In the penultimate game of the season Old Woods faced Leyton County who we had got our first win of the season against in a 2-0 win in January.  We had been playing well in the last few games but lacked that cutting edge to kill off games – hence two draws in a row.

In the pre-match team- talk Kelly said we must not concede in the first five minutes – which has become a habit of late. Woods lined up with a back four of John Pasquariello, Dan Lamb, Giovanni di Popolo and Michael Barber. In front of them were Peter Pagan-Skelley, Rob Miller, Dom Drozd and Dom Youdan. Then up top we had goal shy Brendan Simpson and Tony Priolo, this left Steve Bremner and Anton Johnson on the bench.

After winning the toss we played towards the changing room end. Woods started brightly and did as their Captain asked by not conceding early on! It was tight in the early exchanges and Woods probably shaded it. About halfway through the half Woods looked to have gone one goal up when Priolo notched and the Referee pointed to the centre circle for a restart. However, Youdan showed some great sportsmanship and told the Referee ball had crossed the touchline before he crossed.

With 10 minutes remaining in the half Woods were awarded a penalty after a hand ball in the box – but in truth it may have been ball to hand. Nevertheless goal shy Simpson stepped up and scored his first goal in what felt like an age since his last! 1-0 to the Woods!!

Half time soon game and Kelly had hardly had to make  a save to make as Lamb and di Popolo were gobbling up anything which came their way. Words at halftime were “more of the same please!” and we returned to the pitch with the same eleven – the oppo made two substitutions.

Woods took the game by the scruff of the neck and rained attack after attack on the County back four and they defended well to keep the hungry Woods at bay. However, on 55 minutes Youdan picked the ball up just inside his own half, dribbled past four or five players and smashed the ball into the bottom corner – think Giggsy against Arsenal in the FA Semi 1999 but less hairy. Not that Youdan is anything like Giggsy other than being left-footed – 2-0 Woods!

Woods were coasting now and County had not had had a decent effort on goal. However, they got back in the game when the Referee awarded one of the softest penalties we’d seen when Lamb was adjudged to have pushed the lively County substitute (why didn’t he start?). The big centre mid converted from the spot and made it 2-1! Squeaky bum time now as Woods might squander a two goal lead as our opponents in our previous two games had done.

A bit of panic set in and di Popolo had to go off through injury which meant Drozd dropped in to Centre Back and Miller went into Centre mid. Miller soon won a free kick close to the County box and turned his ankle in the process and soon had to go off with Johnson replacing him.

On seventy minutes Woods restored their two goal lead through Youdan again and it was another run from just inside the County half but this time Youdan was like Moses as he parted the two County Centre Backs and smashed the ball high into the net, 3-1!

Woods looked to get a fourth with Pagan-Skelley and Priolo both going close. The game petered out and Woods deservedly won 3-1. This was a great display by Woods and we are now unbeaten in three games but is probably too little too late. If only we had had this group of players at the start of the season we may have been challenging for promotion! No matter – next week we play an Ignatians team who beat us 8-2 earlier in the season. I have a feeling we won’t be as much of a walk over this time. It’s the last game of the season so we just need to go out and enjoy it!

Team: M Kelly, Pasquariello, di Popolo, Dan Lamb, Barber, Pagan-Skelley, Drozd, Youdan, Miller, Simpson, Priolo, Bremner, Johnson

Scorers: Simpson, Youdan 2

This was the 4XI's first game following the Easter break and we were up against fellow relegation strugglers – Goffs Old Boys Reserves. This was a big game and skipper, and part time goal keeper, Mick Kelly emphasised that we needed to get all three points to boost our chances of survival in 8 North.

We lined up in a 4-5-1 formation with goal shy Brendan Simpson up top. The back four consisted of John Pasquariello, Giovanni di Popolo, Scott McCarthy, and Michael Barber. Dan Lamb moved in to the holding role in midfield with Dom Drozd and Dom Youdan in front of him and Peter Pagan-Skelley and Steve Bremner were on the flanks – which meant young Derek Lamb was on the bench.

