Game of two halves

Yet another defeat but the 'green shoots' of recovery were visible in what really was a 'game of two halves'. We started quite well and looked strong but a crazy fifteen minute period saw us three down to some poor goals gifted to the opposition by poor defending as well as injuries to Andy Dade, Luke Fallon and keeper Lee Clifford all before half time!!

So with some major tinkering (Mr Ranieri style), we reverted to a 4-4-2 and although conceded early in the second half, totally dominated the oppo. Players were moving for position, pressing the oppo and playing for each other. We were unlucky not to score but if they keep this belief and momentum in their game we can go on to better things.

Yet again, Mesner gave his all for the cause and Perre was explosive in the second half and with Billy and Man of Match Rudd having inspired second half were allowed to express themelves.

Accies v Billy FC

We lost, of course, but overall it was a really encouraging evening.

Barry, standing in for our absent coach, exerted a steadying influence over the team. Everyone worked hard and played for each other. As Barry said , we didn't deserve the 'arsehole scoreline'. Barry, you are a poet.

We could have taken the lead in the first half. Mickael blazed over after a great move. Perre worked tirelessly all night and Mes marshalled the defence really well. Junior had a chance to head a consolation goal in the second half after an excellent cross from...ahemm...Perre. Tremayne showed his versatility, fitting in seemlessly at left back.No one let their head drop, and we all worked hard until the lights went out.

Big thanks to associate members, Anton and Junior for coming down at short notice. Much appreciated

If we play like this we'll win more games than we lose over the next few weeks. Now there's a bold prediction.

Well Done / Good Luck / Check It Out - From The Accies' No.11

Just a couple of words to say well done to The Accies that turned out at the weekend to play in the AW London Invitation Trophy at the weekend. Being the other side of Europe in Prague I couldn't be there but was in regular contact to see how we were progressing. Hopefully they'll do it again some time soon and I'll be able to pull on the famous Accies shirt, if picked!

Secondly, a quick good luck message from me as Club Captain for Thursday night - again, due to a family commitment I can't make it but will be there in spirit. Good luck boys.

Finally, I thought I'd introduce you all to a new blog - created by Accies fan and work colleague, Pete Sears. Pete has been interested in the Accies' progress for years -and is one of the few non-Accies (the ONLY non-Accie?) in the world that checks on our progress every Thursday night / Friday morning through our blog or various facebook messages.

Anyway, here's a link to Pete's new blog - well worth a read/watch. Pete's take on the five greatest sporting climaxes of all time.

Clearly he's forgetting the Accies' superb 9-3 (AET) victory to lift the Anglo-Dutch Cup last time around!

Good luck again for Thursday lads,

Andrew.

Tournament report

Here's the official tournament  report. Dave Rudd singled out for deserved praise.

News

AWLFC Invitation Tournament Round-Up

James Webb, 17 May 2009 12:09

The first ever AW London Invitational Trophy took place on Saturday at Warbank Sports Ground.  The weather was untypical of weather for May with blustery winds and showers but this probably helped the football as the pitches were slick and some very good football was the result.

With the tournament being structured with two groups of three sides, the first games kicked off simultaneously on two of the three Warbank pitches. On Pitch 'A' Effra Accademicals who only play friendlies and have there roots in South London played against Cambridgeshire outfit Sporting Hinton.  It was a very tight opening match with Perre Heath and Andy Thornes of Effra the pick of the Effra players.  Hintons  Clive Edwards and Luke Brent-Savage linking up well upfront but unfortunately nobody could break the deadlock in 45 minutes and the game finished 0-0.

Pitch 'B' saw hosts AW London Reserves play against fellow Sevenoaks League side Borough Green.  Green are three division above but this wasn't evident early on in the game.  AW London played some decent football and maybe should of had a penalty.  AW London stand in keeper Gary Dibble kept the side in it early on but as the game wore on Green's superiority infront of goal was the decider.  The prolific Fergus Farmer scored twice and defender Mark Ralph made it 3-0.

AW London 1st XI began their tournament in the second round of matches against Effra.  Darrell Ditchburn scored very early in the game.  Despite the dominance from the home club the Effra keeper kept the scores down with some superb saves.  Finally London doubled their lead when Ditchburn was pulled down in the box and Marcus Alcindor converted.  Calvin Headley who was always a threat made the score 3-0 which sealed Effra's fate.

