West End goals

I’m glad to see the back of January, apparently the coldest for 23 years. There were five games in the frame for Saturday and four of them finished 1-6, 3-4, 4-2 and 0-5 respectively. The other one, the one I decided to go to, was switched to another ground and I missed it.

The weather reports had mentioned ‘a heavy frost’ and I feared the worst when I saw icy bits on the pavement on the walk from North Acton tube to North Acton Playing Fields, the home, as you know, of Old Danes, who were scheduled to host  Albanian in an AFA Middlesex/Essex Senior Cup quarter-final at 1.30pm.

The changing room block was boarded up, never a good sign, but two teams were getting changed outside in the cold. (And it was cold.) It turned out they were going to play in a West End Saturday League Division Two fixture between Racing Chiswick Legends and Sevenths ‘B’. I had time to try other grounds but it was a case of ‘a bird in the hand’, so I stayed where I was.

The main pitch, where Old Danes would normally play, was in a terrible state. The puddles in the penalty areas had iced over; the ‘middle third’ was a mud heap. The other pitch had soggy goalmouths but was playable. I stood behind one goal, the only spectator.

There was an amusing incident about five minutes into the game. A Sevenths ‘B’ player took an absurdly long run-up to take a throw-in, probably about 20 yards, and for most of it he was followed by a huge Alsatian bounding along behind him. I thought the dog was certain to chase the ball onto the pitch but it showed admirable restraint.

Chiswick, in an all-sky blue strip, did nearly all of the attacking but Sevenths’ ‘keeper was in inspired form. One minute he was flying across to finger-tip a blinding shot behind for a corner; the next he was racing out to plunge bravely at a striker’s feet. He was only beaten by a penalty hit right into the stanchion and the final score was 1-1. It was a good game and a cheap afternoon out.

Two days earlier I’d been in the altogether different surroundings of Stamford Bridge, where Chelsea took on Portsmouth in an FA Youth Cup Fifth Round tie. Admission was free and they had a crowd of 1,605. There was no sign of a programme or team-sheet but you can’t have everything.

The Blues’ Irish skipper, a midfielder, received lengthy treatment after receiving a whack on the shin in the first couple of minutes but he soon scored what proved to be the only goal of the game. It reminded me of an FA Trophy match at Welling a few years ago. The Wings’ No.9 couldn’t put any weight on one foot after a hefty kick on the ankle and was carried to the touchline.

We all expected him to be substituted but he returned to the action a few minutes later and went on to net five goals in an 8-1 victory!

The Middlesex County League has another Saturday morning kick-off coming up. Sporting Hackney face St John’s Arsenal Deaf FC in a Division One (Central & East) fixture at Haggerston Park, Yorkton Street, off Hackney Road, London E2 8NH on 20 February at 11am. Before that, I hope to watch Winchmore Hill’s AFA Senior Cup tie with the Honourable Artillery Company this Saturday.