2010-11 Results - October

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Saturday 30th October

Old Aloysians 3 Accies 1sts 1 (Kieron Jennings).

Old Haberdashers 1 Accies 2nds 4 aet (Mike Harris 2, Tosin Ajayi, Andy Mackay)

Oakhill Tigers 2 Accies 5ths 1 (James Odemiwuya) 

Old Finchleians 3 Accies 6ths 3 (Toby Kallar, Alistair Booton, Ross Magdalani), Accies won 5-4 on penalties

2nds Match Report from Hugh Taylor

Full of confidence after their morale-boosting victory in the LOB cup two weeks ago, UCL Academicals were expected to brush aside the challenge of a mediocre Old Haberdashers side.  While our boys ultimately ran out comfortable 4-1 victors in the end, this was no walk in the park.

The problems for the Accies began even before kick-off, with the squad reduced to 13 men as one debutant elected to watch the lowly Hammers surrender to the Gunners rather than turn up to play.  Meanwhile, our usual meticulous preparation continued as Samaan turned up with just one shinpad, and Ajayi brought none!  No matter, the Accies are a resourceful bunch and soon headed to the pitch with socks pulled up, chests puffed out, and heads held high.  Those heads fell a little lower, however, when the troops watched the warm-up of our newest goalkeeper, yours truly.  Still, if our defence could hold strong, his failings would not be brought to bear.

And so it proved for the opening 30 minutes of the encounter as the Accies pressed forward with aplomb, exploiting vast space out wide as full backs Draper and Samaan overlapped their wingers to great effect and fizzed in a series of crosses that should have brought greater reward.  The Accies pressure finally told as Parsons, on one his regular pursuits for personal glory, skipped past two defenders on the edge of the box and let fly a fierce shot with his left foot that the keeper could only parry into the path of the predatory Harris who slotted home to give the Accies a well-deserved lead. 1-0.

Thereafter, the remainder of the half ebbed and flowed as the Accies sought to double their advantage with dominance in possession and territory, while Haberdashers threatened on the counter. 

Half-time brought a re-shuffling of the team, with Nekrassov donning the hallowed keeper’s shirt, while Keasty’s introduction in centre-mid allowed new boy Ajayi to support Mackay up front.  These changes saw the Accies continue to control the game in midfield, but tensions crept higher as a number of glorious opportunities were squandered.  All the while, Haberdashers were growing bolder with more regular forays into Accies territory and threatened, particularly from corners and free kicks, to get an ill-deserved equaliser.  As a sense of nervousness crept into the Accies game, one player stood out for what can only be described as an outrageous display of skill and audacity not seen on these shores since Tino Asprilla hung up his boots.  Step forward Tosin Ajayi, who posted the best hat-trick of near misses you could ever see: first up, a ridiculous overhead kick that struck the post; second, juggling the ball over two players and then volleying just over the bar; and finally, leaping like a salmon to head the ball towards the top corner of the goal only to be denied by a stupendous save.  But as fate would have it, he missed the simplest of his chances from two yards out, from which Haberdashers rushed up the other end of the field and slammed in an equaliser with just a handful of minutes left to play.  Extra time beckoned.

The first extra period continued much as the second half finished, with the Accies dominating possession and territory but continuing to squander chance after chance.  Both Mackay and Ajayi went close on several occasions while Harris was put clean through on at least two occasions but tripped on rogue matchsticks with the goal looming.  Indeed, it looked as though the Accies were about to throw the tie away when all of a sudden, Haberdashers completely ran out of steam.  That’s not to say the Accies weren’t tired themselves, with Hughes’s suffering of cramp initially being mistaken for him having a nasty case of piles, such was his gait affected.  

While the Accies have a preference for playing a passing game, they proved late in the first period of extra time that there’s more than one way to skin a cat as a booming drop kick by Nekrassov was latched on to by Ajayi who duly bagged himself a well deserved goal.  A flourish was added to the scoreline late in the second period of extra time as Mackay and Harris both netted as the opposition tired.

And so the game finished 4-1, in the end a deserved victory for the Accies who march on in pursuit of glory…

Saturday 23rd October

Southgate County 0 (Mark Dawson) Accies 1sts 3 (Adam Stainsby, Rick Hirst, Nick Siantonis).

