which looked destined to go into the top corner. Top marks.
Matt Elash had an industrious performance in the midfield. His endless running was a valuable asset as he got from box to box. He took his goal well when he received the ball, knocked it past a defender and from outside the box curled a hard and low shot into the corner of the goal.
Shane, who like Berkamp cannot play away games, was restored to the starting line up and he played down the left. He scored a powerful header from a Lionel cross. Shane also got a little lucky with his second goal when he fired a shot which the keeper spilt and it went in.
Good result and we played some lovely football at times. Why can’t it always be like this.
Mom could have been a number of the players but you can’t deny Jason McKeson who was exceptional.
2nds
Beat Manorians III 5-4 at the JFS
Though we were in the lead throughout the game Manorians ensured this was a tight game. Our goals were scored from Brian Back & Jason Choat who each netted a brace plus a single goal from Ben Coomber.
MOM - Brian Back
3rds
Made hard work of progressing through another round of the LOB Minor Cup by beating Ravenscroft OB 7-6 on penalties after a 5-5 encounter after extra time.
In contrast to the 2nds game today we were behind for all the game & only led when our last penalty was scored. In the main game there was no score at halftime. But Ravenscroft opened the second period by scoring 3 goals, we then woke up & scored 3 ourselves through Paul Buckley, sub Simon Broadhurst & Brian Hartigan to give a 3-3 score at 90 minutes. Into extra time we let in a goal either side of halftime to go 3-5 down but super sub Simon hit 2 goals to take the game into penalties.
Despite missing our first penalty we scored our next 7 with our scorers being James O'Dowd, Paul, Romaine Lewis, Dan Judge, Mark Buckley, Lewis Chinn & after Ben Tan saved a Ravenscroft pen Courtney Alleyne who had only been on the pitch 15 minutes netted our winner.
MOM - Simon Broadhurst for his hattrick & mention also goes to Courtney for his winning penalty, Ben for his penalty save & Dougie Coull who was a constant thorn in the Ravenscroft defence & despite not scoring was involved in a number of goals.
4ths
Lost 3-4 to Crouch End Vampires V in the AFA Senior Novets Cup
After going 1-0 up through Gerard Finn we conceded 3 but rather than capitulating we rallied & Ali Behrami pulled a goal back to make it 2-3. We let in a further goal but Martin Giddings scored to give the game an exciting finish.
MOM - Shared between Ali & Gerard
1sts
Lost 1-2 to Merton Reserves after extra time in the AFA Intermediate Cup, the winning goal coming from a highly debatable penalty awarded in the 115th minute. Suat Arslan was our scorer.
We travelled for at least one and a half hours to get to Merton for this AFA Cup game. We played this same lot in the cup last year when we ended up with 10 men and lost 3 -0. I hope we get this lot at home next year.
For the first half the oppo attacked us mostly with aerial balls from set pieces. It was good to have the big man Uriel Fuller back as he most have won 20 to 30 headers throughout the day. It was a stop start match with the referee blowing for every little infringement, which may or may not have taken place against the oppo. Fortunately, the game was allowed to flow a little more when we were hacked, pushed, kicked or when the oppo were offside.
The oppo’s only real threat was from set pieces, whether it was a long throw, corner or a freekick. It was from a soft freekick given away at the edge of our box that they sent in a cross to which the striker met with a good header to place it past our stand in keeper Simon Jennings. Almost immediately from the kick off Suat Arslan (Tony) found himself about 35 yards out with the ball at his feet, he dropped a shoulder opened his body up and cracked a thirty yard drive into the top corner. This piece of top class football seemed to inspire the Kings and led us to believe in our own abilities. It also seemed to rock the oppo. Right on the stroke of half time, Suat put Matt Elash through with an exquisite chipped pass, their keeper came rushing out and Matt clipped the ball past him before being clattered by the keeper and the centre back and the ball rolling agonisingly wide.
For the second half we were on top for the whole time. Our keeper had nothing much more than a back pass to deal with. Jason McKeson, today deployed in a centeral midfield role was excellent. He took the game to the oppo, running past 6 or seven players on more than 5 occasions. On at least two occasions he pulled the ball back to players in the box who were unable to convert. Probably the best chance of the half fell to Lagi Lambrou after Jason M took on his usual quota of oppo, pulled the ball back to Suat, who once again dropped a shoulder and slipped in Lagi, who had time to compose himself and measure his shot which flashed past the far post.