Woods found themselves one goal down after around 3 minutes after a lack of communication allowed a Goffs striker to nip in and cooly slot the ball in to the top corner form 15 yards. So again we found ourselves a goal down early on in the match so this was not unfamiliar to us. We rallied well and began to create chance after chance but we could not find the back of the net. Youdan's long throws were creating all kinds of confusion amongst the Goffs back four and Simpson looked dangerous up top but at times did not get the support he needed from the midfield.

After 30 minutes di Popolo conceded a free kick from about 30 yards from goal and the Goffs right winger swung one in, Kelly punched it on to the bar and in the confusion di Popolo appeared to handle the ball but despite appeals from the away side the referee did not see this and waved play on. Woods broke and won a corner which Bremner placed right on Dan Lamb's noggin but he saw his effort rebound of the crossbar.

With 5 minutes remaining Woods found themselves two goals down and not for the first time this season were on the wrong end of bad referring. The Goffs Captain picked the ball up a good yard offside and lobbed the advancing keeper. Everyone stopped apart from the striker expecting to hear the whistle and that is what we should learn to play to!

At half time we were two goals behind despite dominating the half and playing some of the best football we had played all season! More of the same was the call form Kelly and that's what the team gave him!

After 10 minutes Woods had clawed a goal back when Youdan curled a freekick into the bottom corner from 25 yards – I can't remember who won the freekick as I was getting bored having to do nothing in goal! Woods continued to pile pressure on Goffs and created a number of chances which Simpson fluffed or the keeper saved.

On 65 minutes Woods got the equaliser their football deserved and it was that man Youdan who scored the goal. Drozd played in Dan Lamb who surged into the box and was pulled to the ground by two Goffs defenders and had a good shout for a penalty but the referee played on. The loose ball found it's way to Youdan and he smashed the ball home form 8 yards – 2-2!

Almost immediately form the kick off Pagan- Skelley was played in, his fierce strike beat the keeper but cannoned off the woodwork to safety! After 75 minutes Woods took their first goal kick which McCarthy took as Kelly's posterior was still injured...

The last 15 minutes was like watching defence against attack as both teams looked to secure all three points and whilst Woods had the upper hand they could not put the ball in the onion bag and the game ended 2-2. It was disappointing not to win this match as we were by far the better team but like the game earlier in the season we didn't put away our chances. We now have three games left to avoid relegation to 9 North and if we win all three games we have a slim chance but it could be out of our hands as Camdenians still have a mammoth 10 matches left!! Also, thanks to Derek Lamb who was an unused substitute in this match and did not complain at all – cheers Del Boy!

Team: M Kelly, Pasquariello, di Popolo, McCarthy, Barber, Dan Lamb, Drozd, Youdan, Pagan-Skelley, Bremner, Simpson, Derek Lamb

Scorer: Youdan - 2

Old Woods 4XI were back at Firs Farm this week to take on an Old Edmontonians team who had made easy work of them in the earlier encounter with a 7-1 thrashing. However, weeks can feel like years at our level of football and since then we had put in a good couple of performances and notched another win.

Calamity Kelly kept with the 4-5-1 formation which had served him well in the previous weeks win with a back four of Giovanni di Popolo, Dan Lamb, Ed McElduff and Michael Barber. In front of them was Joe Henry, Rob Miller and Dom Youdan with John Pasquerillo and Steve Bremner on the flanks. That meant Brendan Simpson was our lone striker and we had Sean Connor, Derek Lamb (no relation to Dan who said they might be brothers despite the 30 year age gap!) and Jermaine Hill on the bench.

Woods began brightly and Simpson was almost put through in the first couple of minutes and Old Eds knew that they would face a sterner test in this fixture. But as is habit we found ourselves 1-0 down within 10 minutes. From a freekick the ball was knocked towards the back post, Henry misjudged the flight of the ball leaving the Old Eds striker to head the ball into the bottom corner from 8 yards.

Woods knew this was against the run of play and went out in search of an equaliser. To the frustration of Pasquerillo much of our play was down our left flank and he was not seeing much of the ball. At the back Dan Lamb and McElduff were marshalling the big Eds centre forwards well and it was somewhat against the run of play that Woods found themselves two goals behind. An innocuous free-kick from 40 yards evaded Kelly and went straight in over his hands – another gaffe of huge proportion! At this rate – he could have his own bloopers DVD out before the end of the season.

