Old Parkonians 3 - 2 Old Latymerians (1st Round Old Boys Cup)

On a wet and windy Saturday, we went out to warm up at 2.15pm for a 2.30pm KO ..... 2.30pm came and went with only 6 Old Lats having shown their faces at the home of football. The rest were half way up the M11 with the kit having broken down. So we waited, we warmed up, we waited, we stretched , we practised set pieces (much to the amusement of the crowd) and we finally got going at 3.30pm (just the hour late then).

To say we were a little slow to start would be an understatement. An overwhelming level of complacency ran through the team, installed in part by my team talk (sorry lads - won't happen again) and the fact that they only managed to get 10 men to start the game. Consequently, after only 15 minutes they deservedly took the lead. After a series of chances, corners and one-on-ones, mainly of our own doing, a deep corner was driven back across the goal and high into the net beating Turner for pace.

This seemed to wake Parks up and, after 10 minutes of pressure, a strong run from Bernstein and neat through ball, led to Pascoe sliding in the equaliser on half an hour. Everything seemed to be going back to plan with Parks dominating the rest of the half, creating several half chances and giving very little away, but we went into the half-time break level and needing to improve to proceed to the next round.

The missing Old Lat turned up and we kicked off the second half with 11 a side. Parks started much livelier and were unlucky to get caught offside a couple of times when to the naked eye we looked 3 yards on. With Jamieson and Collins creating, and man-of-the-match Bernstein coming forward from the back, it didn't look as though Lats would be able to contain the home side - and the deadlock was broken when Pascoe sprung the offside trap, after a neat exchange with Parmenter, and fed Mason who slotted home to give the Parks a 2-1 lead.

The game seemed to be slowing to a conclusion, but some sloppy midfield work from Parks, and the visitors were left running at Nicholls and Keogh with men over. The diminutive winger managed to get free and scuff his shot past Turner. 2-2 and we had 10 minutes to restore the lead. This season's 1st XI are beginning to show some good team spirit and desire to win, and we came back fighting, when in other years we may have gone on to lose a fixture like this. With a couple of minutes to go, Parks worked the ball left and Mason capped a fine performance, coolly chipping the keeper from 20 yards out. The capacity crowd went wild, and immediately urged the ref to blow for full-time. It was in complete keeping with the game that we gave Lats one more chance to equalise - Turner tipping a lob on to the bar and Celotto having to throw himself at the centre-forward's feet to keep out the rebound.

Although making it as difficult as possible for ourselves, Parks are now through to the second round of The Old Boys' Cup. To quote Murphy, "winning is a very good habit to get into....."

Scorers: Mason 2, Pascoe
Man of the Match: Bernstein
Ref's claim to fame: He refereed Liverpool vs. Everton in Division 1 in 1984 - so why couldn't he keep up with Parks vs. Lats?
Best shout from the line: (About their 4'11" winger) "Oh no, the mascot's gonna score" - John Kirby

Report by Tim Cross