The match went into extra time and we were like the walking wounded. We did struggle to get enough players to Merton only having the one sub. The oppo made three subs and were going into extra time a little fresher. Nevertheless, the oppo could still not get near our goal, with the lads in defence and midfield doing a stellar job.
In the 115th minute the oppo played a speculative long ball to their forward who was the best part of 10 yards offside. The referee, who had tried his best to ruin a good game of football finally accomplished this once he waved ‘play-on’ (after removing the whistle from his mouth and a quick consultation with the oppos manager). The striker ran into our box and was taken down by our keeper.
As can be expected we argued to high heaven with the referee. There happened to be another official who was watching by the touchline who confirmed that the player was well offside. However, the referee did not have the courage or the dignity to overturn his erroneous decision. They converted the penalty and sent us home very disappointed and disgruntled.
MOM: Uriel Fuller, the big man was a colossus, we miss him when he’s not there. Alan and Jason Scannell were also very good, and Suat’s goal is already a good bet for goal of the season.
2nds
Beat Isleworthians Reserves 4-0 at Wood Lane to secure our third successive league win.
An excellent all round performance. Our scorers were Ben Coomber 2, Ben Delderfield & Brian Back.
MOM - Ben Coomber & Shane Parker.
3rds
Manorians IV completed the double over us by beating us 1-0 at the JFS but a much improved, tighter performance than against this oppo last time out. In a game of few chances what turned out to be the winning goal was scored in the first minute of the second half & a scrappy one at that ! Sed Asamany did hit the bar later but Ben Tan also made good saves to keep the game on a knife edge to the end.
MOM - Phil Woodgate who marshalled the defence well took the honours closely followed by Adam Hurst (playing in an unaccustomed right back position) and Thabo Nkoane who enjoyed a more attacking role this week.
4ths
Beat Enfield OG V 6-1 at the JFS to record our 3rd home win of the season.
Micky Berg scored our first goal early in the game (using up his quota for the season) & Richard East added a second before halftime. Enfield were handicapped by losing a player through injury after half an hour & without substitutes continued with 10 men. HT 2-0
In the second period we added further goals from Imran Khalid (his first for the club), Ali Behrami, Richard with another & Gerard Finn with the last one. At the death Enfield scored a consolation. FT 6-1
MOM - The whole team
1sts
Lost 1-3 at Regents Park against Magdalanians. Jason McKeson scored our goal.
We started with a bit of a make shift team, losing 4 first team starters including our captain Dean Rogers. Nevertheless, the lads who came in looked up for the game. For the first 20 minutes the two teams were sizing each other up and we looked pretty evenly matched. We got behind their defence when Suat and Alan linked up nicely to open up the “Magies” with some one touch passing which put Matt Elash clean through, Matt picked the ball up in his stride, accelerated away from the despairing defence showing a clean pair of heels and took his shot from just inside the 18 yard box, with a shot across the keeper, which went agonisingly wide. A few minutes after that Alan won another header in the midfield, one of countless headers he won, this time the defenders had to turn and chase the ball, but as quick as a shot Jason McKeson shouldered the defender out of the way and nicked the ball, then took a first time shot giving the keeper no chance. The oppo looked good though and there was a clear threat, their two forwards were both very good in the air and was able to link up the play. It was a clear tactic to pump the ball up theit forwards and play of the scraps they could create. Our two centre backs weren’t the biggest on the day as we were missing the 6ft 5inch Uriel Fuller due to a drinking injury. Anyhow, Jamie and myself were keeping them at bay with the help of Scannell and Jarvo. The first half finished with our keeper not even being called into action. I would have been happy if that was the full time whistle.
We knew we were playing a decent team and that they were gonna come for us in the second half. However, I made a tactical decision to keep attacking the oppo rather than go defensive as I believed that they were weakest at the back, considering how many times we had got behind their defence. In hindsight perhaps I should known we’d tire. Suat has not played this season and with Lagi Lambrou carrying a groin injury I should have made provisions. However, even I could not have expected the capitulation that took place within 7 minutes of the restart. For some reason we could not get the ball out of our half, too many sloppy passes and bad control. It was due to one such error of judgement when I played a back pass to Sezer and their midfielder read it like a book, closed the pass down so all Sez could do was clatter the ball and himself into the midfielder, and their forward merely had a tap in. This is just what the oppo wanted and they got their tails up. Within a few minutes, whilst our defence was still reeling from conceding such a soft goal, the oppo scored direct from a corner. And it began, the negative and bad attitude that was missing from the match last week, when we showed such heart by fighting until the last minute to get the equaliser. All of a sudden we looked like a team that no longer believed in itself, although 15 minutes earlier we were clearly the better team. It’s such a shame because we could have won this game if were were fitter and more together as a team (something I believe training will resolve on both accounts). Their third goal came when their winger showed more determination than our full back and chased a ball that looked destined to go out, he got their in time and cut the ball back to their striker who crashed the ball home at the near post. We huffed and puffed after that, but the wind had well and truly left our sails.
