WEST HAM UNITED OR COLCHESTER UNITED AT HOME FOR THE LADIES

Above - Match action from the Enfield Town Ladies FA Cup 4-2 victory against Mossley Hill yesterday. Photos courtesy of Tom Scott. Lots more can be found on the flickr slide show here

Enfield Town Ladies have been given a home draw in the fifth round of the Women's FA Cup where they will play either West Ham United or Colchester United.

Town have missed out drawing one of the eight Super League teams who have entered the draw at this stage. They face a team from Step 2 of the Women's pyramid as both West Ham United and Colchester United play in the FA Tesco Women's Premier League South. West Ham are currently top of the division with Colchester in fifth place.

FULL FIFTH ROUND DRAW FOR THE FA WOMEN'S CUP 

Enfield Town               v West Ham United or Colchester United
Sheffield Wednesday        v Bristol Academy
Liverpool                  v Charlton Athletic
Birmingham City            v Barnet
Everton                    v Arsenal
Chelsea                    v Doncaster Rovers Belles
Derby County or Sunderland v Lincoln
Millwall Lionesses         v Nottingham Forest or Watford

West Ham United play Colchester United in their fourth round tie this coming Sunday. They have played each other three times this season with West Ham winning all three (3-1 and 4-0 in the league and 2-0 in the Essex FA Cup)

The fifth round game is due to take place at Goldsdown Road on Sunday 13th March.

Current South East Women's Combination League (Step 3)
                         HOME         AWAY          TOTAL
                      P  W D L GF GA  W D L GF GA   W  D  L GF GA  GD PTS
1 Tottenham           15 9 0 0 35  3  3 1 2 17  8   12 1  2 52 11  41 37 
2 Norwich City        17 6 2 0 29  7  5 0 4 25 16   11 2  4 54 23  31 35 
3 Enfield Town        17 7 0 2 23 11  4 1 3 17 11   11 1  5 40 22  18 34 
4 Lewes               17 7 0 2 31  8  4 0 4 16 18   11 0  6 47 26  21 33 
5 Milton Keynes Dons  16 6 0 1 17  5  4 1 4 24 16   10 1  5 41 21  20 31 
6 Luton Town          13 2 1 2 10 10  5 1 2 18 16   7  2  4 28 26   2 23 
7 Cambridge Women     16 4 1 4 26 14  2 2 3 17 12   6  3  7 43 26  17 21 
8 Ipswich Town        18 3 2 5 12 17  2 1 5 14 18   5  3 10 26 35 - 9 18 
9 Ebbsfleet United    16 4 1 4 20 19  1 1 5  4 19   5  2  9 24 38 -14 17 
10 Old Actonians      20 2 2 6 14 40  3 0 7 13 38   5  2 13 27 78 -51 17 
11 Crystal Palace     15 1 1 5 11 28  2 1 5 11 21   3  2 10 22 49 -27 11 
12 Braintree Town     16 1 0 5  8 21  1 1 8  7 43   2  1 13 15 64 -49  7 

FA Tesco Women's Premier League South (Step 2)
                             P  W D L GF GA GD PTS 
1. WEST HAM UNITED LADIES    11 7 2 2 21  9 12 23 
2. KEYNSHAM TOWN             10 6 3 1 18  9  9 21 
3. PORTSMOUTH                9  5 1 3 17 14  3 16 
4. GILLINGHAM                11 4 2 5 12 12  0 14 
5. COLCHESTER UNITED         11 4 1 6 14 14  0 13 
6. CARDIFF CITY              9  4 1 4  9 14 -5 13 
7. CHARLTON ATHLETIC         9  3 3 3 11  8  3 12 
8. YEOVIL TOWN               10 3 2 5 10 15 -5 11 
9. BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION    9  2 2 5 12 20 -8  8 
10. QUEENS PARK RANGERS      9  2 1 6  4 13 -9  7 

Forthcoming Fixtures for the Town Ladies - 

Sunday 13th Match - WEST HAM UNITED or COLCHESTER UNITED @ Goldsdown Road. 
Sunday 20th March - Luton Town                           @ Carlsberg Stadium, Biggleswade Town FC 
Sunday 27th Match - Crystal Palace                       @ Church Road, Whyteleafe FC 
Sunday 3rd April  - NORWICH CITY                         @ Goldsdown Road 
Sunday 10th April - Norwich City                         @ Plantation Park, Norwich United FC.

FROM LETCHWORTH TO DALLAS - THANKYOU

The counter to the side of the cold end is currently at the time of writing at 54978 hits which hopefully means sometime tomorrow it will hit the 55,000 mark. The cold end will just take this opportunity to thank everyone who logs on, reads and watches the non-league football news, articles and highlights.

A massive thank you to you all - if your like the regular Letchworth reader or the one off Texan from Dallas who logged on over the last week please spread the word about the cold end wherever you are.

WELL DONE TO THE ENFIELD TOWN LADIES

Congratulations to the Enfield Town Ladies team who won 4-2 against Mossley Hill today in their FA Women's Cup Fourth Round game this afternoon.

The draw for the fifth round will be made tomorrow so more news will follow.

ANOTHER DEFEAT AT GOLDSDOWN ROAD

CURRENT RYMAN DIVISION ONE (NORTH) TABLE 
                          P  W  D  L GF GA  GD PTS  HOME  
1. Needham Market         27 21 3  3 69 31  38 66   TBP
-------------------------------------------------
2. East Thurrock United   28 20 4  4 61 28  33 64   0-4
3. Wingate and Finchley   28 15 6  7 51 40  11 51   1-2
4. Maldon and  Tiptree    30 14 7  9 57 51   6 49   0-1
5. Brentwood Town         28 13 7  8 49 41   8 46   0-1
-------------------------------------------------
6. Heybridge Swifts       28 12 7  9 55 37  18 43   TBP
7. Romford                24 13 4  7 40 28  12 43   1-1
8. Enfield Town           27 13 3 11 54 35  19 42   -
9. AFC Sudbury            26 12 6  8 53 47   6 42   2-0
10. Harlow Town           27 12 4 11 35 39 - 4 40   5-0
11. Potters Bar Town      29 11 6 12 47 54 - 7 39   2-3
12. Waltham Abbey         26 10 8  8 51 38  13 38   2-1
13. Grays Athletic        24 10 6  8 39 32   7 36   2-0
14. Thamesmead Town       26 10 4 12 33 41 - 8 34   0-1
15. Great Wakering Rovers 29 10 3 16 47 58 -11 33   0-3
16. Cheshunt              29 9  6 14 41 54 -13 33   1-2
17. Ware                  27 8  3 16 36 56 -20 27   4-0 
18. Redbridge             25 6  5 14 31 52 -21 23   TBP
19. Tilbury               28 7  2 19 27 51 -24 23   TBP
20. Ilford                27 4  4 19 24 54 -30 16   TBP
-------------------------------------------------
21. Waltham Forest        27 3  6 18 25 58 -33 15   TBP 

HOME denotes ETFC results at Goldsdown Road..TBP = To be played  

Brentwood Town got some revenge for the 1-6 defeat Town recorded at The Arena a few weeks ago by winning 0-1 at Goldsdown Road yesterday to take a very important three points back to Essex in the race for the play-offs. I wasn't present but reports back to Cold End HQ are grim as Town turned in another poor performance at home. 

If Town don't make it to the play-offs at the end of the season it'll be the team's home form that is to blame. Out of the seven teams above us in the table Town have lost at home to East Thurrock United, W&F, M&T and Brentwood Town (the four team's currently in the play-off zone) and have drawn against Romford. We still have to play Needham Market and Heybridge Swifts which are the next two scheduled home games and then play the current bottom four in the final home games of the season. It could be considered an easier run in at home than some of the other teams in the mix-up but the cold end will use the old saying that no game is ever easy and that seems especially true at Goldsdown Road at present. Maybe in the game against Needham Market the team should wear the red and yellow away strip????

With all the postponements because of the snow earlier in the season and now the rain which wiped out the fixture list yesterday apart from Town's game and Heybridge Swifts 2 Potters Bar Town 0 and Tilbury 1 AFC Sudbury 2 the league table still has a somewhat dis-jointed appearance to it. Romford have a good number of games to make up and if they are successful in those they should take one of the play-off spots with Wingate and Finchley and either Needham Market or East Thurrock United. As always for teams in the Boro's position the argument/question of are points in the bag better than games in hand could be asked??
They have run of five home games and three away games in March including playing two local derby games versus Tilbury and also Harlow Town at home and away.  

If Romford do win some of their games in hand that would leave in the cold end's opinion eight teams (Maldon and Tiptree, Brentwood Town, Heybridge Swifts, Enfield Town, AFC Sudbury, Harlow Town, Waltham Abbey and Grays Athletic) of fighting it out for the coveted fifth placed spot. I haven't included Potters Bar Town as due to their points total and amount of games played I think fifth place now may be beyond them.

Town still have thirteen games to play making a total of 39 points to play for so anything is possible??? Lots of luck will be required and no more home defeats!!

All the players were rightly gutted about the performance yesterday and will be fully committed to putting things right in the next game on Tuesday night at Waltham Abbey. To all supporters of ETFC let's get behind the lads and hope for a win against our local rivals.

I don't know the state of the pitch at Capershotts but their home game versus Maldon and Tiptree was postponed yesterday. Some light rain is forecast for Monday in the Waltham Abbey area but otherwise it's hopefully going to be nice and dry for the game to get the go-ahead.

COME ON YOU TOWN!!

ENFIELD TOWN FC LADIES IN CUP ACTION THIS WEEKEND

As well as Enfield Town taking on Brentwood Town in a very important Ryman Division One (North) fixture this afternoon the ladies team is also in action at Goldsdown Road on Sunday in the Fourth Round of the FA Women's Cup against Mossley Hill LFC. The game kicks off at 1pm and admission is just a bargin £2. A win would put the ladies through to the last 16 of the national cup competition which will be a tremendous achievement should they be successful.

