Prams and Bicycles

Saturday’s match between Southgate Olympic’s second team and London Welsh’s first team attracted three spectators to Clowes Sports Ground, confirming the irresistible allure of the AFA Intermediate Cup. The Premier League and Championship programmes had been suspended to avoid any possible clashes with the First Round matches in this important competition. (I may be wrong about that.)   

Last season’s Final, between Civil Service and Honourable Artillery Company at Roehampton was my 6,000th football match. I was invited to take part in a pre-match handshake with the teams and officials that almost lasted as long as the match itself. One of the clubs’ websites called it ‘protracted’. All things being equal, I hope to see a tie in every round of this season’s ‘Cup’.

I’ve no idea why the 12.56 train from King’s Cross to Winchmore Hill was so packed. There were no seats to be had from the start of the journey and everyone who got on subsequently either had a pram or a bicycle or both. It was a 15-minute walk to the ground and light rain started to fall on a chilly afternoon, the temperature about 30 degrees lower than the previous Saturday.

I accept that matches at this level are essentially for the playing members of the clubs involved and not really for spectators. It means that I often don’t know the kick-off time until I get there. I was expecting 2pm on Saturday but the man in the clubhouse informed me that I had over an hour to wait. But Firs Farm Playing Fields, literally over the road, was hosting six matches and a couple of those were about to start.

So I stood out in the rain, getting heavier all the time, to see Old Minchendenians’ fourth team take a two-goal lead against Old Chigwellians’ third team in the London Old Boys Minor Cup and Winchmore Hill’s ninth team finally manage a goal after a sustained period of pressure in an SAL Cup fixture with Alexandra Park’s eighth team. But the main event was soon to start and I took up my place behind the goal under the branches of a massive elm tree.

Southgate Olympic 2s were ahead in three minutes, scoring at the other end. A hard shot in from the right hit a London Welsh defender’s boot and looped high into the air and over the stranded goalie. It proved to be the only goal of a very competitive match in which both ‘keepers excelled. Three minutes from time a tall Welsh defender moved up for a corner and headed over the bar from almost under it. The Olympic players were joyfully punching the air at the end.

I saw a crazy period of play during an FA Youth Cup match at Redbridge last Thursday. The hosts had won 8-0 and 7-0 in the previous two rounds and understandably started full of confidence. But they were a goal behind before scoring four times between the 22nd and 28th minutes. It finished 7-1 in their favour. My other matches last week were Hanwell Town v Staines Town in The FA Youth Cup (0-3), AFA v Oxford University (2-1) and Carshalton Athletic Ladies v Kent Magpies (1-2).