Well, it finally stopped raining and four games in the last five days have taken me up to 110 for the season so far and 6,575 altogether.
The results, with attendances in brackets, were: First Capital Connect 3-4 Edexcel (4), BB Eagles 3-2 Old Parkonians (7), Camden Ladies 3-4 Watford Development (12) and Kingstonian 2-1 Dulwich Hamlet (590).
I was looking for an AFA Senior Cup Fourth Round tie on Saturday, all eight of them having been postponed the previous weekend. BB Eagles v Old Parkonians became favourite when I found out on Friday afternoon that the GSK Sports Ground in Hounslow was only a few minutes’ walk from Griffin Park.
So if the worst happened and ‘BB’ was off, unlikely I know, I’d still have plenty of time to get to Brentford’s League 1 game with Port Vale.
The Barber saw BB Eagles win 3-2 against Old Parkonians
I watched some of the Cup tie with Bob from the AFA and he gave me the gem of information that Old Parks’ No.7 had been with West Ham as a youngster, leaving when he was 16. He didn’t have much chance to shine in a very competitive game in which the player in possession was immediately put under pressure. Parks looked decent in attack early on but were often caught offside.
Then ‘BB’ went ahead through an own goal after 18 minutes on an afternoon of blinding sunshine and dark shadows. But I knew this was a game with more goals in it and Parks were actually level within about 50 seconds with a perfect half-volley that flashed into the bottom corner. Two bludgeoning strikes from ‘BB’’s big No.9 put them in the driving seat at 3-1 and they managed to see the game out after conceding a scrambled effort two minutes from time.
Sunday morning was equally as bright and I had two women’s games to choose from in Regent’s Park. I went for Camden v Watford Development on Pitch 7, because it kicked-off about 20 minutes earlier than Katabella v Clapham Kicks on Pitch 3. I saw seven goals (3-4) and thought I’d done well – but the other game had 15 (0-15)! Walking by the boating lake on my way back to Baker Street tube, a Chinese lady came up to me and asked if she could interview me on the topic of ‘Cycling in London’.
I’ve never ridden a bicycle in my life but I hope I gave her a few pointers. Then I was on the tube to Waterloo for the 1.18 to Norbiton and Kingstonian v Dulwich Hamlet in the Isthmian League’s Premier Division. By the 3pm kick-off it was so dull that they had to have the lights on. Hamlet had terrific flag-waving support in a crowd of nearly 600 and they must be wondering how they ended up with nothing. A win would have taken them to the summit.
What does ‘BB’ stand for? I think it’s Barclays Bank – but when I was a lad, it was Brigitte Bardot. She was a French actress who lived in a bikini.
Twitter: @thebarberfan
