Some of tonight's oppo are old enough to have played this game...

Forget footy (did I really just type that?)… 2,000 years ago in central America they were playing the first ever team ball game (and at least one team was wearing the ceremonial belt pictured – the away kit was no doubt an awful salmon colour). Click here to hear all about it or, if you are so inclined, download it as a podcast like what I done. If you suffer from  a short attention span, don't worry, it's less than 15 mins long.  You'll hear writer Nick Hornby describing how sport straddles the emotional territory between the sacred and the profane – insert joke about Gobby here.

Dear Ledley King.........I know how you feel!

As I return from yet another physio session I can begin to sympathise with Ledley King (not for being stuck at Spurs...obviously). I am in turn only allowed to do minimal physical activity between games to protect my back and only the exercise program supplied to strenghten area during the week and before games to allow me to continue playing.

This lack of varied activity is where I can sympathise as only being able to do certain things is mind numbingly......BORING!!!!!

As Ledley can go swimming, have massages and count his extensive wages you can see where I am coming from...NOT!

As it stands I can work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and half day Thursday to be fine to play. Being self employed helps but when you need to find work is bit more difficult and firms tend to look dimly on people taking half days so they are able to play footy but to that I say 'Football is Life, the rest is mere details!!'

Up the Accies

News from our temporary new home...

This is apparently the sort of thing they get up to in Dulwich...

Effra 2 Mott McDonald 2

A terrific team performance against a solid Mott McDonald last night showed just how well we can play together when we all rise to the challenge.

We started brightly and kept good possession of the ball, looking calm when under pressure. We took a well deserved lead following a corner from Steve Spurdens that Simon Mesner volleyed in on the turn from just outside the 6-yard box. Mesner, starting as a make-shift centre back, put in a sterling shift for the team at both the back for the first-half and up front during the second-half that saw him awarded with the MOTM.

More was to come from us, and after weathering something of an onslaught from Mott, we stormed in to a 2-0 lead thanks to Dave Rudd. Following a corner for us that was headed out to the edge of the box, Phill Arnold connected with a sweeping left-footed shot, that steamed through the Mott penalty box. Rudd was on hand at the far side of the 6-yard box to rifle the ball back across goal and in to the roof of the net. Despite being north of 21 years of age(!), there is something almost childlike about the infectious enthusiasm of Dave Rudd's goal scoring celebrations!

We continued to defend with our backs to the proverbial wall, and unfortunately the Mott pressure eventually told as they managed to pull a goal back thanks to a close range header.

We retreated deeper and deeper, in an attempt to repel their attacks. Incredibly, their equaliser came from an Accie. Graeme Were, unselected for Accies duty on the night, turned out for Mott, and it was the Hairy One who latched on to a ball over the top, and as he managed to just beat keeper Lee Clifford to it, he sent a looping ball in to the net. It was surely a bitter-sweet moment for the man known simply as Werewolf, although he is yet to admit as much!

Mott McDonald are a good team as we all know. A 2-2 draw is a credible result, and fairly reflects the efforts from both teams in what was a thoroughly enthralling football match.

If we can keep our level of effort to what we reached last night, and improve on our decision making and short range passing, better results and performances are just around the corner.

Keep the faith!

Joe

Effra 0 Sporting Brixton 2

A belated, and brief, match report from last Saturday's game against The Herbert and Sporting Brixton.

Our first half performance was arguably our worst 45 minutes of the year. We lacked any real cohesion, as well as a complete lack of ability to string more than two passes together. It was extremely frustrating to see, as I know we are capable of much better. We headed in to the half-time break only 1-0 down, goodness knows how.

We started with a 4-4-2. However it became apparent that Brixton were flooding the midfield, so a quick re-shuffle saw Bobby Rauchenberg go off (much to his clear annoyance - incredibly Bobby later came on for the opposition), and he was replaced by Dave Rudd who put in a sterling shift as the holding midfield man in a 4-1-4-1. Of course this change meant we were less of a threat up front, but defensively we looked much tighter.

There were some harsh words at half-time. They had some effect, as we came flying out of the blocks in the second period. Suddenly we were playing like a team again, enjoying possession of the ball, playing simple give-and-gos, and at times matching Brixton (who, lest we forget, are an extremely good footballing side).

We were unlucky not to claim at least a consolation goal. We conceded only one more goal in the second-half, and everybody involved should take a great deal of pride from that second half performance. It was a drastic improvement on the first 45, and I hope that we can carry that battling spirit in to tonight's game, straight from the kick-off.

The MOTM went to Lee Clifford, who again made a string of crucial saves.

Keep the faith!

Accies in Rotterdam: Media Stars!

Edwin from F&F Utd spotted this article about Rotown nightclub in a local paper... I don't remember a photographer but then I'm not in the pics!  So far Miami, Sam, Phill A (aka Shambling Indie Kid), Werewolf and Luis have been spotted in the pics - any advance?!

Pay attention, class. Suggs The Supply Teacher is here to give you an Accies history lesson...