On Pitch 'B' AW London Reserves played their second 45 in a row against Cliffe Woods from the Rochester and District Premier League.  London found themselves 2-0 up with Goals from Dayne Bulled and Aaron Smith but Cliffe came back strong.  Josh Ridden causing problems on the right wing and Pat Bishenden dominating in the middle where superb as Cliffe fought back.  The young Tom Loynes scored twice, Steve Giles hit four and the impressive Pat Bishenden with the 7th.  Debutante Dan Hodder scored a third for London during the seven Cliffe goals and keeper Gary Dibble made some good saves but the final score was 7-3

In the final group matches AW London went into there game with Sporting Hinton knowing that a draw would be good enough to reach the final.  Hinton needed to win to continue there fight to win the trophy.  Hinton made things extremely difficult for London with some superb defending.  Simon Pollard was excellent at the back.  Calvin Headley tried in vain to break the deadlock but Hinton were not giving anything away.  Midway through the game Hinton were awarded a penalty.  Player / Manager Clive Edwards stepped up but London's keeper Phil Sellek fresh from his Players Player award saved superbly.  Both teams had chances to win the game but for the second Hinton game in a row it ended 0-0.

On Picth 'B' their was also a deciding fixture.  Two very strong teams Borough Green and Cliffe Woods contested to reach the final.  Green needed to win the game as their goals scored was four less than Cliffe.  Green found themselves 2-1 up following a brace from Fergus Farmer who once again was excellent upfront.  Winger Josh Ridden with the Cliffe goal.  Borough Green looked to be heading towards the final and defended well lead by the strong Mark Ralph.  In the final two minutes it was jubilation for Cliffe as Graham Norris equalised to take the Rochester side to the final.

The next stage was the two playoff games.  Effra played AW London Reserves first for 5th and 6th place.  London completely dominated as keeper Gary Dibble hardly had a touch.  Jake Penfold struck first with a long range effort.  Daniel Reid doubled the lead with an equally impressive strike.  Penfold made it 3-0 and then following some great football chipped the ball from close range onto the head of Dayne Bulled to complete the rout.

The 3rd and 4th place playoff was contested between two sides who felt they had a good chance of reaching the final, Sporting Hinton and Borough Green United.  Hinton let their disappointment show as they crumbled to the hands of Borough Green who looked like they had something to prove.  Fergus Farmer took his tally to 6 goals, Seb Lucas hit a brace and Charlie Cottrell with the 5th.  Green's David Ratcliffe was superb and Greame Gilkson was the pick of the Hinton players.

Following a long day the final kicked off at 5.30pm between the hosts AW London and Cliffe Woods. It was the visitors who looked most likely to score in the early stages but as the game wore on London began to find their feet.  Marcus Alcindor and Jordan Turner worked well in tandem in the Midfield and the back four was strong enough to keep Giles and Loynes at bay.  Finally the deadlock was broken with a goal worthy of winning any football match.  Young Darrell Ditchburn stuck an unstoppable shot from 35 yards which hit the underside of the crossbar and into the back of the net.  London doubled their lead when a curling Calvin Headley free kick hit the corner of the crossbar and post, went behind the keeper and Calvin's dad Denis Headley blasted home from a couple of yards out.  Cliffe tried in vain to get back and Pat Bishenden was at the heart of most of there best moves but the score finally finished 2-0.  Skipper Nick Hill lifted the trophy for the winners.

A big thank you goes to all the clubs taking part most of which travelled a fair distance especially Hinton from Cambridgeshire.  Also thanks to both match officials Chris Knight and Andy Butterworth.  All in all the day worked really well.  Some very good football on show and all teams showing great respect for each other.

Player of the tournament: Calvin Headley (AW London)

Top Goalscorer: Fergus Farmer (Borough Green United)

 

SQUADS:

Effra Accademicals: Rudd, Dade, Boniface, Wyles, Stafford, Sandoval, P.Heath, Thornes, Rauchenberg, Caldwell, MacDonald, Davison, A.Heath, S.Mesner.

Sporting Hinton: Freeman, Uhlmann, McCullough, KleBensberger. Pollard, Gilkson, Hovells, Norman, Brent-Savage, Edwards, Smith, Bailey, Garcia, Hetherington, Antemie.

AW London: Sellek, Hill, Alcindor, Strudwick, Morriss, Ditchburn, C.Headley, L.Longhurst, Mulhern, D.Longhurst, Turner, Chambers, Henry, D.Headley.

AW London Reserves:  Dibble, Webb, Marden, Smith, Reid, Hodder, Penfold, Enoch, Daniels, Jordan, Bulled, Payne, Foran, Tipton.

Borough Green United:  Reid, Ralph, A.Farmer, G.Farmer, Smither, Hollebon, Ratcliffe, Salter, F.Farmer, Lucas, Cottrell, Winder.

 

 

Cliffe Woods: Nicholas, Bostock, S.Ridden, J.Ridden, Bevis, Norriss, Bishenden, McNulty, Giles, Ellis, Dring, Loynes.

