Not much changes in London, and White Hart Lane is the same wasteland as it was when I last visited in the late 1980s on an FA Cup replay night when the Irons lost against a resurgent Spurs side. I remember walking back to the tube station, piles of rubbish and dilapidation everywhere, not a bus in sight. Not much changes, it seems – probably not for over half a century at least.
After over an hour of sitting on the tube, fiddling around with a street map and bus guide, our game against Haringey Council reminded me of a recent conversation I had with a Spurs fan who claimed West Ham weren’t a London team: according to him, WHU played too far from the city centre to be a ‘London’ club. What does that make Spurs in Haringey? What if Spurs move to Stratford? Are there schools in North London?
The Match
On arrival at the sports centre [which I mistook for the football stadium], the oppo were already training on the astro pitch. I was informed by Spuds that they were young, wore flashy boots and they wanted to start the game early. Christ.
We kicked off with a couple of players arriving late. This was deliberate, I was informed, and it paid off [in the first half]. Within ten minutes, we were in front. A goal mouth scramble. The ball sneaked out to Luis standing just inside the penalty area. He threaded the ball between two defenders and into the net. Standing behind him, I saw just how well he did to place the ball there. 1-0. Great stuff.
As the game rolled on, we realised just how good the oppo were. I was marking a guy who looked like Paul Scholes. Phil Arnold limped off and Stuart Dade filled in as centre back. In goal, Dave Rudd was having an inspired performance, and he kept them at bay [and us in the match] until the inevitable equaliser came. 1-1
All this changed with two quick goals by the Accies. Simon Mesner – arriving late but eating his ‘usual’ breakfast – was brought on to add to our attack. An immediate result. The ref blew for a foul on Sam. From where I stood, it looked like a penalty, but the ref pointed to a free kick on the edge of the D. Up stepped Mes and curled a brilliant free kick to the right of the wall and past the keeper into the top right hand corner. 2-1. Rocking.
Then, what seemed a short time after, Mes received a looped ball in-between the oppo’s two centre backs. Rather than bring the ball down and control it, Mes volleyed a first time looping shot over the keeper and into the net. 3-1. Euphoria.
Half time. This seemed to be an important point in the game. Our talk lasted a mere 2 minutes. Their talk seemed to last the full 15 mins. It certainly changed things.
Out came the oppo and from the off they bombarded our goal. They run at us from all directions. They were very good and in the years playing football, I can safely say they were one of the best teams I have played against. 3-6 Full time.
Post match thoughts
There were several positives from this game. We held together as a team for the 90 minutes. Dave Rudd’s performance in goal kept was brilliant. We never gave up: we battled hard and did ourselves proud. Looking forward to returning to Crystal Palace. No more journeys up north into the hinterland. Up the Accies.
After over an hour of sitting on the tube, fiddling around with a street map and bus guide, our game against Haringey Council reminded me of a recent conversation I had with a Spurs fan who claimed West Ham weren’t a London team: according to him, WHU played too far from the city centre to be a ‘London’ club. What does that make Spurs in Haringey? What if Spurs move to Stratford? Are there schools in North London?
The Match
On arrival at the sports centre [which I mistook for the football stadium], the oppo were already training on the astro pitch. I was informed by Spuds that they were young, wore flashy boots and they wanted to start the game early. Christ.
We kicked off with a couple of players arriving late. This was deliberate, I was informed, and it paid off [in the first half]. Within ten minutes, we were in front. A goal mouth scramble. The ball sneaked out to Luis standing just inside the penalty area. He threaded the ball between two defenders and into the net. Standing behind him, I saw just how well he did to place the ball there. 1-0. Great stuff.
As the game rolled on, we realised just how good the oppo were. I was marking a guy who looked like Paul Scholes. Phil Arnold limped off and Stuart Dade filled in as centre back. In goal, Dave Rudd was having an inspired performance, and he kept them at bay [and us in the match] until the inevitable equaliser came. 1-1
All this changed with two quick goals by the Accies. Simon Mesner – arriving late but eating his ‘usual’ breakfast – was brought on to add to our attack. An immediate result. The ref blew for a foul on Sam. From where I stood, it looked like a penalty, but the ref pointed to a free kick on the edge of the D. Up stepped Mes and curled a brilliant free kick to the right of the wall and past the keeper into the top right hand corner. 2-1. Rocking.
Then, what seemed a short time after, Mes received a looped ball in-between the oppo’s two centre backs. Rather than bring the ball down and control it, Mes volleyed a first time looping shot over the keeper and into the net. 3-1. Euphoria.
Half time. This seemed to be an important point in the game. Our talk lasted a mere 2 minutes. Their talk seemed to last the full 15 mins. It certainly changed things.
Out came the oppo and from the off they bombarded our goal. They run at us from all directions. They were very good and in the years playing football, I can safely say they were one of the best teams I have played against. 3-6 Full time.
Post match thoughts
There were several positives from this game. We held together as a team for the 90 minutes. Dave Rudd’s performance in goal kept was brilliant. We never gave up: we battled hard and did ourselves proud. Looking forward to returning to Crystal Palace. No more journeys up north into the hinterland. Up the Accies.
-- WereWolf
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