Albanian 3 Accies 3rds 2 (Mark Samaan, Mark Draper).

Accies 4ths 1 (Mark Esiri) Old Woodhouseians 1.

Accies 5ths 6 (James Odemiwuya 2, Conor Maher-McWilliams, Sam Patel, Stuart Richards, Kaveh Fatemian) Old Woodhouseians 0 (Bob Woad).

Accies 6ths 5 (Alistair Booton 3, Declan Walsh, Ross Magdaleni) Mill Hill Village 4.

Saturday 16th October

Old Wilsonians 2 Accies 1sts 1 (Nick Siantonis)

Old Kingsburians 2 Accies 2nds 7 (Mike Harris 3, Kyle Eaton 3, Nick Sheppard).

Enfield Old Grammarians 2 Accies 3rds 0.

Accies 4ths 0 HSBC 3.

Accies 5ths 1 Oakhill Tigers 3.

Old Parmiterians 2 Accies 6ths 0.

Saturday 9th October

Accies 1sts 1 (Kieron Jennings) Old Uffingtonians 3.

Birkbeck College 3 Accies 2nds 1.

Accies 3rds 3 (Andy Mackay 2, Raj Mannick) Old Edmontonians 4.

Bealonians 7 Accies 4ths 3 (Yavor Panayotov 3).

Mill Hill County 0 (Bob Woad) Accies 5ths 6 (Chris Karageorgis 2, Kaveh Fatemian 2, Marius Enache, James Liang).

Old Camdenians 4 Accies 6ths 4 (Declan Walsh 2, Gerry Mansey, Ross Magdaleni).

Saturday 2nd October

Old Ignatians 2 Accies 1sts 2

Accies 2nds 1 (Rob Soutar) William Fitt 4.

Parkfield 2 Accies 3rds 3 (Andy Mackay 2, Andrew Benson).

Old Buckwellians 4 Accies 4ths 3 (Jay Brown 2, Geert Schouten)

Accies 6ths 3 (Ross Magdaleni 2, Adam Sommerville) Latymer Old Boys 0 (Danny McConnell).

General Administrative Notes (for Andy Mackay)

If you turn up an hour before kickoff, and the opposition aren't there, don't panic. Whilst we appreciate that every other time you turn up, the opposition and your team are all there and waiting, this is because you're always late! Someone does have to be there first - it's just never been you before!

6ths Match Report (from Danny McConnell)

Cynics should not connect this match report with a clean sheet by the author, who after a two year hiatus avoiding cars crashing into the house, moving house and failing to incinerate oneself in the garage returned to the sixths goal to be met with a cheery "excellent, someone older than me". Ho hum, but then the start of a 26th season for the Accies was unlikely to not generate ageist comments.

A somewhat shapeless first half saw the Accies 4-1-2-2-1 formation (the veteran keeper declined to advise that in his opinion, when it's impossible to tell whether most of the team is left or right footed, the only time you should vary from 4-4-2 is when short of players, and 4-4-1, 4-3-1, 4-2-1 or even 3-3-0 are options) under some pressure, with confusion amongst the midfield and Dec in an almost permanent Teapot.

The halftime team talk saw Ally memorably spend the first two minutes ranting and shouting (most of which seemed to focus on the point that we shouldn't rant and shout at each other) before re-organising into a 4-4-2, the only sticking point being who was left midfield, both first half and in the second half. Gently, and kindly Ross pointed out it was the skipper. This allied, to the cunning tactical plan of running out of steam in the first half, and then playing at full power in the second, seemed to turn the tide.

Fired up, the Accies hit the second half running, opening the scoring after five minutes through Adam Sommerville's clinical half-volley (not common with a header) and quickly made it two as Ross Magdelani poked home from 3 inches, and quickly followed up with a long ranger from 6 inches. Having popped into change, the substituted Speedy came back to find he'd missed all goals, and the Accies settled down to sit on their lead.

Latymer huffed and puffed (in equal proportions), and somewhat comically accused the referee of "that's old fashioned English refereeing", which might be reasonable for the normal officiating denizens of 8 North, but not a 25 year old Romanian who comfortably looked the best athlete on the park.......

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