2nds
Beat Salvatorians IV 6-0 at the JFS. Scorers were Jason Choat 3, Ben Coomber 2 and Shane Parker.
Over the last few weeks, Kings have been scoring goals for fun, but this week finally provided a solid defensive display. Kings were two goals up by half time, firstly through Ben Coomber running through the central defensive pairing to clip over the goalie, and then the goal of the match, a back-heeled chip over the full-back for Jason Choat to run onto and blast into the far corner from outside the box.
Kings had to weather a period of pressure at the start of the second half, but the back four of Lee and Ben Delderfield, Marks Hulyer and Evans, and goalie Ganesh Jillah remained solid throughout. This removed the pressure to allow Ben, Jason and Shane Parker to wreak havoc up front. All 3 individually beating the Salvos offside trap to score in second half, Jason scoring his hat-trick goal in the dying minutes.
A solid win, and an overdue solid defensive performance by the whole team.
MOM: Back four and keeper, for improved communications as well as defensive display.
3rds
Beat Brent Reserves 5-2 at the JFS
Danny Hartigan & David Daran both scored goals by lobbing the keeper early in the first half. Brent pegged us back a goal before halftime HT 2-1
At the start of the second period "the gaffer" Paul Buckley hit a screamer from 25 yards after a defensive header had fallen invitingly for him. Danny scored his second when he ran onto a through ball. We then had a breather allowing Brent to score a second. Sub Simon Broadhurst then came on shortly before the end & scored with another lob over the keeper to earn us a 5-2 home win.
MOM - Daniel Judge edged it from Lewis Chinn & David Daran.
4ths
Lost 0-5 to Latymer OB V at Enfield Playing Fields
Came back to earth with a bump the scoreline doesn't reflect the game.
A hard fought first half where neither side was on top was finished when a pin point Latymer cross to the back post landed on their strikers head to make it 1-0
Another hard fought 20 minutes - we could not score - a big problem for us all season. Then latymer hit us on the break and - going back to our bad ways we capitulated and conceeded another 3 goals to flatter them. We huffed and puffed all game but with only a Dean shot well saved from the goalie and a Jez shot on target from outside the area being the only shots on target we reallymust do better in that department. Fitness is clearly also a problem that must be addressed individually
MOM as when we do well all the team get credit - we must all take the blame and therefore no-one.
1st XI
Drew 2-2 with Minchendenians Reserves at the JFS. Jason McKeson & Matt Elash were our goalscorers.
2nd XI
Lost to Intermediate West league leaders Vaughanians Reserves 4-5 on penalties after an epic 6-6 draw after extra time in the LOB Intermediate Cup.
Throughout the 90 minutes we went ahead 5 times before being pulled back after each goal FT 5-5
In Extra Time Vaughans took the lead within 15 seconds of kick off & we equalised in injury time to take the game to penalties.
Our scorers were Ben Coomber 2, Lewis Henry 2, Mark Evans & Shane Parker in the main game & our penalty scorers were Ben C, Ben Delderfield, Graham Allen & Mark Evans.
MOM - Ben Delderfield
3rd XI
Lost 0-4 to Hamptonians IV in the AFA Minor Cup at the JFS.
Arguably played better than last week but got punished on the day !
4th XI
We were decimated with cryoffs & cancelled our league game at Bealonians
1st XI -
Beat Enfield OG Reserves 7-0 at Enfield school. Our scorers were Jason McKeson 2, Matt Elash 2, Lagi Lambrou 2 and Lee Jarvis 1.
We had a lot to prove in this game after being blessed by the majestic touch of Lionel Morgan last week. He not only helped us get our season on
track with our first win of the season but also restored some much needed confidence. but, perhaps his most important contribution was to help
rejuvenate the monster that is Jason Mackeson. He ran Enfield ragged, bagging two quality goals and putting in a performance that would strike
fear into any defence in our division. However, there seems to be a new superstar in the making, with a masterful performance by Alan Mufti. He was at the heart of everything, winning balls, breaking up play and creating many, many attacking moves.
