We like going to Fairlop to play Old Parkonians – not because it’s an easy journey or a particularly smart venue but because their post match meal is the best in the SAL so a big thank you to Liz and Michelle for the millions of cottage pies, lasagne and spaghetti bolognaises that they have made over many seasons.

It’s also a dangerous place to go, as travelling by train means that we will end up in a Borough Market alehouse and reach home on Sunday. Saturday was no different – some of the boys got home at 5am. Luckily one of them still had the 3 points in his pocket.

Old Parks looked much weaker than when we struggled to beat them on the same ground in the AFA Cup – their First team were playing a Cup game on an adjacent pitch and they were hammered by Old Actonians from a league below them which illustrates the point. However, it didn’t stop them from taking the lead after 3 minutes from a long throw, aided and abetted by some awful defending – Chis was not happy.

The pitch was heavy and bumpy but the Blueblood ball players soon had it under control – what they couldn’t control was their anxiety to score goals from every attack. The Parks keeper was having a blinder which increased their frustration. Kempes and Joe Ivory should have bagged a couple but hit the bar from 3 feet and fell over like the clowns from Cirque du Soleil.

Dan Cudmore couldn’t believe the space he had on the left flank – the nearest their right back got to him was in the bar after the game. His excellent crosses were wasted ad nauseam whilst on the other flank Kempes thought he was playing right wing and made two dynamic forays to the bye line but his crosses also avoided everybody. It was one way traffic but no goals.

Parks had a couple of decent chances to go further ahead but skipper James Williams cleared off the line and John Chisholm did his Bruce Grobbelaar impersonation diving full length out of his penalty area to head the ball to safety and deny their striker a goal. He risked a broken nose, at least, but Chis used to play as a defender so his awareness is excellent and his hair, luckily, escaped any damage.

Muzza and Maws were creating havoc in the home defence but the lack of goals was seriously affecting our concentration on the job in hand and the frustration on the touchline boiled over at the break.

The Manager was in no mood to listen to any moans from the Bluebloods. We should have been 5 – 1 ahead particularly as Kempy’s penalty had been well saved by their keeper and we had spurned chance after chance. The bickering and constant appealing to the referee had to stop and Fozzie used just under 70 expletives to get his point across – the attitude just had to change— we needed to relax and enjoy our superiority.

Neil Currie replaced the semi fit Connor Byrne at centre back and Carl Goppy replaced Joe Ivory in attack as we looked for more pace up top.

To be fair to the team they took their half time mauling to heart and turned in an excellent second half which was a pleasure to watch. Cuzza, Willy, Kane Allen and Craig Rathbone gave the Parks forwards nothing and the midfield attackers were thrilling at times. Sam Murray is the most exciting player that I have seen at West Wickham for many, many seasons and he ran riot laying on a chance for George Maw who calmly equalised. He then tricked four defenders lost the ball, got it back, sped past the last man and smacked the ball into the net.

Joe “Kempes” Kemp then shouldered in the goal that he deserved to make it 3 – 1 from Cudmore’s Cross (which is near Watford). Off came Sam Kemp to be replaced by The Durse who had explicit instructions to go and get a fourth goal. Russ knew that lightning never strikes twice in the same place and he contented himself by smashing into 3 tackles which earned a rebuke from the referee.

Carl Goppy’s pace on the right flank caused mayhem at times as we played more directly in the second half and should have won by a much bigger margin.

Credit to Old Parks who played in a spirited manner and took their defeat very well.

You can easily see why the squad has gone 19 games undefeated, it’s littered with good footballers who are growing in stature – it’s a young side who improve week on week. Man of the Match could well have been Sam Murray or George Maw or Dan Cudmore OR Craig Rathbone but it wasn’t.

The accolade went to Manager Andy Foster who quickly identified our first half problems and made sure that the team knew what was required in the second half. We were a different side after the interval and played in a much more relaxed manner which suits our skills.

Top marks to Paul Cudmore for his dedicated bottle filling just before the break -- he took the 3 bottles that were visible and trudged off to the distant clubhouse -- he returned to find that we had 6 bottles so off he went to fill the other three. Good work Paul.

We now move on to the Semi Final of the AFA Intermediate Cup next Saturday against Nottsborough who we have had two close, exciting games with in recent weeks. This game kicks off at 2.15pm at Corkscrew Hill and should not be missed. With several First teamers now back in action we should be able to maintain our regular squad for the rest of the campaign. We have some big games coming up – so let’s relax and just play football.