John Abbott's side have already beaten Billericay Town, Lewes, Havant & Waterlooville and Southampton Saints in their run to the fourth round.

The cold end wishes them the best of luck!!!

RYMAN DIVISON ONE (NORTH) TABLE WITHOUT LEYTON

                          P  W  D  L GF GA  GD PTS 
1. Needham Market         27 21 3  3 69 31  38 66 
-------------------------------------------------
2. East Thurrock United   28 20 4  4 61 28  33 64 
3. Wingate and Finchley   28 15 6  7 51 40  11 51 
4. Maldon and  Tiptree    30 14 7  9 57 51   6 49 
5. Romford                24 13 4  7 40 28  12 43 
-------------------------------------------------
6. Brentwood Town         27 12 7  8 48 41   7 43 
7. Enfield Town           26 13 3 10 54 34  20 42 
8. Heybridge Swifts       27 11 7  9 53 37  16 40 
9. Harlow Town            27 12 4 11 35 39 - 4 40 
10. AFC Sudbury           25 11 6  8 51 46   5 39 
11. Potters Bar Town      28 11 6 11 47 52 - 5 39 
12. Waltham Abbey         26 10 8  8 51 38  13 38 
13. Grays Athletic        24 10 6  8 39 32   7 36 
14. Thamesmead Town       26 10 4 12 33 41 - 8 34 
15. Great Wakering Rovers 29 10 3 16 47 58 -11 33 
16. Cheshunt              29 9  6 14 41 54 -13 33 
17. Ware                  27 8  3 16 36 56 -20 27 
18. Redbridge             25 6  5 14 31 52 -21 23 
19. Tilbury               27 7  2 18 26 49 -23 23 
20. Ilford                27 4  4 19 24 54 -30 16 
-------------------------------------------------
21. Waltham Forest        27 3  6 18 25 58 -33 15 

The above is the Ryman Division One (North) table adjusted with Leyton's record expunged. It shows that in the race for the play-offs it's a very close affair with any team  from about Grays Athletic upwards all capable of getting a place in the top five. The race for the title is now firmly between Needham Market and East Thurrock United with East London rivals Waltham Forest and Ilford fighting it out to stay out of the relegation zone . It's looking like it's going to be a very exciting but tense end to the season!!

FOOTBALL FOR FREE IN LONDON - THE CAMDEN SUNDAY FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Following on from the cold end's first "football for free in London" feature about the Enfield Alliance Football League the cold end moves onto Sunday football with the Camden Sunday Football League.

The League was formed in 1954 and their moto reads ' Non sibi sed Toti' which translates to 'Not for one's self, but for all'.  Most of the games are played on the world famous Hackney Marshes alongside matches from other Sunday competitions including what is probably the more well known Hackney and Leyton Football League. There are three divisions for this season with only a handful of league games left in the top division made up of only six teams following Lord Tredegar FC's withdrawal.

CURRENT DIVISION ONE TABLE 

Phoenix                11 11 0 0 65 13 +52 33 
Mostyn F.C.            11 9  0 2 39 21 +18 27 
Lord Southampton       10 7  0 3 49 21 +28 21 
Cobden Athletic        12 3  2 7 42 57 -15 11 
CS Maritimo de Londres 10 3  1 6 27 39 -12 10 
AFC Shooters           11 2  1 8 20 42 -22  7 
Mayville A             11 0  2 9 14 63 -49  2 

The Championship was confirmed in Division One on Sunday 13th February when Phoenix beat Mostyn FC 3-0 to win the title for the second season in a row. The can complete a 100% winning league record when they play third placed Lord Southampton FC on the 20th March. They are still on for a treble as they are due to play Divison Two table toppers Athetico Annies in the League's Senior Cup final (was due to be played at Cockfosters on the 20th February but was postponed) and are semi finalist in the CNJ Cup along with Boundary Estate FC (of Division Three) and AFC Shooters. Phoenix well deserve their title as they have scored the most goals by sixteen (currently 65 to Lord Southampton's 49) including  9-3, 8-0 and 7-1 victories along the way.

Bottom of the table Mayville A have a total of two points earned in a 2-2 draw with second bottom AFC Shooters and a 4-4 draw with Cobden Athletic.

CURRENT DIVSION TWO TABLE 
                   P  W  D L  GF GA  GD PTS 
Athletico Annies   13 12 0 1  65 20 +45 36 
MDM                13 7 4  2  50 38 +12 25 
Crouch End Rangers 16 7 2  7  49 35 +14 23 
Dinamo Dorigo      12 6 2  4  47 37 +10 20 
AFC Brasenose      13 6 1  6  27 38 -11 19 
Mayville B         13 5 1  7  29 29   0 16 
Constitution FC    12 5 1  6  24 33 - 9 16 
Surreal Madrid A   13 3 2  8  25 52 -27 11 
Park City Rovers   13 1 1 11  16 50 -34  4 

The teams play sixteen games in Division Two with Athletico Annies crowned champions having only lost one game (1-3 against Mayville B on 24th October) followed by MDM and Crounch End Rangers in second and third postitions. Some original team names in this division such as AFC Brasenose and Surreal Madrid. Park City Rovers prop up the table with only one victory to their name which came on the 20th February against Crouch End Rangers (2-1).

CURRENT DIVISION THREE TABLE 
                   P  W D L GF GA  GD PTS
The Hurricanes FC  12 9 0 3 42 17 +25 27 
The Boston Celtics 11 8 2 1 31 17 +14 26 
Surreal Madrid D   11 6 2 3 28 23 + 5 20 
Boundary Estate FC 11 6 0 5 24 33 - 9 18 
River Fleet        11 5 1 5 34 32 + 2 16 
Enate United       11 4 1 6 32 25 + 7 13 
FC Bertoli         10 3 2 5 18 31 -13 11 
Chalk Scratchings  13 3 1 9 38 40 - 2 10 
Kings Hell Cats    10 1 1 8 21 50 -29  4 

The third division has some more eccentrically named teams with the Boston Celtics, Kings Hell Cats and Chalk Scratchings FC joining Surreal Madrid's 'D' team. Sixteen games are played in this division with the title still up for grabs between The Hurricanes and The Boston Celtics. Bottom of the table KHC's only league win so far was against 2nd from bottom CSFC on the 10th October. KHC's opening two games ended in 12-1 loses against Enate United and River Fleet before losing what sounds like a classic game 6-7 against CSFC.

The league has three cup competitions being the Bill Price Memorial Cup, The CNJ Challenge cup and the Senior Cup.

The Bill Price Memorial Cup Round One Fixtures take place on Sunday 6th March with the CNJ Challenge cup at the semi final stage where AFC Shooters take on Phoenix (scheduled 13/3) and Boundary Estate take on Athletico Annies (scheduled 6/3). If the Divison One and Two champions are successful in their ties it would mean they would contest both the Senior Cup and the CNJ cup finals. Phoenix were due to play Athletico Annies on the 20th February in the Senior Cup final at Cockfosters FC but it was postponed. A new date has been scheduled being the 20th March. The cold end does not know of the venue as yet.

What football fan wouldn't want to watch Surreal Madrid D take on Chalk Scratchings???
If you pop down to the Hackney Marshes North this weekend you can do exactly that - for free!!!

Random Fact
The Division Two table for 2006/07 was propped up by a team named 'Big Red FC' who let in 100 goals in just 20 games. They were followed by 'Grupo Desportivo os Amigos De Londres' who let in 102 goals in 20 games. The results between the two clubs were a 5-2 win for Big Red and a 6-1 win for Grupo. Grupo's record defeat was 13-0 against OS Lusos and Big Red's was 13-1 against Hornsey.

This weekend's fixtures (Sunday 27th February)


Division One
Lord Southampton FC v Mostyn F.C
Mayville A v CS Maritimo de Londres


Division Two
Constitution FC v Athletico Annies
Dinamo Dorigo v AFC Brasenose 
Surreal Madrid A v Park City Rovers

Division Three
Boundary Estate FC v The Hurricanes
FC Bertoli v Kings Hell Cats 
River Fleet v Enate United
Surreal Madrid D v Chalk Scratchings

ANOTHER NEW DATE FOR THE 1893 MIDDLESEX CHARITY CUP GAME

Last night's postponed Middlesex Charity Cup game will now take place on Wednesday 2nd March (weather permitting!!) at Goldsdown Road.

Town now have five very important league fixtures as well as the local derby cup match in the next few weeks.  

Brentwood Town come to Goldsdown Road Saturday and then a trip to Waltham Abbey in scheduled for Tuesday night before a visit to Scraley Road to play Heybridge Swifts next Saturday....a trio of tough away days in completed on Wednesday 9th March with a journey to Grays Athletic. Championship challengers Needham Market visit Town on Saturday 12th March.

With these important league games coming up it's not a surprise to see Steve Newing will be using the 1893 game to give some of the squad and youth team players a run out.

ESSEX SENIOR LEAGUE CURRENT TOP TWO 
              P  W  D L GF GA  GD PTS 
Enfield 1893  22 17 2 3 56 18 +38 53 
Stansted      19 16 3 0 54 12 +42 51

As the above indicates 1893 are firmly in the race for the title in the ESL. They face Burnham Ramblers away on Saturday and entertain Barkingside next Saturday. Last season's champions and currently unbeaten Stansted could be considered as favourites with three games in hand and only two points below. The Airportmen play catch up next midweek with trips down the M11 to play Eton Manor on Monday night and Mauritius Sports Association on Thursday night. Prior to these away games they make the short journey to local rivals Takeley on Saturday.