Overall it was a great team performance with every player excelling in their individual roles on the pitch. The defence started from the front
with Matt Elash chasing and harrowing the oppo defence all afternoon, not allowing them any time on the ball. He was also holding up the ball much
better, which allowed other players to get involved in the attacks. He also scored two goals, a professionally taken penalty and a simple tap in
(that laid to rest some ghosts of last week's miss). Lagi on the left wing terrorised the oppo right back and left him and their goalie with some
nightmares. he also scored two goals, one was sheer deterimination to latch onto a lost ball and the other was a clever backwards header as the
keeper was coming out to claim the ball.
George was solid all day, knitting the game together with some clever flicks and passes, as well as providing clever cover for our rampant full
backs . His partnership with Alan seems to be getting better every game. Lee and Jason Scannel provided the team with great balance and attacking thrust. Lee scored a Matt Elashesque free kick (as in the keeper made a hash of it) as well as putting in a number of crosses for the team to feed off.
Scannel looks like one of the finds of the season. he has slotted into right back and looks like a natural, his reading of the game, composure in
1-on-1 situations and ability to bring the ball out of defence is a revelation.
7 – 0 but could have been double that, but we’ll look forward to the return game. keep it up boys!!!
MOM Jason Mack but Alan was also worthy of a share of the champagne
2nd XI -
Beat Shene OG Reserves at Barn Elms 5-4 to record our first win of the season.
Our scorers were Ben Coomber, Graham Allen, Brian Back, Lewis Henry & Wayne Impey.
Against top of the table oppo, Kings finally refound their scoring boots, but also had to experience another lesson in adapting to the higher level of Division 1 football. Shene were very comfortable on the ball and maintained possession for long periods, but very rarely broke down Kings two lines of defence. Kings on the other hand played a more unfamiliar longer ball, which paid dividends on two occasions, as firstly Ben Coomber smashed into the top left hand corner from distance, and then Wayne Impey matched the feat from a more central position. HT 2-0.
Kings continued their own "goal of the day" competition within minutes of the restart, as Lewis Henry curled into top right hand corner from outside the opposite side of the area. Kings were now playing a far more attractive counter-attack, but on the ground, with controlled passing. Shene got on the score-sheet before Kings continued the goal spectacular. Lewis struck an almost carbon-copy shot onto the post from a free-kick, where Brian Back was quickest to react to make it 4-1, before Graham Allen also found the top-corner from outside the box.
Now the lesson. The higher level of football now requires a higher level of fitness. At the moment, Kings start to tire dramatically, both physically and mentally, with 10 - 15 minutes to play. Shene took advantage of this and scored 3 goals in the space of 5 minutes. A large element of unrest set in, but Kings got players behind the ball and ensured the oppo didnt hit the all important 5th goal. Final whistle, big sigh of relief, 5-4 win and 3 points.
5 great goals with some creative counter-attacking football. Fitness has to and will improve, and this will breed confidence and a style of football the team are accustomed to play.
MOM: Shane Parker had solid game at right back, but honour goes to Graham Allen, who held midfield together, especially during long periods when Shene maintained possession.
3rd XI -
Beat Wood Green OB IV 9-1 in the LOB Minor Cup with our best performance of the seaon to date.
Scorers were Danny Hartigan 3 and one each from Doug Coull, Adam Hurst, Lewis Chinn, Rami Osman, Romaine Lewis & Sed Asamany.
MOM - The whole team - an excellent all-round performance
4th XI -
Beat Parmiterians VIII at JFS 3-1
Similar to last week we started off slowly, letting the oppo play their own game without much resistance. Both sides had chances before Parms went ahead when from a corner we allowed their player unmarked to hit the back of the net with an unstopable shot.
Again we did not let this effect us and after words at half time every player upped their game. With chances going begging it was finally up to Gerard Finn to provide the quality needed - a run at the heart of their defence and a rasping shot to the top right hand corner giving their keeper no chance.
We quickly made it 2 when after good work down the right - the ball fell to Ali Behrami on the edge of the area who blasted the ball past a bemused goalie.
In what seemed like an eternity we hung on to 2-1 both sides having numerous chances - our defence held firm against a Parms team determined to get back into the game. Stout performances from Ronnie and Karim in the centre with Micky and Jez backing them up it was left to Sam to perform the real heroics with a few fine saves at the most important of times.
Finally, in Ferguson time Richard East was on hand to pop one in after Martin had skipped past a few defenders and had his shot saved.