AW London FC Invitation Tournament: 'live' update

Working at home :( who cares about Man U - Arsenal game on at moment. The key games are this afternoon are in the AW London FC Invitation Tournament. Just had texts of Accies drawing first game 0-0 against S. Hinton, but losing the second qualifier 0-3 v AWL 1st. "Qualification" to the 3rd/4th play off game depends on AWL significantly wanting to beat a S.Hinton by a few goals (well 4 I guess). Otherwise it is the 5/6th play-off. Come on you Accies.

Knee update

Not surprised, but still gutted to hear the words from the consultant at Kings Hospital, "yep, there it is very clear, large meniscal tear..." and then something about some other cartilage damage behind the knee. All very common, especially for footballers (consultant is ex-player whose had the injury himself).

Though in his days he didn't have the 'advantage' of seeing it in front of his own eyes with the MRI scan right in front of me, as he wheeled his mouse back and forwards to scan layer by layer the workings of my left knee. Amazing stuff of course to see the "slightly unusual wear and tear on the bone... that's the fluid build up front and back of the knee.." etc. Can't remember now all the details.

Worth adding our Mes had predicted all of this spot-on some time past.

Next stop surgery, and then after some re-hab back on the pitch, unless Brazil trip comes first when it will be on the beach football pitch first.

AW London FC Invitation Tournament: The Lowdown

So, we're in GROUP A:

AW LONDON, EFFRA ACADEMICALS, SPORTING HINTON

We kick off proceedings (well, unless Sporting Hinton have kick-off, but you know what I mean) at 12.30pm.  Here are the Group A fixtures followed by the playoff details:

FIXTURES
12.30pm EFFRA  vs S. HINTON
1.30pm AWL 1ST vs EFFRA
2.30pm S. HINTON vs AWL 1ST

3.30pm 5/6 playoff
 4.30pm 3/4 playoff
 5.30pm Final

Effra vs Dolphin: Live Text Update! Sort of!

10.05pm: We lost 0-8. Conceded the 8th right at the death. Gah. The Dolphin player who helped out was Mark Sidwell, but he told The Hut he doesn't want any publicity. Commiserations, fellas. The only way is up (again).

9.55pm: All is quiet from my pitchside contact The Hut, which either means we've stopped the rot or he's too busy sobbing uncontrollably on his knees to call me and tell me the further bad news. Jason Bourne is now in Madrid and I'm wishing Paddy Considine had just listened to Bourne's advice... ah well. Despite the 0-5 (I presume) scoreline, I still think the fortnight's training was valuable and rewarding - obviously it's a shame not to see immediate benefits, unless you count the goalless first 35 mins of this match. I can elaborate on some of our good play during that time: Joe was influential, Lee was playing well in goal again, Neil G's long throws were a threat, Simon had a good shout for a penalty, Mickael was playing well. Wish I was there...

9.35pm: At some point while I was upstairs attending to a very overtired son, we went 3-0 down and then 4-0 down and then 5-0 down. It is at this point that the guilt sets in that I'm not there to be of some use - Barry is off with cramp, Perre had to leave at half-time and we've had to borrow a Dolphin player, so The Wife's committee meeting(!) couldn't have happened on a worse night. Sorry lads.

9.20pm: Am distracted from The Bourne Ultimatum by Edward Christy Andrew Dade shouting "Daddyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy" from upstairs - this is my own fault for boasting to The Hut before that he went to sleep "like a dream" earlier on. Hmmmph. I've decided to view 0-2 at half-time with cautious optimism where Saturday is concerned - we can always blame the Astroturf surface... I'm ignoring the "Daddyyyyyyyyyyyy" calls, for now.

9.13pm: 0-2, so we're obviously having one of our bent and wobbly patches. Shame. With three 45-minute-long 11-a-side games to play on Saturday, not sure what to make of the fact that we're 2-0 down after 40 mins. Mind you, the back four is likely to be completely different on Saturday unless Neil G is playing (and who knows that?!)

9.10pm: The team, by the way, is: Lee, Werewolf, Gobby, Barry, Miami, Dangermouse, Rushy, Joe Le Taxi (old-school nickname, that one!), Elbows, Ladyboy, Mickael. Sub: Luis.

9.05pm: it's times like these when I wish I'd bothered to suss out wi-fi at home, then I could do this AND watch The Bourne Ultimatum DVD. Anyway, more importantly after a long chat with The Hut just now where he complimented our performance so far, we promptly went 1-0 down from a typical Dolphin long-ranger which went in off the post. 0-1 after 35 mins.

Training Night #1

The first of our two training nights was a quite well attended affair and gave us a chance to work on a few aspects of our game that are currently lacking. Shielding the ball exercise was a bit hit and miss but a couple of players took note and when we proceeded to a game some players took this information with them and used this new found tool well.

Also 'hit and miss' was the shooting practice (mainly miss) but this should improve. Players who attended put in a good amount of effort and the session was light hearted.

Hopefully next weeks session will have a few more attendees to assist in more training plans to get a few points across prior to our next fixture.

Well done to all those who attended