Send in the Artillery

The superfan has reached 110 games for the season after watching West Ham United v Newcastle United (0-3, FA Youth Cup), Edexcel v Clocktower (1-4, Islington Midweek League), Winchmore Hill v Honourable Artillery Company (2-1, AFA Senior Cup) and Borussia Dawlish v AFC Millbank (3-1, West End Sunday AM League).

We’ve just had a weekend at which, thankfully, there were very few postponements. All four AFA Senior Cup quarter finals were played on Saturday and three of them took place within a small area of north London. I could’ve gone to Broomfield or Old Minchendenians, but I chose Winchmore Hill for an opportunity to realise a long-held ambition to see the Honourable Artillery Company or ‘HAC’ in action.

I used to have similar ambitions regarding BB Eagles, South Bank Cuaco and Crouch End Vampires. All great names.

Saturday’s tie at The Paulin was a predictably tense affair, played in sunshine that I don’t remember being forecast. It was like Liverpool v Everton but without the crowd. I counted just 27 present along the touchlines as HAC took the game to the Hill in the opening minutes, three or four worthy efforts flashing narrowly wide.

The Hill, Cup winners twice in the last seven years, grabbed a fortunate lead on the half-hour, the ball apparently being knocked over the line by an HAC defender after a corner. The teams couldn’t quite maintain the same energy levels in the second half, but the Hill made it 2-0 and HAC immediately pulled a goal back as the game remained finely balanced.

All four of this season’s semi-finalists are clubs from the Southern Amateur League, with both ties being scheduled for 6 March at Old Parkonians FC, very close to Fairlop tube station on the Central line. There was a convivial meeting of football people in the bar after the game at The Paulin. Someone who came in to ask if the rugby was being shown on the big screen was given very short shrift.

I even met a man who saw Tottenham Hotspur swamp Crewe Alexandra 13-2 in an FA Cup Fourth Round replay at White Hart lane 50 years ago last Wednesday. Spurs were 10-1 up at half-time. I was reading yesterday about an Essex Sunday Junior Cup tie that finished 10-10. I’d never come across that score before, though I did see Carshalton Athletic draw 9-9 with a Black and White Minstrels XI in a not-too-serious charity game in the ‘60s.

I went for a West End Sunday AM League Premier Division Challenge Shield quarter final on a cold Sunday morning in Regent’s Park, sitting on a bench behind one goal as the only spectator. A young Japanese woman in pink knee-length boots was nearby, throwing a much-chewed ball for her little dog ‘Scrappy’ to retrieve. But he wouldn’t let go of it. “He’s being so naughty”, she confided to me.