Fine performances all round with Imran Khalid making a fine debut at Centre Mid ably assisted by Ali, Simon J and Martin when he came on. Richard and Jason holding the ball up well - against a team who seemed to get their kicks from playing the offside more than scoring,
MOM Sam and Imran excelled but was a real team effort performance ! - well done
1st XI
Beat Wandsworth Borough Reserves at Roehampton 3-1 in the AFA Intermediate Cup - Our scorers were Jason McKeson 2 and Lionel Morgan.
2nd XI
Drew 2-2 with Birkbeck College Reserves at the JFS. Jason Choat & Wayne Impey scored our goals.
On a poor pitch with an almost unplayable wind, the football was of a high standard, but surprisingly, both teams perfomed better when playing against the elements. Therefore, it was no surprise that Kings went ahead midway through first half, when Shane Parker bustled his way down the left wing before threading Jason Choat through the middle of the oppo defence to shoot home from outside the box.
Birkbeck controlled large periods of second half, but their equalizer was a soft goal, a strike from inside the six yard box after corner was not cleared. Kings were relying on attacks on the break as the back four soaked up each Birkbeck attack. One counter-attack led to Kings gaining the advantage as Wayne Impey was allowed to run through the centre of the park before squeezing a left-foot shot into the corner of the net. As the minutes clicked away, it looked like Kings were to pick up all 3 points, until in injury time, an opportune volley from all of 30 yards found the top corner for a late, dramatic equalizer.
On reflection, a fair result, but a sickener to concede so late for the third week on the trot
MOM: Mark Hulyer, who commanded the back four throughout the game against a quick, strong Birkbeck forward line.
3rd XI
Lost 0-2 at Whitton against Teddington.
4th XI
Beat Minchendenians V 3-1 at the JFS.
Played a weakened Minch side we battled for the 1st half hour with chances going begging for both sides.
Minch took the lead with a well worked goal on the half hour but we did not let that effect us.
A Simon J long throw and Richard East was on hand to equalise.
In the 2nd half we pressed and went ahead with another SJ long throw this time Ali Behrami back headed the ball past their goalie
It would have been 6 or 7 had Jason K not tried his best to keep the score down!
Finally another SJ long throw and Richard East (back playing up front) was again on the end of it side footing into an empty net.
MOM - Ronnie again a rock at the back - with a special mention for Sam who again impressed between the sticks.
1st XI
Lost 1-2 to Alexandra Park Reserves in the AFA Middx / Essex Intermediate Cup : Matt Elash was our scorer from the penalty spot.
We lined up as a traditional 4-4-2 so everybody knew their roles. We had Alan Mifty and George Joannou in the centre of the park, and Ozz and Uriel Fuller at centre-back. This solid 4 man unit was meant to give our attacking players more freedom to exploit. With our full backs able to press on and our wide men given permission to fully support the attack; it was an attacking formation as goals have been hard to come by as of late.
The oppo looked big and strong and were obviously up for it. However, in about the tenth minute Matt Elash put Damien Hall through with a long, along the deck pass. Damien latched onto the ball, beat a defender and struck the ball from a difficult angle, the ball hit the crossbar, then the post and fell safely into their keepers arms. Damien and a few other players swear that the ball crossed the line but the referee couldn’t give it with the aid of a Russian Linesman.
As the game moved on we could see that the teams were quite evenly matched. They were the more physical team, with their defence and midfield putting in some meaty challenges, but we had more guile and running and actually tried to play football. Their first goal came on about the half-hour mark when George had an out of body experience by the touch-line, whilst George was somewhere else, their forward nicked the ball, played a rather cumbersome one-two with his attacking partner and then expertly curled his finish into the far right-hand side of our goal. Nothing the keeper could have done.
That was their first chance of the game. We knew we could win if we kept pressing, and a few minutes later, Jason Mackerson side stepped their captain, the right back (Danny Mills lookalike) who then clattered right into him. Stone cold penalty. For some unknown reason two of our players choose this point have an argument with one another, it felt like an eternity whilst the ref sorted out our non-sense. In the meantime Matt E kept his nerve and once the ref gave the all clear he struck a clean penalty hard and low to the keeper’s right. The first half came to a close.
