Mill Hill Village 6 - 0 Old Parkonians (Preliminary Round AFA Cup)

The 1st XI suffered their first competitive loss of the season in this first round AFA cup tie. The signs were not good for a victory when a couple of senior players made themselves unavailable on Saturday morning, meaning we had to play Hamilton and Knapman, both carrying injuries, which could cost us in coming weeks.

On arrival at Mill "Hill" (the clue's in the name) we inspected the pitch - or rather we inspected the half of the pitch that we could see. The other half dropped away into the distance, leaving only the top half of the far goal visible (and you thought Old Finchleains had a slope)! The conditions were hardly suited to the size of team we had on display, with the ball having to be kept in the air to avoid the mud and puddles, and our average height falling just short of 5 foot 3.

We kicked off up the slope and soon came under fierce pressure, in the first 5 minutes Turner pulled off two saves from one-on-one's and turned an absolute screamer on to the post. It was never going to be a day for the faint-hearted. However, Parks responded well and the first half was a fairly even affair after that, Knapman working a chance for himself along the goal-line on 15 minutes, but failed to convert. We defended very stoutly to keep the score-line to 1-0 at half-time, and we were still very much in the game - we just needed to keep it tight and try and push for the equaliser late on.

Thirty seconds into the second half, Hamilton was wrong-footed by their centre-forward and the deficit had doubled. Parks came back strongly again, and although Turner was performing miracles at one end to keep us in the game, we had a couple of chances to get back into it. Pascoe and Brent carving out an opening for Knapman, who volleyed just over. However, throwing men forward in search of a goal is not ideal in keeping the score-line down, and after the third went in, the last twenty minutes were a fairly one-sided affair.

The players on the pitch, to their credit, performed with character and determination - but were beaten by a very strong and accomplished opposition. After 2 weeks away from the league, we need to get back to business this Saturday.

Man of the Match (by a very long way): Turner
Most optimistic moment of the day: "It's there for the taking boys" - half-time team talk
Quote of the day by the ref: "If it rains at all during the game, I'm going to call it off" - proceeds to piss down for the next 90 minutes.

Report by Tim Cross