Click here and, if you don't want to listen to the whole show, spin on to approx 15 mins 35 secs, where none other than Suggs, him from off of out of The Madness, talks on a topic dear to Effra hearts - namechecking a certain Mr Paxton in the process.  But hurry – this Listen Again thingy will self-destruct at 7.02pm on Monday 24 May 2010…

His party lost the General Election, but at least his team beat ours last time out

Click here to read an excellent article by Mark Davies, long-time associate of the Accies and on-pitch foe with his team 1860 Lambeth.

Quick Statattack

Apologies to Perre "Perre Perre Perre" Heath for failing to point this out at the time, but two games ago he played his 50th 11-a-side match for Effra. Perre made his debut in 2008 and since then has featured in 52 of our 72 games, which is a decent attendance record in anyone's book. He's bagged 11 goals in that time, which he might not be content with but is not a bad return in my view!

There are some other appearance milestones approaching: Miami Dade is two games away from joining me in the 200 Club, which he would've joined long ago if it hadn't been for that knee injury.  Gobby is four games off his 100th appearance – he'll become only the 12th Accie to reach that total.  And Barry is three games away from his 50th match for us.

On the goalscoring front, last Thursday Steve Spurdens became only the third Effra player to reach 30 11-a-side goals (Mesner and White being the other two).  Steve's first goal of 2010 also means he has now hit the back of the net in seven successive calendar years, a club record. Spare a thought for Dave Rudd who, if he'd managed a goal in 2005, would've scored in nine successive years!  (If you include 5-a-side goals etc, Simon Mesner has now scored in 10 successive calendar years.)

Saturday Action

I filmed a couple of mins of the game on Sat. Here's a good delivery from Mes and a heroic effort from The Mighty Thorn. Shame  I didn't manage to record the commentary from the Junior Accies cub reporters....

Adam: 'Your dad fell over..'

Edward: 'Oh...?'

World Cup 2010 Blog

Thought this might be of interest...

668,Neighbour of the Beast.

Luke shot a few mins of footage on Thurs - Viewers be warned that there are some  woeful misses and there's  some farcical defending in evidence on this clip, proving that on their day the Accies are capable of losing to just about anyone.

Thought we couldn't get any worse? -think again - On Saturday, at half time, the team were saved from the full force of coach Sene's anger only by the proximity of some junior Accies - thanks  kids.

The second half on Saturday was much better and overall the two games were both good closely contested affairs.

The real success was the big turnout on both occasions. Great to see  so many  people coming down to play and to watch. 

Effra V Sporting Brixton

Just a few frames that I managed to shoot during the course of today's game...

Effra 2 TPS 3

We endured one of our more disappointing nights last night. A lack of accurate passing, a lack of tight marking and a lack of effective communication meant we ended up losing a game that we could easily have won.

The opening quarter saw us looking very disjointed. Captain Thornes, orchestrating things from the sidelines, continued to encourage and eventually we realised that we were capable of keeping the ball and stringing some passes together. Suddenly, we were slicing the TPS defence open, particularly down the right hand side where Phil Caldwell was having a stormer.

It was only going to be a matter of time before we equalised, and Sam Herbert grabbed it from all of one-and-a-half inches from the goal line as the keeper fumbled a shot from Dean Marney. Full credit to Sam for following the ball in as he claimed his just reward.

We literally gifted TPS their second and third goals, with both coming from set pieces, due to our lack of tight marking. Their third was the worst as a deep free kick was headed (unopposed) back across our goal where three TPS players were queuing up, unchallenged, to poke the ball home.

Steve Spurdens pulled one back for us with a rasping close range volley, but it proved too little too late, as with 11 minutes of the 90 still showing on the referee's watch, the lights were switched off. (I have mentioned to the ref the benefit of playing till 10pm as opposed to hoping we can have a 90 minute match - which unfortunately never happens).

Overall we were the architects of our own demise last night and so I have no complaints about the defeat. We know we can all do much better, and we must lay this bad team performance to rest tomorrow when we welcome Sporting Brixton for a bonus FA Cup Final day match.

Captain Thornes awarded the MOTM to Neill Robertshaw for a solid display at the back.

Keep the faith!

Joe

Dulwich Dates

Dulwich College Sports club  host the Accies on 3 nights in June. Thurs 3rd,17th and 24th. 'Astro 1', floodlit pitch booked from 7pm-9pm - matches kick off at 7.30pm.

Thurs 3rd June - After the...erm.. success of the last night we're having another All accies&friends match. Let your friends know now so we can firm up the numbers.

Thurs 17th June - oppo tbc.

Thurs 24th June - first game vs my new work team, Southside FC.

Stu is busy trying to organise a north London fixture for 10th June. More details to follow...

He's not the Messiah, He's a very naughty Bin Man

Usually Dolphin think they're  God's gift. By half time they're often playing us off the park and taking the piss. This week was different. We kept our shape, played some good stuff  and the Bin Men had to resort to their own special mix of long balls, ugly tackles and charmless verbal abuse.

Nice.

After one particularly nasty tackle, Daddy Bear Dade boomed from the sidelines ' LEAVE MY PLAYER'S ALONE !' Why is it so funny when Daddy Bear loses his rag?

Here's a radical idea Daddy Bear.  Let's not play team's who try to break our legs.