The cold end is unaware of what sort of team 1893 will be putting out for the Middlesex Charity Cup game but their reserve side have a rearranged Semi Final of the Middlesex Premier Cup at Wealdstone Reserves on the same date of  the 2nd of March which indicates they will put out a strong side against the Town.

Middlesex Charity Cup 2010/11 
Round 1 
Staines Town     v Wealdstone   -  Away Win was awarded 
Enfield Town     v Enfield (1893)
Harefield United v Hayes and Yeading United  - Home Win was awarded 
Hanworth Villa 2 Wembley 1  
Harrow Borough 0 Hillingdon Borough 3  
Northwood      0 Bedfont Town 2 
AFC Hayes      1 Hanwell Town 3

Quarter Final 
Hanwell Town       v North Greenford United  - to be played 
Wealdstone 2 Harefield United 1 
ETFC or 1893       v Hanworth Villa - to be played
Hillingdon Borough v Bedfont Town - to be played 

Semi Final 
Hanwell Town or North Greenford United  v Wealdstone  
Hillingdon Borough or Bedfont Town      v ETFC or 1893 or Hanworth Villa 

Final (the longest either/or ever??)
Hanwell Town or North Greenford United or Wealdstone v Hillngdon Borough or Bedfont Town or ETFC or 1893 or Hanworh Villa 

FEAST OF FOOTBALL AT GOLDSDOWN ROAD

There is feast of football down at Goldsdown Road this week as Enfield Town welcome Romford tonight in yet another play-off six pointer and tomorrow Enfield 1893 FC 'visit' in the long awaited Middlesex Charity Cup game.
 
Romford and Enfield Town's league record with Leyton's figures now expunged reads as follows -

               P   W  D L  GF GA GD PTS 
ROMFORD        23  13 3 7  39 27 12 43
ENFIELD TOWN   25  13 2 10 53 33 20 41 

The above shows what an important game it is tonight. Romford didn't give away many goals up until Christmas but since the turn of the year they have conceded nineteen in nine games which compared to fourteen in sixteen games prior is an obvious positive for the rest of the play off chasing teams.

They have lost their last three away games at Brentwood Town (0-2), Grays Athletic (0-3) and East Thurrock United (0-3) but having said that they have been one of the most consistent teams in the league this season so they will present a big hurdle for Town to get over.

Wednesday night sees the most local of derbies taking place as Essex Senior League table toppers Enfield 1893 visit in the Middlesex Charity Cup. 1893 are having a great season having only lost three times in their league campaign. Two defeats have come recently away at fellow title contenders Stansted and at home to Barking. They did follow those defeats up with a 2-0 win at Southend Manor who had won their previous twelve league games. In their last three games they have beaten Mauritius Sports, Sawbridgeworth Town and Witham Town putting them in a great position at the top of the table.

1893 do not have a league game tonight so will probably play a strong side in this game.

The winners of this tie will be at home to Combined Counties League side Hanworth Villa in the Second Round.

Unfortunately due to other commitments the cold end camera will not be at these games.

ZAMARETTO CENTRAL DIVISON - LOOKING LOCAL IN THE RACE FOR THE TITLE

There are around just four miles between Zamaretto Central Division Hitchin Town's Top Field and Arlesey Town's currently named Armadillo Stadium. With the Canaries topping the table at present followed by their local rivals who have games in hand and with home and away fixtures yet to come the race for the Championship and with it promotion to the Zamaretto Premier looks set to be a highly exciting one for the supporters of the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire sides.

If Hitchin Town and Arlesey Town start to drop a few points (unlikely with their form to date), Biggleswade Town along with last season's United Counties League champions Daventry Town make up the top four and  are ready to join in the race for the Championship. In fact if Daventry win their six games in hand over Hitchin Town they will go up to just 3 points below the ex Ryman League side.

ZAMARETTO CENTRAL DIVISION CURRENT TOP FOUR 
                    HOME      AWAY    TOTAL                 CURRENT FORM
                 P  W  D L    W D L   W  D L GF GA GD PTS   P W D L GF GA  GD PTS 
Hitchin Town     30 12 3 1    8 6 0   20 9 1 84 27 57 69    6 2 3 1 10  6 + 4  9
Arlesey Town     27 12 2 0    5 5 3   17 7 3 74 22 52 58    6 4 2 0 25  5 +20 14 
Daventry Town    24 6  2 2    8 4 2   14 6 4 61 27 34 48    6 6 0 0 24  7 +17 18
Biggleswade Town 25 6  2 3    7 5 2   13 7 5 49 30 19 46    6 5 1 0 16  4 +12 16

TOP FOUR MATCH GRID 
                Hitchin Town    Arlesey Town  Daventry Town   Big Town
Hitchin Town    -               25/4          2-0             12/3
Arlesey Town    15/3            -             19/3            0-0
Daventry Town   1-1             1-1           -               1-2       
Bigg Town       1-2             2-2           1-0             -

Hitchin Town and Arlesey Town look the teams to beat from the current table. Enfield Town's 0-2 FA Cup victory at the Armadillo Stadium earlier in the season now looks a very good win indeed as they are still unbeaten at home in the league. Zamaretto Premier Division Cambridge City are the only other team to leave with a victory (1-3 in the Red Insure Cup on 23rd November) so far this season.

With Hitchin drawing at mid-table Marlow at the weekend the blues continued to put the pressure on by destroying thirteenth placed Atherstone Town 12-0 at home in front of 162 people.

The Canaries first defeat of the league season came in their 27th game at home to Rugby Town who ran out 1-2 winners. They have won only two of their last six games with Daventry Town, Biggleswade Town and Arlesey Town making up the top three in the last six current form table.

The two games between the current top two on 15th March at Arlesey and 25th April at Hitchin (final game of the regular season) will no doubt attract big crowds and the results of which will have a big say into who wins the title and gains promotion.

KEY FORTHCOMING FIXTURES

Saturday 26th February
Aylesbury v Hitchin Town
The Canaries take their unbeaten away record to Haywood Way. The Moles are in sixth position in a group of clubs fighting for the play-off places and have only lost one in their last eight league home games drawing 2-2 at home to Arlesey Town on 29th January. Hitchin have the best away record in the league but since the turn of the year have stuttered slightly drawing three and winning one of four matches away from Top Field.

Saturday 12th Match
Hitchin Town v Biggleswade Town
The Waders get the chance to avenge the 1-2 defeat to Hitchin at the Carlsberg Stadium earlier in the season.

Tuesday 15th March
Arlesey Town v Hitchin Town
All roads lead to the Bedfordshire/Hertfordshire border for the battle of the current top two.

Saturday 19th March
Arlesey Town v Daventry Town
Another big game for the home side as Daventry Town visit.

Tuesday 22nd March
Daventry Town v Woodford United
A local Northamptonshire derby as Woodford United make the short midweek trip from Byfield Road to Communications Park. With a good run the Red's in 10th place currently can qualify for the play offs.

 

LEYTON EXPELLED BY THE RYMAN LEAGUE

What had been widely expected occurred earlier today when a extraordinary general meeting of Ryman League clubs voted unanimously to expel Division One North Leyton.

Their last league game at Leyton Stadium (more affectionately known by it's old name of the Hare and Hounds) was a 0-3 defeat to local rivals Ilford on the 20th November. A game in which only 23 people attended.

The club were originally suspended because of debts to the league. They had indicated a wish to withdraw their first team while continuing to play in the Youth League. This proposal was unacceptable to the other  member clubs.

Leyton played their last league match on the 8th January when they lost 1-0 away at, in an ironic twist, another one of the their local rivals in Waltham Forest. The twist being that Waltham Forest FC's history dates back to 1995 when then Leyton FC merged with Walthamstow Pennant  (to form Leyton Pennant later to become Waltham Forest FC) moving away from Lea Bridge Road to Wadham Lodge.

A new Leyton FC were re-formed or formed (whichever way you want to look at it??)  in 1997 and following a High Court case in 2002 successfully won the right to be recognised as an official continuation of the original club

The future of the East London club and ground is still unknown but unconfirmed rumours heard by the cold end are that the ground will be used next season by at least one club.

 

WINGATE AND FINCHLEY SNATCH A LATE DRAW

Wingate and Finchley 2 Enfield Town 2

An incident packed game took place over in N12 yesterday afternoon. Enfield Town's performance was a vast improvement on Tuesday night's defeat at home to Cheshunt. Against a very strong home side Town were looking at gaining an important three points in the final minutes only for an equaliser to be conceded.

The cold end won't write about the penalty decisions and non decisions - we'll just let the below highlights do the talking. TCE's camera didn't like the overcast conditions with not much light but all the goals and talking points are included.

Well done to all of the squad for displaying some good team spirit and showing that Town are up 100% up for the race to qualify for the play offs!! Rob Blackburne pulled off two very good saves in the second half.

WINGATE AND FINCHLEY MATCH PREVIEW

Third placed Wingate and Finchley play fifth placed Enfield Town tomorrow at the Harry Abrahams Stadium in what is one of the games of the day in the Ryman Division One (North). It's a repeat of Town's famous play-off semi-final from last season where we came out winners 2-3.

RECORD COMPARISON 
                        OVERALL             HOME              AWAY 
POS  TEAM               P  W  D L   GD PTS  P  W  D L GD PTS  P  W D L  GD PTS
3.   Wingate & Finchley 28 16 5 7  +14 53   15 10 2 3 +9 32   13 6 3 4 + 5  21 
5.   Enfield Town       26 14 2 10 +21 44   13 5  1 7 +2 16   13 9 1 3 +19  28

CURRENT FORM (PAST SIX MATCHES)
                     OVERALL           HOME             AWAY 
                     P  W D L  GD PTS  P W D L  GD PTS  P W D L  GD PTS 
Wingate & Finchley   6  5 0 1 +10 15   6 3 1 2 +1  10   6 3 1 2 +5  10   
Enfield Town         6  4 0 2 +10 12   6 2 1 3  0  7    6 4 1 1 +13 13 

Wingate & Finchley lost at Great Wakering Rovers in midweek which put a stop to a five match winning run in the league. They have recently added Murat Karagul to their already impressive forward line, the 22 year old former Ware and Broxbourne Borough player has had a great start to his career for his new side as he has scored twice on his debut against Waltham Abbey (in only ten minutes on the pitch as he was an 80th minute substitute) and once in the midweek defeat at Burroughs Park where also came off the bench in the 65th minute. They also have the talented Leon Smith up front who has twelve league goals so far this season.

