North Greenford United 1 Chalfont St Peter 3

Combined Counties Premier Division North, Saturday 25th February

I made my first trip to Berkeley Fields on Saturday and saw a first half brace from Elijah Sawyers help visitors Chalfont St Peter to a rare away win and a huge three points at the expense of hosts North Greenford United in their Combined Counties Premier Division North contest. 

I had to be in the Ealing area on the Saturday evening to see a mate who was down from Newcastle in readiness for the League Cup final the following day, so I embarked on trying to find a game nearby before meeting up with him, and after narrowing it down to two matches, I chose Greenford as my venue which was fairly easy to get to on the central line out of London.

Hosts NGU (North Greenford United), who had certainly encouraged me to come and visit there club (I had heard good things about them and as they put it, I could ask any hopper and they think they would say the same) and after one of my hopper friends confirmed this to me before they had even said that, my mind was made up, oh, and it was a gentle ten or so minute walk from the tube station and their was a Maccy Ds on the way!!!

On arrival I had to shelter from a hailstorm under the turnstile roof whilst waiting for someone to come and take my money and let me into the warmth and shelter in the clubhouse, a very nice clubhouse at that, and I was made very welcome indeed by all who I met there, and the chairman even bought me a pint, so a very nice gesture indeed.

Anyway what of the two sides playing in this contest, well, hosts NGU sat 11^th in the division having won just eight of their twenty-one league games, although six of these had come at Berkeley Fields, in fact their home record was six wins, one draw and only two losses, so they were pretty strong on their own patch.

Their opponents CSP (Chalfont St Peter) were having a more difficult season, they had ten points fewer than NGU, three fewer wins in the same number of games, and sat third from bottom in the division as a result, and with only one of those five wins coming away from home all season in the division (their away record read one win, three defeats and seven losses), the table certainly pointed towards a home win.

And what of both team’s recent form? NGU began the month with defeat at Wallingford & Crowmarsh, but then responded with victory at Alton in the Challenge Cup, and then followed that up with three wins on the bounce in the league against London Lions, Virginia Water & Harefield United before they lost a rare home game last time out against Oxhey Jets who are bottom of the division, meaning they come into this one looking to get back on track after what was a hugely disappointing result.

For CSP form this month hasn’t been particularly good, defeats to Egham Town & Oxhey Jets were followed by a decent home win over Windsor who are one place above them, but further defeats to Hilltop and Wallingford & Crowmarsh mean they have lost four out of five league games in February so were looking to end the month in a positive frame of mind and will look to what Oxhey Jets did here at Berkeley Fields last time out as encouragement they could get something from this one.

The hosts though should have been ahead inside two minutes but saw Qasim Khan and Perry Price thwarted by a superb double save from George Zammit, and barely a minute later they found themselves behind as the visitors made them pay when Josh Quinlivan squared for Sawyers to convert from inside the box, but it didn't take long for the hosts to restore parity in an electric start.

This was because after only six minutes on the clock the hosts were awarded a penalty and up stepped Charlie Mitchell to despatch the spot kick, very frustrating for the struggling visitors who saw their early advantage wiped out, and had to make sure their early promise was not for nothing, whereas the hosts were hoping to now get themselves going after finding themselves behind so early.

The game took on a rather more scrappy feel thereafter though, although it was a decent watch to be fair with plenty going on, and a minute before the break the visitors managed to edge themselves in front again when Jamie Fulton floated in a free kick and found Sawyers who sent a diving header beyond skipper Sam House and meant the visitors, who had only managed one away win in the league all season, held the advantage going into the break.

After a lovely portion of chips from the tea bar I reconvened back under the covered terrace on the half way line in case of anymore rogue showers, and also to protect my eyes from the bright sunshine, it was that kind of day weather wise!!! We didn't have long to wait for another goal either as just three minutes after the break the visitors were awarded a penalty when a cross from Jack McKenzie struck the arm of a sliding Sam Molyneaux, and up stepped Quinlivan to despatch the spot kick.

Irishman Quinlivan had been superb for the visitors and was probably the best player on show in this contest, and he had now handed his side a two goal cushion to try and hold onto for the remainder of the contest and pick up a rare away win and a big three points at that.

The remainder of the contest certainly continued in it's scrappy and competitive nature, and it was getting more and more niggly too and at times threatened to boil over, you had to have eyes everywhere to try and pick up what was going on all over the pitch, but thankfully it never really did get out of hand but you could definitely sense the frustration from the hosts who had not really been at the races in this one. 

There were quite a few stoppages too, and substitutions, meaning a healthy chunk of stoppage time was played, twelve minutes of it in fact, it was like the World Cup all over again in terms of stoppage time, in fact when the referee did eventually blow for full time it had gone 5pm, so certainly one of the later Saturday ones I have attended, but it had been an enjoyable one to watch for me and the visiting contingent at least.

This was a big win for Chalfont St Peter, taking up up a place to 17th and six points above bottom side Oxhey Jets and five above second bottom Wokingham & Emmbrook, whereas for North Greenford United, who told me afterwards this was probably their worst performance of the season (oops sorry about that!!!) drop a place to 12th after what has been a very disappointing few days for them. 

Lastly thank you to the hosts for such a warm welcome, a very friendly club and definitely worth a visit, and also the committee members of the visitors I spoke to who were also very friendly too, well done to their side for such a big win, and apologies to the hosts as I obviously did not bring them any luck whatsoever!!! A very enjoyable day though so all good. 

Full time North Greenford United 1 Chalfont St Peter 3