Big thanks to Mes, Luis and Stu for the excellent camerawork and commentary.

Effra 1 Dolphin Riders 1

Our recent good run of form continued last night with a well disciplined performance against Dolphin, who beat us 11-1 in our last game against them. In all honesty, a draw was a fair result, with both teams creating only a small number of clear cut scoring opportunities. That said, I felt as the game wore on, that we were capable of nicking the victory, alas it was not to be.

We started with a 4-1-4-1 formation, something that we all look very comfortable with now. We changed formation three times in total last night, chopping between 4-1-4-1 and 4-4-2. Each and every time we did so, it was seamless, with everybody on the pitch keeping their focus on the task in hand. Our strict discipline to keeping our shape certainly makes our task of containing our opponents much easier, and so it proved again last night.

Dolphin, forever heralded as a "passing team," had to resort to long balls over the top. These, of course, are bread and butter for our defence. In the first-half it was the returning Neill Robertshaw and the forever willing Phill Arnold who mopped up the ball time and again. And with Lee Clifford behind them, a keeper who never hesitates to race off his line, we looked really solid and unlikely to concede. When Dolphin did finally find a way through, we were confident enough to not let it knock us off our stride. We continued to play our own game, concentrating on the good things that we can do as opposed to worrying about what the opposition could do, and it was one of our many positives that brought a penalty, and the equaliser our way. Joe Bowkett, forever a menace when cutting in from wide positions with his natural pace and ability on the ball, was cynically hacked down (not for the first time or last time on the night), and the referee immediately signalled for a penalty to us, despite the protests of the Dolphin players. Personally, I was staggered to hear the abuse hurled at the ref for the penalty decision, considering the challenge was two-footed, and resulted in Joe being helped off the pitch, I really think that was a particularly sour moment in the match. The penalty was then successfully dispatched to bring the scores level.

Unfortunately, the challenges continued to fly in from a large number of the Dolphin players. They have often displayed this side to their game when things aren't going their way, and the best way to respond for us, which is the way we are responding more and more often, is to continue to play our game, to keep possession, and to further frustrate our opponents whilst simultaneously carving out decent opportunities for ourselves.

Somehow we managed to shuffle our way through six different substitutes. I wouldn't have used them all without the full confidence I had in everybody present to continue to keep their focus, with our subs fitting seamlessly in to the game. And fit in they did, and with the fresh legs we brought on to the pitch during the final 20-25 minutes, we looked capable of going on to win the match, even more so when we changed formation for the final 10 minutes to a 4-4-2, deploying a partnership up front of Simon Mesner and Dean Marney, with Joe Bowkett and Perre Heath supporting from wide. With Sam Herbert always offering himself for a pass from centre-mid, and Greg Rainey making a storming appearance from the bench, a win may well have been justified if we could have found the back of the net.

There were great performances elsewhere on the pitch last night, with everyone playing their part. Luis Sandoval put in arguably his longest and best shift of the year, both Gardener brothers showed what a difference they can make, the excellent Lee Clifford getting a run out at centre-back for the second-half, switching with Neill Robertshaw at half-time, Phil Caldwell again motoring up and down the right-wing, Andy Dade again solid at right-back, Graeme Were always showing a composed touch at both left-back and as holding centre-mid. The MOTM award last night went to Steve Spurdens, but only just due to the excellent performances by everybody else.

Keep the faith!

Joe

On behalf of our Joint Social Secretaries, Accies members are cordially invited to...

Friday 18 June: England v Algeria in Cape Town, kick-off 7.30pm BST
 
Accies social to watch the match at the Norwood Hotel from 6.45pm.  We have our own reserved tables.  Food to be provided (free) from 7.15pm.
 
Norwood Hotel, 3, Knight's Hill, West Norwood, SE27 0HS.  Nearest train station is West Norwood, which is literally a stone's throw from the pub (you can see the buliding from the platform).

Red'n'blues! Vote red! Or blue! Or yellow, or green... just use your vote!

Teammates!  Even if only to spoil your ballot paper, make sure you vote tomorrow!

Seven years, seven surviving Accies regulars

Here's that recent team photo once more, plus the equivalent one after a 1-1 draw in the 2nd leg in 2003 secured a 4-2 aggregate cup win vs F&F Utd.  Where does the time go?

OAP FC vs Totten Ham United in pictures

FA Cup Final Day Fixture confirmed

We're happy to announce a Saturday fixture for the Accies;

15th May, 1pm Kick off. Accies v Sporting Brixton. (Sam's Team).

The plan is to play  a match  from 1pm - 2.45pm, and then  slip over the road to The Paxton, where  we'll have a Bar reserved for players, friends and families to enjoy some food and watch the  final.

Please confirm THIS WEEK whether you can make it or not. As we saw on Thurs,  there are dozens of people who want your place, so if you can't make it, let us know quickly so we can sort out your replacement.

Check out the above pictures of the Paxton. In 1944 The Paxton Arms was one of the few buildings left standing after a V1 bomb hit the area. History buffs will also be interested to know that the Paxton is named after sir Joseph Paxton, designer of The Crystal Palace.