12 November 2024
West London Vets’ League
There was league and cup action aplenty for WLVFL sides on 9 November; six of our teams were involved in County Cup contests, with nine league games taking place across the four divisions.
Actonians and WLR march on in County Cup
In terms of the County Cup, two ties were all WLVFL affairs. Division One pacesetters, Old Actonians, hosted top flightClaygate Royals Hares; and, they pulled off what (formally at least) counts as a shock. They won 3-2.
The other all-WLVFL tie saw West London Rams visit Wandsworth Borough. The Rams were able to come through there by five goals to one. Their perennial challengers at the top of the Prem, Chelsea, weren’t quite so lucky; their County Cup run ended with a 4-2 defeat against Parkfield.
Nottsborough also saw their interest in the competition come to an end; they travelled to West Wickham and came off second best. They lost 4-2.
Decent weekend for the Yellas
In terms of league action, there were only three games played across the top two divisions. Given all the cup games that were going on, perhaps not that surprising.
As far as the top flight goes, Ascot United travelled to Whippet Wanderers and came away with a 4-1 win. Given that three of the Yellas put the wrong postcode into their SatNavs and inadvertently turned up in Chiswick where the Ascot twos were playing, Mike Tomlinson’s side did well to stay on level terms for the first half hour of the match.
Once the three musketeers had raced around the North Circular and landed in Kensal Rise – 15/20 minutes after the game had kicked off – the Yellas were finally able to get into their groove. Ian Davies scored a hat-trick whilst Jon Bennett added the fourth.
The Ascot United second string, meanwhile, were involved in a ding dong doo of a game at Polytechnic. They led 1-0 before going 3-1 down. A brace from Chris Watney, plus goals from Phil White and Dan Hough saw them turn that round to lead 5-3.
Poly nonetheless fought back; they missed a penalty and then grabbed a fourth, but it wasn’t quite enough to get anything from the game. 5-4 it ended.
There was one other game in Division One, and it took place just across the A316 where Civil Service hosted Latimer Road. The visitors started like a runaway train and were 4-0 up inside 20 minutes. Civils nonetheless re-grouped, and Jimmy Benn and Phil Cooke pulled a couple of goals back for them. Hope that that might morph into a famous comeback win didn’t last long; Latimer bagged a couple more, won 6-2 and with that went a point clear at the top of the division.
Top overcome second in Div 2
The big game of the day in Division Two was between first and second, Ruislip Rangers and Old Meadonians. Both were unbeaten going into the match, although only Ruislip remained so afterwards. They won 4-0.
Elsewhere, it was the four bottom sides that were in action. Laleham and Old Tiffs will be most pleased there, they managed to secure three points apiece; Laleham hosted Old Lyonians and won 4-2, Tiffs beat Thames Ditton 2-0, Dave Harry notching both the goals.
Claygate Hounds continue their impressive form in Div 3
Claygate Royals Hounds continued their impressive start to the season with a 5-0 win against second placed Bank of England IIs. That puts the Hounds four points clear and in a commanding position at the top of the Division Three tree.
Double H also had a good day, they beat fellow promotion hopefuls MMB 5-1. It’s all pretty tight in the middle of the division, and that became even more so as Molesey Lighthouse jumped up a number of places following their 3-1 win against the struggling Putney Vale Rangers. PVR continue to hunt for their first point of the campaign.
Moving forward
Looking ahead, there’s no rest for the wicked as a full round of league fixtures looms large on 15/16 November.
In the top flight the game of the weekend looks like it’ll be at the Racecourse Ground where Ascot United (top) will be hosting the West London Rams (second). Likely to be an intriguing affair.
Third placed Chelsea are off to bottom of the table Wandsworth Borough (who seem to have had a particularly tough start to the season fixtures-wise), whilst fourth placed Croxley Green also hit the road; they will be in Roehampton to play Bank of England. The final game in the division sees Claygate Royals Hares host Whippet Wanderers.
There are four fixtures in Division One on 16 November. Leaders Latimer Road welcome Poly, whilst second placed Actonians are off to Ealing Acton Whistlers. Third placed Army Crusaders host West Kensington Kings whilst Civil Service will be welcoming Nottsborough to Chiswick. Ascot United’s IIs have a week off.
The juggernaut that is Ruislip Rangers are at home this week, they play third placed Clapham Old Xaverians. The standout game in division two looks like it’ll be at the other end of the table. Old Tiffs, fresh from a good win last week, are off to Harrow to play bottom-of-the-pile Old Lyonians. Elsewhere mid-table Jamrock welcome Laleham FC.
There are also three games in the fourth tier. Leaders Claygate Royals Hounds aren’t involved in any of them, so that means second placed Bank of England IIs have the opportunity to make up some ground. They are off to MMB.
Putney Vale Rangers go in search of that elusive first win. They are off to Croxley Green. The final game on the fixture list sees fourth-placed Molesey Lighthouse travel around to Sunbury to take on AFC Hampton. A win for either and they could plausibly jump to as high as third in the table.
Go well, everyone.