These were the results: Sporting Bengal United 1 Sevenoaks Town 7, Middlesex 1 Cambridgeshire 4 (Youth), Perivale Residents Association 3 Barnhill 2, St Andrews 0 Hetton Lyons CC 4 and Visa 2 London Reaction 1.
The first of those was a Kent League Premier Division fixture at Mile End Stadium. Sporting Bengal, formed in 1996 as the representative team of East London’s Bangladeshi community, have experienced an upturn in fortunes recently. Manager Sana Miah had actually picked up the Manager of the Month award after three successive wins.
But they were 2-0 down at half-time last Wednesday and had capsized to a 7-1 defeat by the end. To make matters worse their No.9 was hurt a couple of minutes after scoring their goal with a penalty and escorted to an ambulance with what looked like a broken left arm.
In all honesty the floodlighting at Mile End Stadium is the worst I’ve seen at a football venue. It does illuminate the running track round the pitch but the pitch itself is in semi-darkness. It was a little misty on Wednesday too, which obviously didn’t help, but the game was still good entertainment (apart from the injury) for a bumper crowd of 22.
Middlesex last won The FA County Youth Cup in 1972, beating Liverpool 2-0 at Wealdstone’s old Lower Mead ground. Yes, "The Barber" was there! I remember it being a cold May afternoon and the pitch being almost devoid of grass. I can recall nothing of the game itself, except that it was hard fought in a frantic kind of way.
Middlesex produced an explosive first few minutes in Saturday’s Semi-Final at The Warren, scoring one goal and having a penalty saved, but the Cambridgeshire visitors took control after that and ran out 4-1 winners. There was a nice free programme, but I had to get the line-ups from a couple of parents. I’d expected them to be announced over the PA.
Sunday’s FA Sunday Cup Fifth Round tie at Edgware featured local side St Andrews and Hetton Lyons Cricket Club from Sunderland. Hetton, Cup winners in 2006, won the toss and decided to bat first. The turning point arguably came after 20 minutes, when the home ‘keeper had to go off injured and was replaced between the posts by the Assistant Manager.
The latter had to pick the ball out of the net four times and Gavin Cogdon was Hetton’s hat-trick hero. If they go on to lift the trophy, he will dedicate their success to son Jude Anthony. Last season’s winners, Coundon Conservative from Durham, are also through to the Semis and the two sides could be facing each other at world-famous Anfield at the end of April.
I’d been spoilt for choice on Sunday morning at Perivale. I could’ve watched "Armenian Youth Association Reserves" on one pitch or "London ‘Ave It FC" on another. In the end I went for the game that started first, Perivale Residents Association v Barnhill in the Hayes & District Sunday League. Perivale won 3-2, watched by a crowd estimated to be two.