Again Woods sucked this in but their efforts were un-rewarded and by half time a cruel deflection meant Woods were 3-0 down! This was not a true reflection of the first half and Pasquerillo was unlucky not to notch near the end of the first half as the keeper did well to save his rasping drive.

At half time we knew that we were still in the game and with the wind at our tails we just had to press further up the pitch and force Eds into mistakes. With five minutes gone in the half Woods clawed a goal back. Simpson forced the Eds left back to play a square ball across the defence which was intercepted by Youdan and he calmly slotted the ball home to make it 3-1 and start an inquiry amongst the Eds back four.

Connor replaced Pasquerillo after 60 minutes and nearly scored with his first touch after he forced the keeper in to a clearance against his posterior which could have gone anywhere but luckily for the keeper went straight into his arms. Simpson was denied a clear run on goal soon after when the Referee blew up for offside despite him being played a yard onside by the left back!

Simpson soon avenged this with a lovely shot from 20 yards over the keeper and into the roof of the net to make it 3-2 – game on! Eds were still fighting to get a two goal advantage and Kelly thwarted them on two occasions. However, they got a fourth after 70 minutes and it was a kick in the teeth as the player was at least a yard offside and the Woods defence and he stopped before he ran through unopposed and was able to finish well past the advancing keeper – there may even have been a good claim for handball in the build up!

Hill replaced Simpson after this and Woods continued to look the better of the two sides. With 10 minutes remaining Derek Lamb replaced a tiring Bremner which was an inspired switch as in the 89^th  minute he flicked the ball on for Miller who scored from close range to make the score 4-3 to Eds. This was how the match, which was played in great spirit, finished.

Despite the score-line this was another good performance from Woods and we showed great determination to come back from a 3 goal deficit at half time!  It’s a shame we don’t have a keeper and that we didn’t have some of this crop of players available at the start of the season. We still have an outside chance of avoiding the drop and we welcome Ravenscroft, who beat us 4-1 earlier in the season, to Firs Farm. It’s also my Birthday so 3 points would be a lovely present and I’ll buy a few beers at the Clubhouse after the match!

Team: M Kelly, di Popolo, Dan Lamb, McElduff, Barber, J Henry, Miller, Youdan, Pasquerillo (S Connor), S Bremner (Derek Lamb), B Simpson (Hill)

Scorers: Youdan, B Simpson, Miller

After two weeks with no football the 4XI’s campaign started again with a not too distant trip to Old Camdenians – and yes it still smells funky over there in Mill Hill. I was expecting a bog of a pitch too but actually you could never tell that it had rained solidly for nearly two weeks.

We had a back four who hadn’t played together before consisting of John Pasquareillo, Derek Lamb, Peter Pagan Skelley and Michael Barber – OK they had played together before but not in defence! Woods got off to the worst possible start as within five minutes they were one goal down. A ball crossed into the six yard box from the left found its way to a Camdenian striker and he coolly slotted it past the hapless stand in keeper Mick Kelly.

Woods soaked up some considerable pressure but were often breaking at speed down the left with Barber and Bremner linking up well and it was down this avenue that Woods equaliser came after 20 minutes. Kelly despatched a quick throw out to Pasquareillo who chipped the ball to Barber who then found Bremner, Bremner fed Samson Kabalu who squared to his strike-partner, Jason Flynn and he let fly from 20 yards and watched as the ball nestled in the top right hand corner of the goal – it was some of the best football we had played all season.

Camdenians still had the upperhand but Brendan Simpson and James ‘Bully’ Young, playing for the first time in three months, were containing their centre midfielders well and Sean Connor, playing right midfield was helping to keep the threats on goal from that flank to a minimum. It was somewhat disappointing when, with five minutes remaining in the half, we conceded a second. Both Lamb and Pasquareillo probably should have cleared the ball but it ended up with their left winger who poked the ball past Kelly and into the far corner of the goal.

So 2-1 down at half time – Kelly’s words at halftime were something like – “When we keep the ball on the floor we are looking dangerous – so lets keep it on the floor!”

