Middlesex County League

Premier Division

Saturday 23rd October 2021

Kick Off 14.30 Actual 14.29

A.V.A. 1 Stonewall 2, attendance 4

29’ 1-0

32’ 1-1

84’ 1-2

@ Kingsbury High School, Upper School

Princes Avenue

Kingsbury

London

NW9 9JR

No Admission or Programme.

A.V.A. are newly promoted into the Premier Division. They are a team made up entirely of Romanian players and take their name from the initials of the coach who founded them.

It was 8th versus 15th (bottom) in the league table and was a really good game to watch. It was A.V.A. who went in front, with a dipping shot from 25 yards that found it’s way into the bottom corner of the net. Stonewall levelled it up at 1-1 within three minutes, the ‘keeper fumbling the ball which was then put in from a tight angle. The second half saw both teams going for the win and it was the visitors who took all three points when they grabbed the winner with six minutes left. A cross from the left wasn’t cleared, and it fell nicely for their winger, who hit a first time shot that was deflected into the opposite side of the goal to which he was aiming, giving the ‘keeper no chance.

Overall, a draw would probably have been a fair result, but Stonewall have now won two games on the trot, and having started the day propping up the table, they have now climbed up five places with this win.

Arthurian League

Division 5 North

Saturday 23rd October 2021

Kick Off 11.00 Actual 11.01

Old Millhillians 4 Old Merchant Taylors’ II 0, attendance 2

11’ 1-0 (pen)

12’ 2-0

41’ 3-0

82’ 4-0

@ Whitmore High School, 3G Pitch

Porlock Avenue

Harrow

HA2 0AD

No Admission or Programme.

Today’s match was only a couple of hundred yards from The Philathletic Ground which I had visited last Saturday morning. At least here there could be no confusion as to which match was being watched, even for the less intelligent of ‘hoppers amongst us, as this is the only pitch here! It is just a caged pitch, with no spectator area, but there was no problem standing inside the fence to watch. It also has the wires across the pitch, used to hold the netting to divide the area into smaller sections. Unusually, at no time did the ball hit either of them, which is not normally the case.

Old Millhillians have only restarted their team this season and have made a decent start, coming into this third in the league table, one place above the visitors. Two goals in the first twelve minutes had them well in command and it was quite obvious that they were going to win this comfortably. By halftime it was 3-0. During the match they also hit the post three times, as well as having another effort disallowed for offside. The goal of the game came eight minutes from time, making it 4-0, with an unstoppable 25 yarder into the top corner. The win now sees them go top of the table.

With the game done and dusted by 12.39 there was ample time to get to a second match. The other spectator was heading to Milton Keynes, but I was staying more local, ticking off another of the new clubs in the Premier Division of the Middlesex County League.