Football was (perhaps surprisingly) hard to come by over the weekend of 31 January/1 February. A couple of Supervets’ games took place and there was a bit of County Cup action out there. Plus, a few of the O40 sides took the opportunity to play some catch up games.
Rams into County Cup SF
West London Rams were involved in the highest profile game of the day. They hosted London East FC Vets in the QF of the AFA Cup. And, they did something of a demolition job on them; they won 8-1, Andrew Scarlett helping himself to a hat-trick along the way.
Actonians had also made it through to the quarter finals, but that’s where their journey ends; they bowed out to West Wickham. West Wickham now move on to play Albanian Vets in the semi-final, the Rams will lock horns with either Winchmore Hill or Maccabi London Vets. Those games will take place on 1 March.
Good day for the Yellas
Elsewhere, two of the Ascot United sides were in action. Ascot’s first XI travelled to Chiswick to play Kew Park Rangers. And, they came home with all three points; Ian Davies was again in goal-scoring mood for the Yellas whilst John Bennett bagged a brace. A full report of that contest can be found here.
The Ascot United Supervets were also out in force. They hosted Cheam Supervets. Despite the significant difference in league positions, Cheam acquitted themselves admirably and frustrated the Yellas for long periods. Eventually the hosts came through; goals from Chris Ferdinand and Dave Thompson saw to that. But, it was tough work. Full report here.
There was one game in Division One of the O40s’ competition. Polytechnic made the short journey to play West Kensington Kings (WKK). The visitors came out on top, winning 4-3. That puts Poly in fourth, nicely settled in behind the top three.
The guys from Putney Vale Rangers will have been celebrating on Saturday evening. They won their first game of 2024-25. They did it in style, too, beating promotion-chasing Bank of England IIs 5-1.
The final game of the weekend took place in the Supervets’ competition; Claygate cemented second spot with a 4-3 win against Chelsea. The Royals are still a distance behind Ascot, but they are in decent form at the moment and will no doubt be pleased with their progress.
Moving forward
Looking ahead, there’s plenty of potentially entertaining fair on offer on 7/8 February.
In the Prem the big game looks like it’ll be at Claygate. Say it quietly, but the Royals are still in the title hunt. They’ll need to continue their good run and beat some good teams along the way, but, in theory at least, they are in there fighting.
The coming week sees one of those big games come into view. Claygate play at home against the Rams. Chelsea will be watching that one with interest. They are also on the road, over to Roehampton to play Bank of England.
2nd place meets 4th over in Croxley as the hosts entertain Ascot United, whilst at the bottom Kew Park Rangers play Wandsworth. That’s certainly a big game in the context of premier league survival.
Can Latimer and Army close the gap on Actonians?
There are three games in Division One this week.
League leaders Actonians have a week off, and that offers second placed Latimer Road the opportunity to close the gap on them. Latimer play relegation-threatened Acton Ealing Whistlers in Cranford.
Army Crusaders are the only other side with genuine promotion ambitions. They’ll be looking to keep the pressure on the top two. They are off to sixth placed Nottsborough.
The final game in this division this weekend is at the Racecourse Ground in Ascot. The hosts play West Kensington Kings.
Too close to call in Div 2
Division Two is in many ways the most intriguing of all the divisions in the WLVFL. Ruislip Rangers have gallivanted clear, and only an implosion of truly epic proportions would see them not go up.
Everyone else – including bottom side Old Tiffs – could make a plausible case for being in the hunt for the second promotion spot. As things stand, Clapham are best placed to fill that berth, and they play Lyonians – one of four sides on ten points – on Saturday. Meadonians are third on goal difference, they are off to Jamrock (two points and four places behind them).
With Thames Ditton off to Ruislip that just leaves Laleham (10 pts) to host Old Tiffinians. Can this division get any tighter? Let’s see what Saturday brings.
Top two in action in Div 3
Division Three is not quite as cramped, but there’s still lots of interesting games on the horizon.
In terms of this coming weekend, only four sides are, however, in action. Top of the table Claygate Royals Hounds are off to Molesey Lighthouse whilst second placed MMB go toe-to-toe with AFC Hampton. All good.
Go well everyone!