Their usual keeper Gavin King suffered a broken hand in the warm up of a recent Championship Manager cup match against the Met Police and is now out for the remainder of the season. In that game the club had no back-up keeper so defender/midfielder Amet Rifat put the gloves on and they won 5-2. It wasn't the first time Rifat had turned out between the sticks for his side as on the 25th January against Maldon and Tiptree Bobby Smith was red-carded on 55 minutes resulting in Rifat taking over where he performed heroics to keep a clean sheet.  Experienced Noel Imber has joined as cover for Bobby Smith who competes with Sam Bailey (who has played the last two games) for the keeper's jersey tomorrow.  

Despite playing some quality football and having one of the best squads in the league the crowds at Summers Lane have been on the low side with an average of just 106 in league fixtures so far this season. The top attendance has been against Harlow Town on the 13th November when 166 turned up which hopefully will be topped tomorrow with a healthy following making the short journey from Enfield.

Dave Norman's side will be looking at doing the double over Town after their 1-2 victory at Goldsdown Road earlier in the season. It's yet another tough game with the surface (which is always well prepared and presented - definitely the best in the league) likely to help Town as it'll be miles better than the pitch at Goldsdown Road!!   Games between the two local rival sides are always entertaining so why not pop down and watch some real football.

COME ON YOU TOWN!!

BATTLING CHESHUNT WORTHY WINNERS IN LOCAL DERBY

The cold end billed last night's local derby against Cheshunt as the A10 EL CLASSICO but that didn't go to plan as the visitors battled and worked hard to earn a well deserved three points.

For the soccer loving purist it was certainly nothing to write home about but for the enthusiastic tactician it was a very interesting match as on a rain soaked pitch The Ambers put lots of men behind the ball to frustrate Town's forward line who had a ninety minutes to forget. The Ambers keeper didn't really make any saves of note.

The result underlines how unpredictable the Ryman Division One (North) has become this season as prior to this match Town were top of the form table and Cheshunt were in 19th place. It was the Hertfordshire club's first win on the road in the league for six games (last was a 3-4 victory at Harlow Town on the 6th of November) and only their second away from Theobalds Lane in the league this season.

Cheshunt won the game with two very well taken goals from Bradley Harrison - the first was captured on camera but unfortunately the second was not - it came almost immediately after Mark Kirby had equalised for Town with only minutes to go. Harrison chipped Rob Blackburne in the Town goal and the ball bounced off the inside of the post and into the goalmouth. The Assistant Referee flagged almost instantly and the referee was also close so although most fans couldn't see it went over the line we'll have to say it did!!

So, Enfield Town's home hoodoo continues as now only four teams in the league have a worse record and they are the current bottom four (including Leyton!!).

The cold end is still fully behind the Town in the quest for the play-offs with the results of the next two games against two rival teams likely to have a big bearing on how the league placings will finish up at the end of the season. A duo of very tough matches await away at Wingate and Finchley on Saturday and at home to Romford on Tuesday.

It certain that the only question regarding the top two of the current league table is what order they will finish in?? W&F will probably be strong enough to hold onto third place making it now a large number of clubs from Harlow?? (current 13th place) upwards looking to finish in the two other play-off spots. With so many clubs dropping points and beating each other anything is still possible!!!

Here are the highlights of what was expected to be the A10 EL CLASSICO but quickly became A NIGHTMARE ON GOLDSDOWN ROAD. (As stated Cheshunt's second goal was not captured on camera)

THE LEAGUE WITH AND WITHOUT LEYTON'S RECORD

Current Ryman Division One (North) Table 

With Leyton's record still current      With Leyton's record expunged
                          P   GD PTS                         P   GD PTS 
1 Needham Market          26 +45 65     Needham Market       25 +37 62   
-----------------------------------     ------------------------------
2 East Thurrock United    27 +30 61     East Thurrock United 27 +30 61
3 Wingate and Finchley    27 +15 53     Wingate and Finchley 26 +12 50
4 Maldon and Tiptree      29 + 6 48     Maldon and Tiptree   29 + 6 48
5 Enfield Town            25 +22 44     Romford              22 +15 42 
-----------------------------------     ------------------------------
6 Romford                 23 +15 43     Enfield Town         23 +21 40 
7 Brentwood Town          26 + 8 40     Heybridge Swifts     26 +16 39
8 AFC Sudbury             25 + 7 40     AFC Sudbury          24 + 7 39
9 Heybridge Swifts        26 +16 39     Harlow Town          26 - 4 39
10 Grays Athletic         25 + 8 39     Brentwood Town       25 + 3 37
11 Potters Bar Town       27 - 3 39     Grays Athletic       24 + 7 36
12 Harlow Town            26 - 4 39     Potters Bar Town     26 - 2 36
13 Waltham Abbey          26 + 8 36     Thamesmead Town      25 - 5 34
14 Thamesmead Town        26 - 5 35     Waltham Abbey        24 + 7 32 
15 Great Wakering Rovers  29 -12 31     Cheshunt             28 -14 30
16 Ware                   27 -13 30     Ware                 26 - 8 27
17 Cheshunt               28 -14 30     Tilbury              25 -13 22
18 Tilbury                27 -17 28     Redbridge            23 -21 21
19 Redbridge              23 -21 21     Ilford               25 -23 15
20 Ilford                 26 -26 18     ------------------------------
-----------------------------------     Waltham Forest       27 -33 15  
21 Waltham Forest         29 -33 18    
22 Leyton                 19 -32  9 

Enfield Town moved up into the play-zone thanks to the 2-0 victory against AFC Sudbury on Saturday but if you look at the league table without Leyton's record we're just outside in sixth place. Romford move up even though they lose the point they gained in the 0-0 draw with the East London side. The Ryman League will be holding an Extraordinary General Meeting on the 20th February and only after this date will we know if Leyton's playing record will be expunged.

Tilbury will be the team who comes out the worst if Leyton's record is cancelled out as they beat them twice - 0-1 in East London and 3-0 at Chadfields. Despite the fact the Docker's lose six points they move from 18th to 17th place as Redbridge, Ilford and Waltham Forest all have less points than Paul Vaughan's side. The Dockers have improved of late and currently lie in sixth place in the current form table winning 4 and losing 2 of their last 6 games. For Town fans the table makes great reading as we are top on goal difference from Grays Athletic, Heybridge Swifts and Wingate & Finchley.

CURRENT FORM TABLE 
                        P W D L GF GA  GD PTS
1  Enfield Town         6 5 0 1 19  4 +15 15 
2  Grays Athletic       6 5 0 1 15  5 +10 15 
3  Heybridge Swifts     6 5 0 1 19 10 + 9 15 
4  Wingate and Finchley 6 5 0 1 13  4 + 9 15 
5  Needham Market       6 4 1 1 13  9 + 4 13 
6  Tilbury              6 4 0 2 12  8 + 4 12 
7  Waltham Abbey        6 3 1 2 14 10 + 4 10 
8  East Thurrock United 6 3 1 2 11  9 + 2 10 
9  Maldon and Tiptree   6 3 1 2 10 10   0 10 
10 Harlow Town          6 3 1 2 5   6 - 1 10 
11 AFC Sudbury          6 3 0 3 13  9 + 4  9 
12 Redbridge            6 3 0 3 8  10 - 2  9 
13 Brentwood Town       6 2 2 2 9  11 - 2  8 
14 Romford              6 2 0 4 8  12 - 4  6 
15 Ilford               6 2 0 4 5   9 - 4  6 
16 Waltham Forest       6 1 1 4 6  10 - 4  4 
17 Thamesmead Town      6 1 1 4 4  10 - 6  4 
18 Potters Bar Town     6 1 1 4 7  14 - 7  4 
19 Cheshunt             6 1 1 4 6  16 -10  4  
20 Great Wakering Rov   6 1 0 5 5  14 - 9  3 
21 Ware                 6 1 0 5 5  16 -11  3 

Forthcoming fixtures 

Tuesday 15th February 
AFC Sudbury           v Waltham Abbey 
East Thurrock United  v Romford 
Enfield Town          v Cheshunt 
Great Wakering Rovers v Wingate & Finchley 
Potters Bar Town      v Thamesmead Town 
Redbridge             v Tilbury 
Ware                  v Brentwood Town 

Wednesday 16th February 
Ilford                v Needham Market 

Saturday 19th February 
AFC Sudbury           v Thamesmead Town 
Brentwood Town        v Grays Athletic 
Cheshunt              v Harlow Town 
East Thurrock United  v Tilbury 
Maldon and Tiptree    v Ilford 
Potters Bar Town      v Needham Market 
Romford               v Waltham Abbey 
Waltham Forest        v Redbridge 
Wingate & Finchley    v Enfield Town 

Tuesday 22nd February 
Brentwood Town        v Tilbury 
Enfield Town          v Romford 
Harlow Town           v Redbridge 
Needham Market        v Heybridge Swifts 
Potters Bar Town      v Waltham Abbey 

Wednesday 23rd February 
Grays Athletic        v Great Wakering Rovers 
Waltham Forest        v Wingate & Finchley 

Saturday 26th February 
Enfield Town          v Brentwood Town 
Grays Athletic        v Cheshunt 
Heybridge Swifts      v Potters Bar Town 
Ilford                v East Thurrock United 
Needham Market        v Waltham Forest 
Redbridge             v Romford 
Thamesmead Town       v Wingate & Finchley 
Tilbury               v AFC Sudbury 
Waltham Abbey         v Maldon & Tiptree  
Ware                  v Great Wakering Rovers 

East Thurrock United have recently re-signed last season's Ryman North top scorer Sam Higgins from Blue Square South Chelmsford City. The forward had scored 16 times in 27 appearances for the BSS promotion challengers and started his second stint back with the Rocks by scoring in their 1-1 draw at Harlow Town on Saturday. In the race for the championship John Coventry's side face home derby games versus Romford and in-form Tilbury next whereas Needham Market make a long trip into East London on Wednesday night to play Ilford before going to Potters Bar Town on Saturday.