Soon into the second half Bully’s knees were giving him gip – at the age of 22 as well! So Dom Youdan replaced him to make his Woods debut coming on to play right midfield. Woods were soon forced to make a second change as Chris de Burgh came on to replace Flynn up top. This second change soon paid dividends as de Burgh broke the offside trap and bore down on goal and smashed one into the back of the net – the keeper perhaps could have done better but it was a great goal nonetheless – 2-2!

Just after this Simpson asked to play up top as he was ever so tired! This meant Youdan partnered Connor in centre midfield and de Burgh slotted in at right midfield.

Woods were soon behind again after the same player who scored their second slipped it between Kelly’s legs. The game ended in a 6-2 defeat and it could have been 6-3 but Pasquariello’s free kick cannoned back of the crossbar with the keeper in no mans land. It might have been 5-2 if calamity Kelly hadn’t made a complete hash of the final goal where he was lobbed from about 40 yards!!

So another defeat and we are still rock bottom with relegation a distinct possibility. We played really well in patches of this game but are still making some silly errors, if we can cut those out then we can definitely make a fight of getting out of the situation we find ourselves in! Next week we have a double-header against Queen Mary College Old Boys – lets get out there and take all six points!

Team: M Kelly, Pasquareillo, Pagan-Skelley, Derek Lamb, Barber, S Connor, Young (Youdan), B Simpson, S Bremner, Flynn (de Burgh), Kabalu

Scorers: Flynn, de Burgh

Old Woods 4XI faced 3^rd placed Ravenscroft at the palatial Oak Hill Park on Saturday 6 February. The team were buoyant from last weeks 2-0 win but the skipper knew that it would be tough match as 6 players who played in that win were either unavailable of called up to the 3^rd XI.

Straight from the kick off the back four of John Pasquerello, Giovanni di Popolo, Ed McElduff and Michael Barber were under the cosh as Ravenscroft proved why they were third with a couple of threats in the first 10 minutes. Woods stood resolute though and the midfield of Hermann Kruger, Tony Birchall, Dom Drozd and Steve Bremner were excellent in breaking up play in the middle of the park.

After 20 minutes Woods took a surprise lead. A quick throw out by ‘stand-in’ keeper Mick Kelly to Barber saw him release Jason Flynn on the left who in turn played in his strike partner Samson Kabalu. Kabalu amazingly managed to stay on side and sent a screamer past the keeper and into the roof of the net. 1-0 Woods!

Ravenscroft looked to equalise immediately and soon had their chance as their left winger was sent clear with only Kelly to beat. He shot too close to the keeper who finger-tipped the ball on to the post and it was cleared to safety.

With five minutes remaining Kelly made a diving save to his right pushing the ball away from goal and into the path of the Ravenscroft striker who Pasquerello was then adjudged to have fouled and a penalty was awarded despite claims of innocence from the feisty Italian.

The penalty taker struck the ball low and hard to Kelly’s left but he was equal to it and pushed it onto the post to keep the score 1-0 to Woods at half time. The half time teamtalk was something like “that was the best we have probably defended all season so keep it up for the second half!”

Twenty minutes into the second half and Ravenscroft got their second penalty of the match and this time they scored to make it 1-1. Shortly after they got a second through from an unstoppable free-kick which nestled in the bottom corner of the goal.

Following this Woods made some changes with debutant, David Marriott, replacing Bremner and Derek Lamb replacing di Popolo. However, Ravenscroft soon got a third and looked comfortable.

Woods nearly got a goal back when John, after a great run, tried to chip the keeper when he should have slammed the ball home. With five minutes remaining on the clock it was 4-1 when the Ravenscroft skipper and centre half scored a great header from a corner.

We battled well in this game but did not really create too many chances. Next week we are away to Old Edmontonians – another team near the top of the table. But you never know if some of the unavailable players return and we take our chances it could be an interesting match

Team: M Kelly, Pasquerello, di Popolo (Derek Lamb), McElduff, Barber, Kruger, Drozd, Birchall, S Bremner (Marriott), Kabalu, Flynn

Scorer: Kabalu