Dan Cudmore hits the headlines in a big way scoring five goals in yesterday’s 11 – 1 win for the Third team against Old Lyonians. Last week it was Charlie McGeary with four for the First team – what will happen next week?

The First team went to Old Parkonians without Aston Boyes who was ill and they had an eventful second half. The first half we played with the slight slope in very windy conditions and although we played well enough there was little between the two sides. Parks are difficult to beat on their own ground.

At half time Fozzie was thinking that maybe a point would be a decent result but he couldn’t have imagined the drama of the last 15 minutes.

Inspired by Sam Murray and Charlie McGeary, we dominated the second half but Parkonians defended exceptionally well and a scoreless draw looked a strong possibility. Then we conceded a goal from a speculative long range shot - the chips were down and the fat was in the fire with only 10 minutes remaining. The prospect of a miserable journey back to West Wickham loomed large.

When the going gets tough you need soldiers who will come out of the trenches fighting and Jack Doyle did just that. He burst down the right flank and his pinpoint cross was met by Joe Kelly’s fierce header – the scores were level and the final whistle was imminent. The Blueblood Army were now out of the trenches marauding forward looking for victory led by skipper Jamie Askew – The Skew scrambled the ball into the net in the 92nd minute and the journey home was riotous. It ended 2 – 1.

Sam Murray was MOM by a long way – it wasn’t our most fluent performance but three points at Old Parks is not to be sniffed at.

Next week we are free but follow that with three home fixtures starting with newly promoted Norsemen. We then have an AFA Cup tie and the first round of the Kent Senior Trophy so plenty of top class action at Corkscrew Hill.

The Reserves are due to hit the target more frequently than they did yesterday when they drew 1 – 1 with Polytechnic. Eman gave us the lead but Poly hit back and John Chisholm’s wonder save late in the second half denied them victory. However, the boys were disappointed that their excellent approach work yielded only one goal.

We had long spells of sustained pressure but some poor choices of pass in the last third allowed the experienced Poly defence to thwart Charlie Kallas who was in top form. He was aided and abetted by Matt Fitch who added his weight to the attack but we failed to add a second goal.

Polytechnic just about deserved their point in a well contested game that was well refereed by Paul Martins. The ref decided that the late hand ball by a Poly defender was not inside the penalty area – the fans thought it was but the Poly defenders thought it was “ball to hand” so perhaps the decision did justice to the incident. The free kick did not trouble the visitors defence.

Old Lyonians were no match for Chris Hall’s Threes who ran out 11 – 1 winners. In addition to Dan Cudmore’s five goals home debutants Jack Skully and Teddy Hands both opened their accounts. Jack got two and Teddy one – the others came from Connor Pullen, Will Scudder and Chris Eadon. There is a lot of talent in this squad and they should have a good season.

The Fours AFA Cup tie against Old Tiffinians caused Joint Managers Mike Parker and Joe Rahilly few problems. They had five separate scorers in their 5 – 1 victory. I was pleased to see Jack Sherrin score on his final game before he returns to Australia – the others came from Joe Shorter (now a regular scorer), George Rahilly, Dave Calvert and an own goal. The boys loved their trip to Tiffinia and several have booked their 2020 holidays there.

The Sixes lost their very tough AFA Cup match at Old Thorntonians 6 – 1 but the score line flattered the home side. Dylan Bukovenczki scored for us.