Middlesex County League

Premier Division

Saturday 14th May 2022

Kick Off 13.30 On Time !

Sporting Hackney 3 Brentham 1, attendance 26

2’ 0-1

34’ 1-1

50’ 2-1

87’ 3-1

@ Hackney Marshes Centre, Show Pitch 1

Homerton Road

Hackney

London

E9 5PF

No Admission or Programme.

Sporting Hackney normally play at Barking F.C., but they have also played one off games this season at Leyton Sports Ground, Wadham Lodge and today, here at Hackney Marshes. When I last saw them play at home, back on 8th January 2011, they beat Springfield 3-0 in a Middlesex County League Premier Division match, played on the 3G cage at Haggerston Park, in Shoreditch.

I wouldn’t normally make multiple visits to large complexes with vast amounts of pitches. I came to Hackney Marshes on 16th May 2011, when I saw Bethnal Green United ‘A’ lose 0-3 to St. Johns Arsenal Deaf, in a Middlesex County League Division 1 (Central & East) match. The game was played on one of the ’S’ numbered pitches, ( I never noted which one exactly, as I never expected to come back) which are across the Lee Valley Pathway from where today’s match took place. The term ’Show Pitch’ can be misleading, especially in this case. Nearest the building, which houses the changing rooms and cafe/bar, are the two ‘Show Pitches’. No. 1 runs widthways in front of the building and is nothing more than a pitch. No.2 is to the right of this, running at right angles, with this one being roped off. Today, it was hosting an Essex Olympian League Division 1 match between Snaresbrook and Beacon Hill Rovers, which kicked off half an hour after our match. It was a good back up to have, just in case there was a problem with my intended match.

Sporting Hackney came into this fifth in the league table, whilst Brentham were second, knowing that if they won their three remaining games, they would leapfrog current leaders NW London, who have finished their fixtures, managing to build a seven point lead in the process. It started well for the visitors, heading in at the far post with less than two minutes on the clock, but their performance from here on in was pitiful. They never had another attempt on goal until seventy four minutes later, and that was high and wide of the target. In between, Sporting Hackney were far the better side. They levelled through a header of their own, powerfully put in from a corner on the left and could have been four or five ahead by halftime. They went 2-1 up five minutes into the second half, coolly side footing home a ball pulled back from the right. They never looked like losing their lead. They hit the post with an effort that the ’keeper was nowhere near saving, before making it 3-1 in the dying minutes, a long ball superbly controlled wide on the left, beating a defender in the same movement, before cutting inside and shooting past the ’keeper into the far corner.

So, NW London take the title. The fact that Brentham had a chance of winning it, perhaps suggests the standard of this league is not the best.