Old Meadonians 2 Accies 1sts 1 (Jon Delaney).

Parkfield 2 Accies 2nds 2 (Mark McGuigan, Chris Dobson).

Enfield Old Grammarians 3 Accies 3rds 6 (Scott Atkinson 2, Gio Martelli 2, Phil Stewart, Phil Sullivan).

Old Ignatians 0 (Lee Collier) Accies 6ths 7 (Graham Whitworth 3, Paul Bernard 3, David Voss).

Final games before Christmas and no games at Shenley. For the firsts another disappointment at Old Meadonians. A close game which saw a home 2-1 victory delighted Meadonians, and illustrated how much other clubs seem to be gunning for the Accies. The 2nds travelled to Parkfield and looked good for the three points until Parkfield snatched a late equaliser - probably Albanian the most pleased with the result with two pursuers dropping a couple of points each.

The 3rds found themselves 2-1 down at half time against promotion challengers Enfield Old Grammarians, but ran riot in a superb second half to run out 6-3 winners. Phil Sullivan and Andrew Blincoe starred in defence, whilst the goals were shared around at the other end. Phil Christer has asked me to clarify that he hadn't scored only since third year of Senior school, not junior school. He still hasn't!

No game for the 4ths or 5ths, so the remaining fixture was the 6ths away to Old Ignatians. Highlight of the game was the standard of refereeing, almost certainly unsurpassed in the Amateur Football Combination this season, and probably nationwide! With their regular keeper otherwise occupied (see above) Lee Collier kept a clean sheet. Early on the game looked like it might be even, but after the Accies took the lead with twenty minutes gone and extended it a minute later Ignatians rather collapsed. The final tally was seven, with Graham Whitworth and Paul Bernard notching hat-tricks. Their keeper pulled off a bunch of excellent saves and doubtless no-one will believe him. The 6ths management team are certain that the best result of the season and the skipper (subbing) and vice-skipper (refereeing) not starting is totally co-incidental.......

Saturday 14th December

Accies 1sts 6 (Jon Houghton 4, Brenton Amedee, og) Old Ignatians 0 (Mark Dawson).

Accies 2nds 2 (Ian Roberts, Ned Carabine) Old Edmontonians 1.

Accies 3rds 3 (Scott Atkinson 3) Albanian 2.

Parkfield 0 (Bobby Butlin) Accies 5ths 0 (Parkfield won 4-3 on penalties).

Accies 6ths 2 (Graham Whitworth, Nick Reed) Southgate County 3.

We went to Shenley, most of us won, some of us lost, some of us lost on penalties, then we decamped to Dover Street and got ratted! Most of us got home really late, really pissed and woke up feeling crap.

Vague memories of the games remain. Most important Dawson kept a clean sheet and at the same time some of the 1sts scored six at the other end (Joffsy bagging 6-0) for a much needed morale boosting win. The 2nds came from behind to beat Edmontonians 2-1 and keep their title bid on track.

For the 3rds a thrilling last minute win. 2-0 up early on and seemingly cruising they found themselves pegged back to 2-2, and scored the winner in the final minute, Scott Atkinson completing his hat-trick. We won't mention Phil Christer having a near open goal from 4 yards out and blasting against the cross-bar, nor mention he hasn't scored since third year of junior school. Nor will we start a survey to find out which Accie has the longest non-scoring streak in the club. A more honorable mention should go to the 3rds new cheerleading crew, whose unique and continuous support made for an atmosphere rarely seen at our games (and an interesting attempt at distracting the opposition keeper). From small acorns.......

For the 5ths, heart-break. Despite Parkfield 4ths being four divisions above them they were held to 0-0 after normal time, and 0-0 after extra time. Penalties looked like going the Accies way and then took a sour turn, with Parkfield coming from behind to win 4-3. Top marks to Jamie Pearson who turned up to watch the 3rds, keen to avoid playing because of illness and did 90 minutes for the 5ths. He really ought to know better than to turn up expecting not to be needed......

For the 6ths, a league game, a following a string of 2-1 losses a change of result was in order. So we lost 3-2. Being honest Southgate scoring more wouldn't have flattered them, and would have meant that Duncan falling flat on his arse on the edge of the area and conceding the third goal wouldn't have been critical. But they didn't, and it was!!!

Oh, and a big thankyou to Old Kolsassians. After some umming and ahing we arranged a friendly fpr the Vets with their 2nd XI on Thursday night, and then on Friday (just after the AFA Fixture Bureau had closed) they called us to let us know they didn't have a team. Nice........

Saturday 7th December

Bank of England 4 Accies 1sts 0.

Albanian 4 Accies 2nds 2 (Mike Bailey, og).

Accies 3rds 5 (Phil Stewart 2, Iain Wagstaff, Phil Sullivan, Nick Crowther) Old Aloysians 0 (Duncan Wynn).

Old Aloysians 3 Accies 4ths 4 (Dan Willoughby, Paul Bernard, Ed Jeremy, Adam Mammon).

Accies 6ths 1 (Spencer Gore) Leyton County Old Boys 2.

Accies Veterans 3 Mill Hill County Old Boys 2.

It was bound to happen eventually, and finally the Accies lost an AFA Cup game. Away to Bank of England for the 1sts it was a simple tale - we didn't play well, they did, and they deservedly won 4-0. I blame Terry Venables. Defeat too for the seconds, who played a very strong Albanian 2nd XI (but shurely shome coincidence that Albanian 1sts were inactive that day) and lost 4-2. I blame Terry Venables.

The 3rds faced Old Aloysians and the injury curse continues. Early in the second half (just after having made a substitution) Hairy Jim gets his leg carved open. Cue ten minutes lying on the ground (which given the temperature showed it was serious) before being carted away (literally) on the groundsman's trailer. Happily (relatively) it just required stitches (quickly done at Barnet General) and Jim will live to run (slowly) another day. Sentiments such as "did someone nobble the guy who did it?" and "5-0, excellent, good to stuff a team like that" are not really the spirit of the game, but they came from Jim's good lady wife to be!!

An off day for the 4ths, whose goal tally only reached four. With Aloysians scoring three the result was far from conclusive, but who cares, we're in the last eight of the LOB Cup. For the 6ths the worst start of all, 1-0 after 20 seconds to a decent goal to Leyton County. An equaliser ten minutes later saw a magnificent sweeping move the length of the pitch finished by Spenny Gore before a remarkable winner. Suffice to say Leyton County's second saw a finish that would grace the Premiership, as the striker lobbed the ball into the back high corner from 15 yards at a narrow angle. This really is Terry Venables fault.

Comedy turn of the day came from the Veterans. With Chelsea Old Players unable to raise a side, and Polytechnic Vets afraid of leaving Chiswick, the opposition were Mill Hill County Old Boys 3rds. The youngsters were a class apart, knowing the rules better than the referee, being infinitely superior in talent to the Accies (one of them told Carl he had a trial for Brentford next week) and generally a pointless mismatch of an afternoon. Oh and the Accies won 3-2. Perhaps Carl misunderstood - maybe one of them is on trial at Brentford next week!