FANTASTIC DISPLAY BY BACK FOUR HOLD OUT AFC SUDBURY

LEON AND LIAM SCORE AS TOWN WIN AGAIN

It was a completely different game from Tuesday night's 0-6 victory against Brentwood but just as impressive and rewarding as Town worked hard to gain a 2-0 victory against a good AFC Sudbury side at Goldsdown Road yesterday.

The centre back pairing of Mark Kirby and in particular Craig McKay put in a very strong display in stopping many of the attacks the away side had. The cold end lost count at how many headers McKay won in the box which earned him the well deserved Man of the Match award.

On the very rare occasion Sudbury's play got through the duo they found Rob Blackburne in excellent form who kept another deserved clean sheet. Jordon Lockie at right back and Jey Siva at left back also put in sterling shifts in helping the Town to another very important three points. Lockie's cross from the right wing after beating two players set up Leon Osei for the first goal and Siva's impressive run into box set up Liam Hope for the second desicive goal.

An important win which reminded the cold end of Town's 2-0 victory over Northwood almost a year ago on the 20th February 2010 which was 0-0 at half time and two goals in the second half saw off strong opponents. Leon Osei was in the opposition side that day - thankfully he now wears a Town shirt!!!

There is still much football to be played but this victory combined with Romford's loss at Grays Athletic put's Town into the play off zone in the league table that includes Leyton's results. Disregard Leyton's results and we are just outside of the all important top five. The Ryman League are still to make the decision of keeping the East London sides results or expunging their record?? 

Next up for Enfield Town in part one of the 'A10 EL CLASSICO' when local rivals Cheshunt visit Goldsdown Road on Tuesday night. The Ambers are down in 17th place and have only won once in the last six games (that was against Needham Market 2-0 at home on 5/2/11) but always seem to raise their game for the local derby battle against Enfield Town. If your a Town fan that is reading this and hasn't been down for a while why not come down and support the Town to another victory.

Forget Spurs on the television - you local club needs your support!

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS BELOW (inc both goals)

FA VASE CONTNUES TOMORROW

GOOD LUCK TO THE STANSTED, DUNSTABLE TOWN AND LEVERSTOCK GREEN

The fifth round of the FA Vase takes place tomorrow with two teams representing the Spartan South Midlands League and one team from the Essex Senior League involved. The Cold End sends a big good luck message out to Stansted, Dunstable Town and Leverstock Green in their quest to get to the quarter finals.

Dunstable Town face the most difficult of trips to FA Vase giants Whitley Bay. The North East side are holders of the Vase for the last two years and alongside Billericay Town hold the record for the club who have lifted the Vase at three times. A crowd of 738 watched their 7-1 victory against AFC Liverpool in the last round at Hillheads Park and another large crowd in expected tomorrow. skybet.com rank Town as outsiders at 5/1 and the home side odds on at 2/5.

Levvy face Sussex County League side Rye United who beat current SSMFL table toppers Chalfont St Peter in a replay earlier in the competition. Green at 6/4 with the visitors rated slight favourites at 5/4.

The Airportmen welcome Northern League side Dunston UTS to Essex. UTS are on an impressive run of form as since the beginning of November they have won nine and narrowly lost one (2-3) in ten games. Stansted, unbeaten in the league so far this season, had a fantastic victory 1-4 away to Bodmin Town in the last round so the game at Hargrave Park looks to be a really good one in prospect. Hopefully, they will get the crowd the game deserves as in their last home game against London APSA on Thursday 3rd February only 24 people bothered to turn up. Stansted are 6/4 with Dunston UTS at 5/4.

There are some massive games with Kings Lynn Town v St Neots Town and Poole Town v Spenymoor standing out from the fixture list.

A full list of odds and fixtures can be found at skybet.com's page here

RYMAN DIVISION ONE (NORTH) WEEKEND PREVIEW

Current Table inc Leyton's record (top eleven only) 
                       P  W  D L  GF GA  GD PTS
1 Needham Market       25 21 1 3  75 30 +45 64 
----------------------------------------------
2 East Thurrock United 26 19 3 4  57 27 +30 60 
3 Wingate and Finchley 26 15 5 6  47 34 +13 50 
4 Maldon and Tiptree   28 13 6 9  52 50 +2  45 
5 Romford              22 13 4 5  39 21 +18 43 
----------------------------------------------
6 Enfield Town         24 13 2 9  52 32 +20 41 
7 AFC Sudbury          24 11 7 6  50 41 + 9 40 
8 Brentwood Town       25 11 6 8  48 40 + 8 39 
9 Potters Bar Town     27 11 6 10 45 48 - 3 39 
10 Harlow Town         25 12 2 11 33 37 - 4 38 
11 Heybridge Swifts    25 10 6 9  48 35 +13 36 

WEEKEND FIXTURES 

Enfield Town     v AFC Sudbury  
Grays Athletic   v Romford  
Harlow Town      v East Thurrock United  
Heybridge Swifts v Cheshunt  
Needham Market   v Brentwood Town  
Redbridge        v Potters Bar Town  
Thamesmead Town  v Waltham Forest  
Tilbury          v Great Wakering Rovers  
Waltham Abbey    v Wingate and Finchley  
Ware             v Maldon and Tiptree  

A quick glance at the current league table shows that the game of the weekend has to be at Goldsdown Road where a win for either Enfield Town or visitors AFC Sudbury could see them move into the play-off zone depending on Romford's result in their local derby versus Grays Athletic. Since the game on the 4th of January when Town ran out winners 1-5 in Suffolk AFC have played six games winning three drawing one and losing two. Their last two games have been at home whereby they beat Potters Bar Town 6-0 and Harlow Town 1-0.

For the game versus the Hawks on the 5th of February they included four different players as to those who started against Town on the 4th of January. Two new signings in Midifelder Michael Shinn who has joined from Blue Square South side Dartford and pacey forward Dubi Ogbonna who has joined from Soham Town Rangers joined Daniel Emmanuel and Jemel Fox (who is the nephew of ex football league player Ruel Fox and possesses his Uncle's turn of pace) in the starting XI. Ogbonna scored the winning goal versus Harlow and has also played for Histon, Southend United and Cambridge United and during his time at Histon had trials with Scottish club's Celtic and Aberdeen. The 19 year old scored 9 times in 20 league and cup games for STR in the Zamaretto Central Division prior to joining AFC Sudbury this season and netted 20+ times last season. Definatley a player to watch out for. Link regarding trials with Scottish clubs - here

It'll most certianly be a different AFC Sudbury that turn up at Goldsdown Road on Saturday who will be eager to gain some revenge for the defeat Town handed them at the beginning of January when, taking nothing away from Town's very impressive performance, they had a major off day.

Town will be full of confidence following the 0-6 victory at Brentwood Town and with both teams needing the three points to push on for the play offs it should be a entertaining  and exciting game!!

Romford's visit to Grays Athletic also stands out from the list of fixtures. Julian Dick's side have only lost three times (to Needham Market, in-form Waltham Abbey and local rival's Tilbury) this year so far and have beaten Cheshunt, Potters Bar Town, Waltham Forest, Thamesmead Town and Harlow Town as well as drawing at home to Maldon and Tiptree in a game they were unlucky not to take three points from. Romford followed up losing three on the spin with two victories of late at home against Ware and Redbridge so it'll be a close game at Rookery Hill.

Table toppers Needham Market welcome Brentwood Town to Bloomfields and second placed East Thurrock United travel to Harlow Town who will also be looking at needing a win to keep up with the play off chasing pack. Market are now 12 wins from 12 leagues games at home - Will it be unlucky number 13 for the Suffolk side??

FACT ALERT -
Did you know that Town's 0-6 midweek victory took us to the top of the table in the away performance league. Town have the best away record by goal difference to Needham Market. Town have also scored the most goals on the road with a total of 34 followed by Market's 31 and then Potters Bar Town on 26.    

Away performance league (top 5 only) 
                       P W  D L GF GA  GD PTS 
1 Enfield Town         13 9 1 3 34 15 +19 28 
2 Needham Market       13 9 1 3 31 18 +13 28 
3 East Thurrock United 12 8 2 2 21 10 +11 26 
4 Grays Athletic       14 7 2 5 20 20  0  23 
5 Potters Bar Town     14 7 1 6 26 31 -5  22 

COME ON YOU TOWN!!!

BRENTWOOD TOWN MATCH HIGHLIGHTS ARE HERE!!!

Sorry for the delay folks but finally here are the match highlights of Enfield Town's fabulous victory against Brentwood Town on Tuesday night including all the goals and Bryan Hammatt's mis-kick......sorry Bryan but as the video states you are a legend!

The soundtrack in the first half is brought to you by a voice all Town supporters will know and recognise...see if you can guess who it is??

SIX OF THE BEST AT BRENTWOOD TOWN

Enfield Town went one better than a five-star performance last night at Brentwood Town as one of the best games of the season so far resulted in a 6-0 win. Leon Osei bagged a hat-trick along with Stuart Blackburne, Dan Forward and Liam Hope getting on the score-sheet.

