MIDWEEK REVIEW

EMIRATES FA CUP

Colliers Wood’s victory against Banstead Athletic on Wednesday evening gives the League six clubs in the 1st Qualifying Round of the FA Cup, in which the prize for winning is a cool £3000 to go with the £1900 for a Preliminary Round win. This is one more than last season.

In this next round, three of our clubs have home ties with both Camberley Town and CB Hounslow facing Ryman League opposition in the shape of Hastings United and Metropolitan Police. Colliers Wood will face Step 5 opposition, Eastbourne Town, from the Southern Combination League.

Playing away will be Chertsey Town, who, instead of going to Guernsey, will travel to South East London opponents Thamesmead Town, who beat Guernsey on penalties in a replay during the week. Both North Greenford United and Guildford City face tough away games at Ryman Premier sides Folkestone Invicta and Bognor Regis Town.

PREMIER DIVISION

There were 28 goals scored in the five Premier Division matches in the week, the top scorers being Epsom & Ewell, where goals always seem to be guaranteed one way or another at the moment. They hit 7 on Tuesday evening against Abbey Rangers who could only muster 1 of their own, since when joint Abbey managers Les Chatfield and Bob Thorpe have stood down. CB Hounslow now seem to have found their feet, beating Badshot Lea 3-1 to escape from the lower reaches of the table, whilst Knaphill got their season going with a 5-2 win at home to Raynes Park Vale. Bedfont Sports came out on top at Windsor, winning 4-2 whilst the all Middlesex derby between AFC Hayes and Hanworth Villa saw the latter take all three points with a 2-1 victory.

Six sides have still to taste defeat in the League but Hanworth Villa’s win put them at the top with Hartley Wintney and Windsor, despite their defeat, hot on their heels. Although all three have drawn a match, Colliers Wood, Raynes Park Vale and Sutton Common Rovers have still to record a league win, although the latter have only played two matches so far.

There is one match this evening (Friday) with Colliers Wood quickly back in action, at home to Epsom & Ewell and a full programme on Saturday, with some absorbing games to come all shown on the fixture pages.

DIVISION ONE

Both scheduled matches in midweek were postponed dut to FA Cup replays but a full programme goes ahead on Saturday. There is one change to the original list with Redhill now travelling to Balham (Colliers Wood United) rather than the other way round due to the ongoing renovations to the pitch at Redhill.

BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY

There is also a full programme on Bank Holiday Monday, with the majority of matches kicking off at 11.30 a.m. as is the tradition in the CCL. Two clubs have changed though by mutual agreement, with the match at AFC Hayes against North Greenford starting at 3.00 p.m. and that at Chertsey Town against Abbey kicking off at 1.00 p.m.