Second half the oppo started the brighter, with them having a shot on goal pretty much from the kick-off. This was a wake up call. At times we played some nice stuff, with both Alan and George in particular looking to bring the ball down and play people in. Unfortunately, it was our lack of discipline that cost us. The oppo’s second goal came from our free kick on the half-way line. Our whole team had pushed into the box in search of the second goal, the manager made a point of telling Alan to sit on the striker after he had taken the kick, which once taken came straight back to a completely unmarked striker at around about the half-way line. The oppo broke in numbers whilst the striker carried the ball onto far right hand side of our penalty area, from there he cracked a splendid shot into the far right had side of our goal. 2-1. Up to this point they’d had nothing. We tried in vain to get an equaliser, but too many players had lost their heads and this clouded their judgment and decision making on the pitch. Try as we did we could not get the equaliser and Alexandra Park held on to the final whistle.
Our first win of the season continues to elude us, but I know it can’t be far away and once it comes I’m sure it’ll settle a few nerves and we’ll go on to have a good season.
2nd XI
Lost 1-2 to a strong Inter West Salvatorians III side in the AFA Junior Cup at the JFS : Ben Coomber was our scorer.
MOM - The whole team (a much improved performance from last week)
3rd XI
Lost 0-5 to early pacesetters Manorians IV at Northwick Park
4th XI
No Game : Uffingtonians IV cried off on Friday evening
1st XI
Drew 1-1 at Highgate vs Aloysians III - Our scorer was captain Dean Rodgers
2nd XI
Lost 0-2 vs Chertsey OS Reserves at Bannister SC
In a tight game Chertsey snatched victory with 2 goals in the last 8 minutes.
MOM - Mark Evans
3rd XI
Won 5-3 vs Phoenix OB Reserves at Spur Road
The 3rds started the season with a brilliant 5-3 victory. We were one up early in the game when Doug Coull was on hand to hook in a Romaine Lewis cross from close range. Following a defensive lapse Phoenix equalised. We then conjured up a second goal when David Daran cleverly switched the play & Doug Coull spanked a 25 yard volley into the net. We then netted a third before halftime when Romaine's quick thinking played in Paul "the gaffer" Buckley who cheekily lobbed the outcoming keeper. HT 3-1
Two minutes into the second period Paul picked out Danny Hartigan who controlled & tucked away his shot into the bottom corner to give us a 4-1 lead. However we then took our foot off the pedal & Phoenix took advantage by netting twice to reduce our lead to 4-3. At this point Kings were rattled & Phoenix could have equalised. But we held firm at the back & then scored a decisive fifth goal when after superb footwork Ben Henry played a one-two with Jumaane Xavier & finished in style. FT 5-3
MOM - A good all round team performance but Ben Henry playing in an experimental centre mid position excelled.
4th XI
Lost 0-4 at London Colney vs UCL Academicals VI
What started off as a close game with us holding the upper hand for the first half hour of the first half ended with UCL on top & running up a decisive 4-0 scoreline. We conceded twice at the end of the first period & twice more after the break by which time UCL's halftime substitutions had strengthened their second half performance & minimised our scoring chances.
MOM - Ali Behrami - kept battling throughout & Vincent Descollonges - kept the score down
1st XI
Home to Egbertians I - Lost 1-2
We got off to a flying start with a nicely worked goal when Curtis found himself behind the defence and pulled it back for Damien Hall to take a first time curling looping shot over the keeper. It all looked too easy. Then the oppo got their game going by pumping the ball up into the danger areas relentlessly. Ozz missed a header and the ball founds its way into the penalty area, then a lack of understanding between the centerback and the keeper and the oppo found themselves back in the game. Our centre backs were not the biggest on the day and the oppo tried to take full advantage of this. Nevertheless, our midfield was being overrun, with George trying his best to keep things together defensively and begin attacking moves. The oppo’s second goal came in a similar fashion to their first, a pump up to the centre forward, who got something on it and the ball fell to the feet of their second striker and 1-2.
After that we were on all out attack mode. We brought on Shane for Curtis, this gave us more running in the midfield and a bit more of a physical presence. The oppo had not been shy about putting themselves about but apart from that did not have too much about them. They were, however, organised at the back and tough in the midfield. We got behind their defence on about 5 or 6 occasions and a combination of woeful finishing and good goal keeping kept us at bay. The oppo could have made it 1-3 when their captain struck a sweet little shot from the edge of the area, and in fact had already begun celebrating when our keeper showed some neat footwork to dive and save low to his bottom left corner.
We came across a team which we really ought to have beat, however we were out fought and it was a smash and grab job by the oppo. It happens; we just need to learn our lessons and move on to the next game. Still a long way to go.
Mom: George Joannou, for all the work he did in midfield. But Jason Mackeson put in a hell of a shift up front and did everything but get us a goal
lololol