The Cold End camera was present to capture the victory - highlights including all six goals will be uploaded tonight.

COME ON YOU TOWN!!!

RYMAN PREMIER DIVISION - SEASON SO FAR

Current Ryman Premier Division Table           LAST SIX GAMES 
                    P  W  D L  GF GA  GD PTS   P W D L GF GA  GD PTS 
1  Sutton United    27 16 7 4  50 24 +26 55    6 4 1 1 14 5  +9  13
-------------------------------------------
2  Bury Town        27 14 8 5  46 35 +11 50    6 3 2 1 12 10 +2  11 
3  Tonbridge Angels 25 14 5 6  47 31 +16 47    6 5 1 0 17 6  +11 16 
4  Kingstonian      27 14 4 9  39 32 +7  46    6 2 1 3 5  9  -4  7 
5  Lowestoft Town   23 12 9 2  35 14 +21 45    6 2 4 0 10 5  +5  10 
------------------------------------------- 
6  Harrow Borough   26 13 5 8  54 31 +23 44    6 4 1 1 20 5  +15 13 
7  Cray Wanderers   26 12 5 9  47 29 +18 41    6 2 1 3 7  7   0  7 
8  AFC Hornchurch   25 11 8 6  35 29 +6  41    6 2 2 2 6  7  -1  8 
9  Canvey Island    25 11 7 7  39 31 +8  40    6 4 0 2 12 10 +2  12 
10 Concord Rangers  26 11 7 8  43 39 +4  40    6 2 2 2 12 13 -1  8 
11 Billericay Town  26 11 6 9  36 36  0  39    6 3 1 2 10 9  +1  10 
12 Carshalton Ath   25 11 5 9  37 27 +10 38    6 3 2 1 7  3  +4  11 
13 Wealdstone       26 10 5 11 38 35 +3  35    6 4 0 2 13 6  +7  12 
14 Hendon           23 9  7 7  45 37 +8  34    6 2 2 2 10 9  +1  8 
15 Margate          28 8  8 12 33 35 -2  32    6 1 2 3 4  6  -2  5 
16 Tooting and Mit  27 8  8 11 38 56 -18 32    6 3 1 2 11 15 -4  10 
17 Horsham          26 8  5 13 27 51 -24 29    6 2 0 4 7  18 -11 6  
18 Hastings United  27 4  8 15 28 42 -14 20    6 0 2 4 4  10 -6  2 
-------------------------------------------
19 Folkestone Inv   26 4  7 15 19 38 -19 19    6 1 1 4 6  11 -5  4 
20 Aveley           26 5  4 17 17 40 -23 19    6 1 0 5 2  8  -6  3 
21 Maidstone United 26 3  9 14 24 47 -23 18    6 1 1 4 5  13 -8  4 
22 Croydon Ath      27 6  3 18 29 67 -38 18*   6 2 0 4 6  15 -9  6 

* denotes 3 pts deducted                       red & green denote top/bottom of form table            

The last time the cold end looked at the Ryman Premier Division was on the 25th October 2010 when the top five consisted of Kingstonian, Lowestoft Town, Sutton United, Hendon and Tonbridge Angels. Four of those five teams remain with Hendon dropping down to 14th place with a disappointing run of 4 wins in 12 games following a good steady start to the season. Bury Town who were sixth have replaced them and are currently second. Back in October skybet.com showed that bookmakers never usually get it wrong by making Sutton United 15/8 favourites for the title. Paul Doswell's side are now 4/5 odds on favourites to finish first and although it's certainly not all over yet with the Gander Green Lane side still having to play 15 games they will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season.

SKYBET.COM CURRENT ODDS FOR THE RYMAN TITLE

Sutton United    4/5 
Tonbridge Angels 9/2
Lowestoft Town   9/2 
Bury Town       11/2 
Kingstonian     14/1
AFC Hornchurch  16/1
Canvey Island   25/1 
Concord Rangers 33/1 
Carshalton Ath  50/1 
Cray Wanderers  50/1 

They are followed in the betting by Tonbridge Angels and Lowestoft Town both at 9/2. If The Trawlerboys win their four games in hand they will go above Sutton United which looks a big IF at present as although being unbeaten in their last six games the Suffolk side have drawn four of those with the their last league game being a disappointing 1-1 home draw against relegation threatened Hastings United. A 300+ mile round trip between The Pilot Field and Crown Meadow - How's that for a non-league regional division??

One of the biggest games of the season takes place this Saturday when Lowestoft visit Sutton United in a game which is bound to attract a big attendance at Gander Green Lane. They then face play-off rivals Kingstonian at home on the 15th February and travel to Suffolk (and play-off/championship) rivals Bury Town the next midweek on the 22nd February. The Trawlerboys have (as most Ryman Division One fan's of last season would of predicted) adjusted to life in the Premier Division with ease only losing twice against Carshalton Athletic on the opening day of the season and at Harrow Borough on the 7th September.

Harrow Borough were in sixteenth position on the 25th October and after winning only three of their ten games were looking at another battle against avoiding relegation. What a turn around it's been as a run of just two defeats in sixteen games has seen them climb up to the edge of the play zone. The 6-2 win at Bury Town's Ram Meadow on the 1st February really stands out as they were 2-0 down after seventeen minutes but came back to his the hosts with six goals including a Troy Hewitt (formerly of Ilford and Clapton) hat-trick.  Borough followed this up with a 6-0 home win against Horsham.

Chairman and clubs who make rash decisions by sacking managers should take a look at the situation at Earlsmead and see that stability is the key in management! The legend that is Dave Howell took over as Caretaker Manager following Eddie Stein's departure (who he was assistant to) in November 2003 and was made permanent manager in Febraury 2004. Despite finishing in 16th, 16th, 19th (reprieved from relegation following Farnbrough Town's administration - they had best record of 19th placed sides at that level), 16th, 14th and in 13th place last season the club have stuck by Howell and continue their youth and community development now having links with a number of local youth football clubs and schools which is now clearly paying dividends. The cold end is sure a few football league scouts may have visited Earlsmead this season to see if the next Albert Adomah can be spotted..

Adomah started his career at Harrow Borough and moved up to Barnet in 2008 and has since moved up again to the Championship with Bristol City. He is now a firm fixture in the team at Ashton Gate making 32 appearances in league and cup this season. Robin Shroot and Danny Blanchett have also made progression up the football ladder after spending time at Harrow.

Shroot who joined Howell's Harrow Borough after starting with Staines Town and AFC Wimbledon joined Birmingham City in 2009 and is now currently on loan at League Two Chelthenham. Blanchett started at Hendon and then spent some time at Harrow Borough in 2005/06 and has since joined Crewe Alexandra via Peterborough United. He has played regularly at Gresty Road this season.

Just like Enfield Town's Division One (North) there are a clutch of clubs along with Harrow on the edge of the play off zone and with so much football to be played in the next few months due to the enforced winter break any team can move up the league with a run of decent results.

Canvey Island and Wealdstone have both won 4 out of 6 games so could move up if their good form continues.

At the bottom and the battle for the drop appears to be a case of four of five teams to go down as there is a nine point gap between 18th placed Hastings United and Horsham currently in 17th position. Although, as at top of the league, a run of three or four wins could see teams climb out of the league. Although fans of Croydon Athletic (6 wins in 27), Maidstone United (3/26), Aveley (5/26) and Folkstone Invicta (4/26) and Hastings United (4/27) would argue that their teams won't be winning that amount of games in a row this season.

RANDOM FACTS FOR THE SEASON
 
Unbeaten at home        - Lowestoft Town and Sutton United
No home wins            - Maidstone United
Unbeaten away from home - None
No away wins            - None
Most goals              - Harrow Borough (54)
Least goals             - Aveley (17) 
Most goals home         - Harrow Borough and Sutton United (27)
Most goals away         - Harrow Borough (27)
Least goals home        - Folkstone Invicta (7)
Least goals away        - Aveley (9)
Best defence            - Lowestoft Town   (14 goals conceded in 23 games)
Worst defence           - Croydon Athletic (67 goals conceded in 27 games)
Best defence home       - Lowestoft Town   (5  goals conceded in 13 games) 
Best defence away       - Lowestoft Town   (9  goals conceded in 10 games)
Worst defence home      - Croydon Athletic (34 goals conceded in 14 games)
Worst defence away      - Croydon Athletic (33 goals conceded in 13 games)

MIDDLESEX COUNTY LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION - THE SEASON SO FAR??

Current League Table 
                          HOME            AWAY            TOTAL 
                          P  W D L GF GA  P  W D L GF GA  P   GD PTS   
1. Stedfast United        9  7 0 2 27 8   5  4 0 1 12 8   14 +23 33
2. Willesden Constantine  7  6 0 1 23 7   5  4 1 0 17 6   12 +27 31
3. Broadfields United     7  3 2 2 16 11  7  6 0 1 23 11  14 +17 29
4. FC Deportivo Galicia   8  4 2 2 11 13  9  3 2 4 15 21  17 -8  25
5. Singh Sabha Slough     4  1 2 1 7  5   8  5 1 2 16 14  12 +4  21
6. Hounslow Wanderers     9  4 1 4 21 22  6  2 2 2 12 14  15 -3  21
7. Indian Gymkhana        5  2 0 3 8  10  8  4 1 3 14 17  13 -5  19
8. Sloane                 7  2 3 2 9  9   7  2 1 4 4  7   14 -3  16
9. Springfield            6  2 1 3 13 13  9  2 3 4 13 21  15 -8  16
10.Sporting Hackney       6  2 2 2 12 11  10 1 5 4 12 16  16 -3  13 
11.Kodak (Harrow)         5  2 0 3 6  11  7  2 1 4 13 16  12 -8  13 
12.Stonewall              10 1 2 7 21 33  5  2 0 3 10 10  15 -12 11
13.Southall               10 2 1 7 11 21  4  1 0 3 3  10  14 -17 10
14.Interwood              3  1 1 1 3  2   6  2 0 4 12 17  9  -4  7
 
Tuesday 24th August 2010   : Southall v Willesden Constantine          - Away Win was awarded 
Saturday 4th September 2010: Willesden Constantine v Sporting Hackney  - Home Win was awarded 
Saturday 16th October 2010 : FC Deportivo Galicia v Interwood          - Home Win was awarded 

Like all local league's the Middlesex County League has had a season disrupted by the bad weather across December and part of January. The Premier Division which contains one former Ryman Club in Southall (members from 1973 to 2000) is currently topped by newcomers Stedfast United who won Division One (West) last season.

