Norse code

At the third week of asking ‘The Barber’ finally managed to see a Fourth Round tie in the AFA Senior Cup, keeping up his record of taking in at least one tie in every round of the competition. His latest stop on ‘The Road to Winchmore Hill’, that being the venue for the Final in April, was Old Meadonians’ Riverside Lands in Chiswick.

‘Meado’ of the Amateur Football Combination have some form in the Senior Cup, having won it four times in the last eight years, and I was expecting a close game on a grey Saturday afternoon against Norsemen from the Southern Amateur League. I got there via a Bakerloo line tube to Waterloo and a train to Barnes Bridge, right on the Thames.

Seven games were being played simultaneously in that huge ground and mine started on time in front of 12 spectators. From the start Norsemen passed the ball well, looking pacy and creative up front and solid and serene at the back. By the 55th minute they were 4-0 to the good.

The home side reduced those significant arrears very quickly and then enjoyed a spell of about ten minutes in which they may have sniffed a comeback. But their second goal, making the final score 2-4, didn’t arrive until a penalty was confidently converted three minutes into added time.

Another excellent afternoon’s entertainment, though I had to keep my eye on a chap swinging a golf club about 50 yards away.

On the previous Tuesday, I was ‘up the East End’ to see West Ham play QPR in The FA Youth Cup’s Fourth Round. Rangers were on top for the first 15-20 minutes, being so quick into the tackle that the young Hammers had no time to show their artistry on the ball.

Crucially, Rangers failed to find the net in that opening period and some of their belief and commitment started to ebb away after Hammers had taken a 20th-minute lead. They went on to win 3-0, England U17 striker Rob Hall looking sharp in his bright yellow boots, and Rangers even lost their big centre-half to a second yellow card at the end to cap a disappointing evening for the R’s.

After some blank weekends, Regent’s Park was buzzing on Sunday morning with games going on all over the place. I watched Ernst & Young’s ‘double header’, i.e. one game straight after the other, with KPMG in the London Accountancy League on the pitch nearest to the zoo. From time to time I heard a strange roaring behind me that sounded like one of the dinosaurs from ‘Jurassic Park’. Surely they haven’t got one of those in there.

Both halves of that ‘double header’ finished goalless – a first for ‘The Barber’. That’s 104 games for the season and 5,777 altogether.