Away to Old Parmiterians Reserves

Derby day for the Vets as we made the short trip to take on Old Parmitarians at the Douglas Eyre ground. History lesson 1: Mr.Eyre was an Oxford graduate who in 1890 was one of the founders of the London Playing Fields Foundation, whose aim was, and still is, to protect playing spaces from development. Although the real story of this place came on Sunday 22 November 1942, when US airman Harvey Dalton Johnson, wrestled his stricken Spitfire to a crash landing on the football pitches rather than bail out and allow the plane to crash into nearby Edward Road. He died a hero and was posthumously awarded the Distinctive Service Cross by the US Air Force... History lesson 2: Parms don't like us.. Promoted as runners-up of div.3 west last season, just behind....oh, what were they called again?.... we knew we were in for a tough afternoon, but it didn't quite turn out that way. From the kick-off Parms were not at the races. We were at the races, albeit still in the jockeys room admiring our silks in the mirror rather than on the horse.

After about 10 minutes we began to add some purpose to our possession, with Trevor, Halil and the Dazzler working some great moves on the left side. Taj just wide with a header; a sumptuous effort of the outside of the boot from Martin Treadway that just arced beyond the post; a frantic scramble from a corner where we hit the bar and the follow up was cleared off the line. The hosts had just one effort of note that 'keeper Gary Doodes seemed to steer past the post just by staring at the ball.

Eventually the dam broke. A neat round the corner pass from MT sent Fossy away who put in a fizzing low cross that the Parms centre half smashed into his OWN GOAL (sorry Darren)1-0.. We were now in control and within 15 minutes a second arrived. From a looping cross by Sean, MARTIN TREADWAY stole in between two defenders and an out-stretched leg guided the ball home for his third goal in three games. The half-time emphasis was that the game was ours to lose and as long as we kept things simple, did our jobs and stayed switched on more goals would come. We expected Parms to come a bit stronger and although they improved we were still in command. As the half wore on and reached the point where fatigue sets in, the hosts found a bit extra and began to cause us problems. A dubious penalty award gave them the opportunity to reduce the deficit, but Gary Doodes' superb save kept his clean sheet.

This seemed to deflate Parms and we found ourselves back on the front foot. Taju denied by the 'keeper at close range, as the home side allowed us the freedom of the park and with ten minutes to play MARTIN TREADWAY sprang the offside trap and rounded the 'keeper for an easy finish, 3-0.. Again we pushed on and some great passing found Darren in space on the left, a curling pass off the outside of the boot fell into the path of MARTIN TREADWAY and without breaking stride he sent an unstoppable volley into the net to cap a fine afternoon.

Final Score:

OLD PARMITARIANS RES. 0

HALE END ATHLETIC 4

Man of the match DARREN FOSS

All in all a satisfying afternoon.We weren't at our best but still managed a healthy win, a clean sheet for GD and MT's hat-trick sends him top of the scoring charts with 5 in 3. Other results mean we stay top for the third week running.

Team: G.DOODES, S.WINDEATT, T.BURTON, H.FRANCIS, H.HASSAN, K.WHITWORTH, A.BROWN, B.SMITH, D.FOSS, T.OYEDEJI, M.TREADWAY, J.LIEVANO- RODRIGUEZ, P.AMICO, B.HOWARD.