They have played 14 games and amassed 33 point followed by Willesden Constantine in second place with a record of 31 points from 12 games played. Willesden are probably in a better position as if they win their two games in hand they will go top by 4 points. Constantine's 2-3 victory at Stedfast United on the 28th August may well point to where the league title will end up but the return game has yet to be scheduled. The table topper's other defeats have come at home to Springfield (1-3 on 4/9/10) and away to Broadfields United (6-0 on 18/9/10). Since the Broadfield's defeat they have impressively won eight on the trot with six clean sheets. Steadfast had a surprise result in the Middlesex County Football League Open Cup on the 29th January when Constantine won 1-5.

Constantine's only defeat so far has come at home against Broadfields United on the 23rd October when the currently 3rd placed side won 0-3.  The cold end loves a football fact and can tell you that the name of Willesden Constantine comes from 'The Learie Constantine' centre where the club was originally based which itself is named after the famous West Indian Cricketing legend Learie Constantine.

Broadfields United are probably the only other club that could take the title as fourth placed FC Deportivo Galicia have played more games than those above them have lost three games so far against Indian Gymkhana (at home 0-1), Interwood (at home 3-5) and away at Hounslow Wanderers (4-1)

In the Middlesex FA Intermediate Cup only Willesden have made it through to the semi-final where they meet Hertfordshire County League Divsion One side Hinton on the 12th February at Alperton Playing Fields. In the other Semi-Final Hellenic League Division One (East) side Rayners Lane face London Commercial Football League Divison One side HFC. 

Southall, who left the Ryman League in 2000 have been members of the league since 2006/07 finishing in 11th of 15 in the Premier Divison, 2nd of 11 in Division One (Central and East), 5th of 12 in the Premier Division and 10th of 15 last season. This season they have only won three from ten league games and are firmly in a relegation battle at the bottom of the table with a number of teams including last season's Champions Interwood who after topping the division last season are on a total of only seven points so far this season.  They are joined in the bottom three by Stonewall FC whose founder Aslie Pitter received an MBE in Queen's New Year's 2011 Honours List in recognition of setting up the club up in 1991 and tackling Homophobia as Britain's first Gay Football team.

Where are they now???  Previous Champions of the Middlesex County League  

1984/85 - Constantine United      - Willesden Constantine still play in Middx County League  
1985/86 - Mill End Sports         - Division One of the Herts Senior County League 
1986/87 - Evershed Social         - Unknown??
1987/88 - Chorleywood Common      - Unknown??
1988/89 - Shamrock                - Unknown??
1989/90 - Hawkeye Willesden       - Played in Spartan League from 1991 to 1996. Now not playing
1990/91 - Hawkeye Willesden       - As above 
1991/92 - Northfield Rangers      - Unknown??
1992/93 - Shamrock                - See 1988/89
1993/94 - New Handford            - Currently in sixth place of the London Commercial League Division Two
1994/95 - Spelthorne Sports       - Currently top of the Surrey Elite League Intermediate Division        
1995/96 - Willesden Constantine   - See 1984/85
1996/97 - Rayners Lane            - Currently in 10th place of the Hellenic Division One (East)
1997/98 - Willesden Constantine   - See 1984/85
1998/99 - Willesden Constantine   - See 1984/85
1999/00 - Brook House Reserves    - Now AFC Hayes whose first team play in Zamaretto S&W Division
2000/01 - Northolt Saints         - Members of the Harrow Sunday Challenge League Second Division
2001/02 - Spelthorne Sports       - See 1994/96
2002/03 - Hanworth Villa          - Currently in Eighth place in the Combined Counties Leauge 
2003/04 - Wraysbury               - Unknown 
2004/05 - Hanworth Villa          - See 2002/03 
2005/06 - Battersea Ironsides     - Currently 2nd in the Surrey Elite League Intermediate Divison
2006/07 - Sport London E Benfica  - Withdrew after starting season in the Spartan South Midlands League  
2007/08 - Indian Gymkhana         - Still members of the Middlesex County League 
2008/09 - Bethnal Green United    - Essex Senior League 
2009/10 - Interwood               - Still members of the Middlesex County League 

Forthcoming Fixtures 

Saturday 12th February
Singh Sabha Slough v Hounslow Wanderers
Sloane v Kodak (Harrow)
Springfield v FC Deportivo Galicia
Stonewall v Sporting Hackney

Saturday 19th February
Broadfields United v Stonewall
FC Deportivo Galicia v Southall
Hounslow Wanderers v Indian Gymkhana
Kodak (Harrow) v Springfield
Sloane v Interwood
Sporting Hackney v Stedfast United
Willesden Constantine v Singh Sabha Slough

Saturday 26th February
Broadfields United v Southall
FC Deportivo Galicia v Kodak (Harrow)
Hounslow Wanderers v Sporting Hackney
Stonewall v Stedfast United
Willesden Constantine v Sloane

LEAGUE ATTENDANCE STATISTICS - 2010/11 SEASON SO FAR

Ryman Division One (North) 
                            Low  High  Avg  Avg 09/10  
1 AFC Sudbury               230   512  296  200 *                   
2 Grays Athletic            188   427  248  689 #       
3 Harlow Town                74   311  226  158        
4 Enfield Town              152   309  218  213        
5 Needham Market            169   266  205  200 +        
6 Cheshunt                  102   199  143  162        
7 East Thurrock United       92   193  134  132        
8 Heybridge Swifts           96   183  134  125        
9 Brentwood Town             65   223  111   86        
10 Wingate & Finchley        56   166  106   91        
11 Romford                   65   174  105  101        
12 Tilbury                   50   450  105   75        
13 Ware                      57   178   99  123        
14 Redbridge                 30   211   95   61        
15 Great Wakering Rovers     62   149   94  104        
16 Maldon & Tiptree          41   167   87   82        
17 Potters Bar Town          41   161   81   67        
18 Waltham Abbey             31   147   78  144 $
19 Ilford                    41   138   67   64        
20 Leyton                    22   148   64   53        
21 Thamesmead Town           32    92   57   61        
22 Waltham Forest            35    91   57   52        

* denotes Zamaretto Midlands Division 
# denotes Blue Square Premier
+ denotes Eastern Counties League 
$ denotes Ryman Premier Division 

The above are attendance figures for the Ryman North Season so far. Despite most of the crowd figures still being on the low side it's encouraging to see 15 of the 22 clubs average attendances increasing. Naturally Grays Athletic have suffered the biggest decrease as they have come down from the Blue Square Premier with Waltham Abbey going from an average of 144 in the Premier Division to just 78 in Division One (North). The figures from Capershotts underline how important promotion to the Premier Division is for club's finances in a league that has many clubs who take very little away support with them.

Town's figure of 218 is better than last season's average total of 213 but still down on the crowds that attended Goldsdown Road a few seasons ago. Two of Town's local rivals averages have decreased - Ware last year averaged 123 but this year are down 99 and Cheshunt are down from 162 to 143.

Ten of the 22 clubs* have averages in double figures with Thamesmead Town and Waltham Forest not getting three figure crowds at home as of yet.
* inc Leyton

Enfield Town are one of the five club's who average over 200 which is positive as only Town and champions Lowestoft averaged over 200 last season. The season prior (2008/09)  it was only Enfield Town who posted over a 200 average with a figure of 216.

ENFIELD TOWN LADIES FC THROUGH IN WOMEN'S FA CUP

The cold end sends out congratulations to the Enfield Town Ladies who won 0-1 at Southampton Saints yesterday in the Third Round of the Women's FA Cup. The full list of results for the Third Round are as follows -

Sporting Club Albion LFC          0-4 Millwall Lionesses LFC
Nottingham Forest LFC             4-2 Leicester City WFC
Curzon Ashton LFC                 1-3 Charlton Athletic LFC
Gillingham LFC                    3-5 Reading Women
Derby County LFC                  2-0 Plymouth Argyle LFC
Leeds United Ladies               0-0 Blackburn Rovers LFC*
*Blackburn Rovers won 5-4 on pens
Andover New Street LFC            2-3 Watford LFC
Cardiff City LFC                  1-2 Sheffield Wednesday Women
Loughborough Students LFC         0-4 Barnet Ladies
West Ham United LFC               1-0 Brighton & Hove Albion WFC
Southampton Saints WFC            0-1 Enfield Town LFC
Coventry City LFC                 1-2 Rochdale AFC Ladies
Colchester United LFC             2-1 Newcastle United Ladies
Sunderland WFC                    7-2 Portsmouth LFC
Cambridge Women's                 2-3 Leeds City Vixens LFC
Mossley Hill LFC                  3-2 Luton Town Ladies

The fourth round draw has been made today and has paired Enfield Town with a home game against Mossley Hill. The Merseyside based club face a long trip down to Goldsdown Road on Sunday 27th February. They play in the Northern Combination which is the same level as the Town's South East Combination League. The eight super league sides (Arsenal, Birmingham City, Bristol Academy, Chelsea, Doncaster Rovers Belles, Everton, Lincoln Ladies and Liverpool) join the competition in the Fifth Round.

