London Legal League vs Amateur Football Combination

London Legal League 1 (Rob Carter) 

Amateur Football Combination 1 (Matt Harrison)

played at Boreham Wood F.C. Tuesday 30h January 2007 (report courtesy of Dave Stanners)

This Game was played under lights on 30^th January at the sumptuous and welcoming spread of Boreham Wood F.C. on a surface to make the mouth of any amateur footballer water profusely. There was plenty of purchase on this generously sized pitch and not so much grass as to cause the kind of excruciating problem experienced by Ashley Cole the following evening. 

All in all this setting cried out for some of the cream of the ‘pay to play’ ranks to emulate the ‘big boys’, play possession football, build a base in enemy territory and work time and space for playmakers to give front runners the edge on their markers and use their pace to telling effect. This from the AFC point of view, alas, was only patchily achieved. The size of the pitch also gave ample opportunity for the alternative to playing the ball out of defence, ‘hitting the corner flag’, putting the ball into space to enable strikers to stretch markers and hold the ball up for reinforcements to arrive to work an overlap. This did not happen either, perhaps because the vast areas available were daunting enough for players to consider energy conservation as a priority. 

The valued opinion of one interesting and interested spectator who, in his own words, had spent seven happy years playing at Boreham Wood was that the game was played at too great a pace for real construction. In this he was being slightly unkind to the mid-week London Legal League, the ‘David’ of the AFA who, from the start played a much more measured game, harried the AFC midfield and defence into hurried passes and clearances and generally had the better of most of the first half. In fact the ‘Legal Eagles’, possibly bolstered by some eminent ‘moonlighters’ from the AFC with dual qualification, gave the ‘Goliath’ AFC a thorough going cross examination for the first half hour. However, while they attempted to build patiently from the back, were able to give front runners more viable ball and thus achieved greater penetration, crucially, the visitors’ defence, well marshalled by Dan Salanson, held firm and the hosts were unable to put anything on the scoreboard. As if in punishment for comparative failure in the last third of the pitch, with ten minutes to go to half time, the Lawyers were reminded of the cruelty of the game when a speculative up and under come cross saw the ball drop between three defenders for Matt Harrison to poke it home and take the visitors in with a somewhat fortuitous lead. 

The opening of the second half saw the AFC putting on pressure with Matt Harrison and Dave Harding finding their feet to better effect. However strikers Peter Eguae and Leon Smith were still not getting the deluxe service and there was still a lot of huffing without much end result. Eguae in particular demonstrated his forte of generating extreme pace from a standing start but was generally crowded out by the lawyers counsel of caution. It did look, however, as if the AFC were beginning to get the upper hand and the Legal League had shot their bolt, only for fate, albeit justifiably, to take a hand for the second time in the match. In a rare excursion upfield with twenty minutes to go the ‘Eagles’ equalised when, from another fairly innocuous situation, hesitation in the visitors’ defence allowed Rob Carter to head the ball over John Reed. The AFC still continued to lay siege but without reward. The nearest they came to a goal was a cross shot from just outside the area which was well saved by Matt Ramsden. Those in the know would have backed Leon Smith to find a way through traffic when, with ten minutes to go and following a foul on one of his colleagues, he got the ball twenty yards out facing goal. Any effort he might have made was snuffed out when the ref decided not to play advantage. It would, however, have been a travesty for the Lawyers to be robbed of a well deserved draw at this stage. 

The new AFC management team are insistent that this game was to be treated as exploratory. This is only their second game in charge and their win at Cambridge has already been given the nod of approval in the AFC ranks. We would hope that the patient approach of  coaches Rory Vermeulen and Paul Rumley will produce a similar effect  to that they have wrought on the Old Meadonians’ fortunes. There was a good attendance at Boreham Wood and players, officials and spectators alike were able to partake of good food and cheer in the bar afterwards. Finally the game was extremely well refereed by Kevin Lowe, ably assisted by John Harkin and Philip Cain. The AFC management gave the MoM award to Matt Harrison.

London Legal League: Matt Ramsden (Linklaters), Will Spencer (Herbert Smith), Dan Chantler (Watson Farley Williams), Tim Cordell (Freshfields), Matt Smith (Slaughter and May), Os Akkaya (Herbert Smith), Simon Sly (Stephenson Harwood), Rob Carter (Macfarlanes), Brenton Amadee (Lovells), Tom Greenwood, Ed Jeremy (Linklaters). Subs: Gareth Jenkins (Reed Smith Richards Butler), Donal McElwee (Freshfields), Mark Esiri (Reed Smith Richards Butler).

Amateur Football Combination: John Reed (Bealonians), Matt O’Sullivan (Old Ignatians), Dan Salanson (Old Meadonians), Chris Thomas (Old Aloysians), (John Butler (Bealonians)), Dave Harding, Rob Imlah (Honourable Artillery Company), Jerome Britton (Old Parmiterians), Paul Tumelty (Shene Old Grammarians), Matt Harrison, Ollie Freeman (Old Hamptonians), Ian Sawyer (Bealonians), Peter Eguae (Southgate County), Leon Smith (Old Meadonians).