FULL FOURTH ROUND DRAW

Enfield Town      v Mossley Hill
Blackburn Rovers  v Millwall Lionesses
Derby County      v Sunderland
Reading           v Charlton Athletic
Leeds City Vixens v Barnet
Nottingham Forest v Watford
West Ham United   v Colchester United
Rochdale          v Sheffield Wednesday

BORO TOO GOOD FOR THE DUCKS AT GOFFS LANE

Another Enfield Town missed yesterday for the cold end yesterday as the journey to Southend just couldn't be made by 3pm. It was a more local visit to Goffs Lane to watch Broxbourne Borough's game against Aylesbury United in the Spartan South Midlands League.

The Ducks were relegated from Step 4 of the pyramid last season after losing their Buckingham Road ground in 2006 and were in seventh place going into yesterday afternoon's game. They had drawn with table toppers Chalfont St Peter in midweek so their loyal supporters who followed them to Broxbourne were in good spirits for the game against 14th placed Borough.

It wasn't to be for the away side who appeared to have an off day and despite improving in the second half never really had a decent effort on goal to trouble the home keeper. Boro recorded a 2-0 win thanks to ex Towner Bradley Drisdale and a Tony Neilson goal in the first half.

Watch the match highlights below -

FOOTBALL LEAGUE - BATTLE TO BEAT THE DROP UPDATE

League Two Bottom four 

(As of 8/1/11)                       (As of today)
                P   GD PTS REL   SA                 P   GD PTS REL  SA
21 Stockport    23 -23 23  6/4   21   Macc  Town    23 -13 27  9/2  17 
22 Lincoln City 20 -14 19  3/1   25   Burton Albion 22 -1  25  14/1 19
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
23 Hereford     22 -17 19  6/4   25   Barnet        28 -18 25  4/7  19     
24 Barnet       23 -18 19  11/10 25   Stockport     29 -35 25  2/9  19

REL denotes relegation odds 
SA denotes possible points required to be safe based on the average of 44 over past eight seasons.

In the battle to beat the drop from the football league it's been a bad month for Stockport County with only two points gained from a possible eighteen on offer from the six games they have played which has caused them to sink to the bottom of the table. Barnet are still stuck in the drop zone despite picking up points and have been joined in the bottom four by Burton Albion and Macclesfield Town who both have a big number of games in hand over the bottom two.

Just nine points cover bottom of the table Stockport County up to current 12th placed Stevenage so all is not lost for any team at present.

Hereford United and Lincoln City who were in the bottom four a month ago now are placed just above in 20th and 19th place respectively.

Today's games featuring the bottom four -

Torquay United v Stockport County
Northampton Town v Barnet
Bury v Burton Albion - OFF due to waterlogged pitch at Gigg Lane.
Macclesfield Town v Bradford City

All tough games for Barnet, Stockport County and Macclesfield Town today. The cold end predicts a loss for The Bees by at least two goals as the Cobblers are strong at Sixfields (unbeaten in seven league games), Stockport County to lose narrowly at Plainmoor and Macclesfield Town to maybe get a draw at home to Bradford City who themselves are down in eighteenth place and not out of the relegation fight yet.

It's exciting for neutral fans to see which teams are going to go down and which are going to scrape in and keep their league status but the cold end is sure fan's of the club's at the wrong end of the table would trade their current place for boring mid-table mediocrity any day of the week.

GREAT WAKERING ROVERS TOMORROW

Ryman Division One (North) fixtures for tomorrow 
AFC Sudbury           v Harlow Town 
Brentwood Town        v Redbridge 
Cheshunt              v Needham Market 
East Thurrock United  v Waltham Abbey 
Great Wakering Rovers v Enfield Town 
Maldon and Tiptree    v Tilbury 
Potters Bar Town      v Grays Athletic 
Romford               v Ware 
Waltham Forest        v Heybridge Swifts 
Wingate and Finchley  v Ilford 

Town visit Burroughs Park tomorrow afternoon to play Great Wakering Rovers who are currently in sixteenth place in the league table. Since the turn of the year they have played eight league games winning two, drawing one and losing five. They are currently on a seven game run without a win last tasting victory on the 8th of January when Cheshunt were beaten 4-1 at Burroughs Park.

Top scorer for the Rovers this season is one of the Ryman League's favourite player's in midfielder Dan Trenkel who has fourteen goals to his credit so far.  Trenks netted a incredible five goals in the home game versus Potters Bar Town on the 20th November in a match which will live long in the memory of those present. The score was 4-4 at half time and ended 5-6 to The Scholars. He maybe the only player ever in senior football to score 5 goals and end up on the losing side??

It's a real chance for the Town to gain some revenge against Rovers who recorded a 0-3 win at Goldsdown Road on the 23rd October.

The cold end's game of the day comes at Rookery Hill when 2nd placed East Thurrock United entertain in-form Waltham Abbey. Abbey have won five out of their last six games with The Rocks sure to be eager to get back to winning ways after their unexpected home defeat to Heybridge Swifts last weekend.

A defeat for John Coventry's side and a win for Needham Market at Cheshunt will see the Suffolk side go six points clear at the top of the table*
* based on Leyton's results still being valid at this time.

Elsewhere, one of the non-league game's of the day comes at the Hunts Post Community Stadium in Cambridgeshire where the two biggest teams in the United Counties League face each other for the first time of the season. First placed St Neots Town entertain Kings Lynn Town in a match that is bound to attract a massive crowd as it's a Championship six pointer as well.

You have to go back well over a year ago when big spending St Neots Town tasted defeat in the league when Newport Pagnell Town recorded a 0-2 away victory on the 27th of October 2009.

United Counties League Premier Division (current top three) 
                     P  W  D  L GF GA  GD PTS 
St Neots Town        22 19 3  0 92 9  +83 60 
Newport Pagnell Town 25 18 5  2 77 29 +48 59 
Kings Lynn Town      22 18 2  2 77 21 +56 56 

Kings Lynn Town are unbeaten in nineteen league and cup games with their last defeat coming on the 5th October at Deeping Rangers who recorded a 2-1 win. The two rival sides won't have long to wait to play each other again as The Saint's make the reverse trip to The Walks in their big FA Vase clash next Saturday.
Wherever your going to watch your football the cold end says stay safe and enjoy the match!! 

RESULT GOES WITH THE FORM BOOK AT FORDE PARK

HOME               AWAY             TOTAL 
                   P  W D L GF GA  P  W D L  GF GA  P  W  D L  GF GA PTS   
(23/23)Langford    12 3 1 8 18 31  12 0 2 10 11 34  24 3  3 18 29 65 12   
(6/23)Leverstock G 11 8 1 2 29 13  11 4 3 4  26 22  22 12 4 6  55 35 40

The cold end visited the delightful Forde Park just inside the Bedfordshire border last night to watch Langford host Leverstock Green in a Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division match.

Above - Tree lined Forde Park

As you can see from the league records the host's are having a miserable season and are unfortunately stuck to the bottom of the table whereas the visitors are going well in sixth position and are having a great run in the FA Vase.

Levvy's form at Pancake Lane is very impressive having only lost to Hadley on the opening day of the season and Stotfold on the 30th October. Up until last night's game on the road they had won 4 out of 11 league games with defeats coming at Chalfont St Peter, Tring Athletic, Broxbourne Borough and Kentish Town.

With the cold snap and cup commitments this was their first league game away from home since their 0-2 win at the SSMFL's other Vase heroes Dunstable Town on the 14th December.

Langford, as stated, are rooted to the foot of the table and going into yesterday night's game 12 points off Kentish Town in 21st place. Their home victories had come on the opening day of the season (Holmer Green 2-1), against Hillingdon Borough (5-0!!) on the 25th September and most recently on the 22nd January against Hadley (2-1).

So did the game go with the form book or did Langford spring a surprise??

Unfortunately for the home side Leverstock Green ran out easy winners and never looked like getting anything but the three points without really getting out of first or second gear. Forde Park is a really nice place to watch football and last night was no different despite it being very cold and foggy especially in the first half.

The cold end saw a new Spartan League hero in Langford left back Paul Donnelly. Despite being hit at full pelt in the crown jewels in the opening moments of the game he got straight back up (which every bloke will tell you is very difficult on a normal day but on a cold night almost impossible!!) and continued on with the game. Affectionately called 'MeatHead' by his team mates he appears to be one of many characters that make non-league football a wonderful game to watch.

Levvy were in control from the outset and scored early on. Bekin Culaj was a constant threat on the right hand side and going forward Louis Austin, Charlie Gorman and Lewis Pritchard all impressed the cold end. Three more goals were scored in the second half and true to cold end tradition I missed filming the third.

Langford did get a penalty which appeared a very soft one to give (make your own mind up from the video) which "MeatHead" unluckily blasted down the middle of the goal and was well saved.

From what the cold end saw last night Steve Heath is building a very good young side at Pancake Lane which hopefully for the SSMFL and local football can get through to the Vase Quarter Finals and maybe beyond!

Langford are struggling and need alot of luck to avoid relegation to Division One. Their forward line of Tunde Andermou and Theo Swain may trouble defences on other days with their pace which may help Mark Teeling's side in their battle to beat the drop.

Leverstock Green play again on Thursday night when they welcome Stotfold to Pancake Lane in the Premier Divison Cup Quarter Final. They then travel to Haringey Borough on Saturday in a league fixture. Langford welcome Kingsbury London Tigers to Forde Park on Saturday before travelling to Tring Athletic on the 12th February. After that on the 19th February Stotfold visit in local derby game.

Final Score - Langford 0 Leverstock Green 4
Attendance - 32

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS BELOW -