Welcome to EBOG FC's weekly review.

A must win game for the 1sts facing top of the table Crouch End, and win they did, beating them comfortably despite missing several chances. They seem to raise their game against the better sides and need fear nobody in this division. Another brace for Sam Berry, and a fine game from Rob Laney. Also of note was a magnificent penalty save from stopgap goalie Gary Haycock.

The 2nds continued their poor run with a disappointing loss to mid-table Owens. A debut goal for our new Spanish player David Perez.

‘3bog’ laid on a sensational game for the spectators on the bottom pitch. An early 2-0 lead looked promising but was pegged back only for Darren Barker to restore a 2 goal margin just before halftime. We then saw a repeat of the 1sts collapse on the same pitch last week and at 3-4 down with a minute to go we looked dead and buried. But step forward captain Lee Sterry, as he has done so many times before, to get his head to a corner and take the match into extra time.

By now a large crowd were gripped by the tension and an excellent long range goal from Stationers was matched by another goal from Ed Dixon back to his elegant best following his double leg break two years ago.

EBOG could have wrapped it up in extra time had a goal from Kimberley not been disallowed to every onlooker’s surprise. It was then to penalties, and tired legs caused the first 3 to go high and unfortunately two were from EBOG.

So, despite a tremendous effort, Lee’s men were not to get a second Cup Final. The only puzzle is how an excellent Stationer’s side (who are also still in the AFA Cup) can be near the bottom of Div 2. A footnote to the game came from their goalkeeper who pulled out in front of a police car on the way to the game and was booked for careless driving. He apologised: “Sorry, I didn’t see you because I was on my Mobile” - and immediately got nicked for that as well! Still, he had a good game when he eventually arrived.

The 4ths are another EBOG side in good form and edged up into 2nd place with a hard fought victory against a competitive Norsemen side. Captain Khan pulled the masterstroke of taking himself off and putting Tom Ricketts on to turn around the score from 1-2 down! They now have to set about catching Owens’ over-strength 6th XI who are 16 points above their own 5ths and averaging 5 goals a game!

The 5ths got back into the groove with a narrow odd goal win against a competitive Finchleians side to move above them and keep in touch with the leaders.

The lower sides of Suttonians have always been too strong for us over recent years. You’d think their 1sts would be running away with the Premier Division based on the form lower down, but they’re not even in the Premier!! The 6ths put up a brave fight but were basically outplayed by a better side.

The 8ths came back covered in mud but smiling from Bethune where they notched only their 2nd victory of the season to leave AP’s 7ths & 8ths propping up Division 5. A cry of: “Oh dear, we’ve turned into EBOG 8ths!” summed it up at the end.

Credit to Alex Park who are one of the few sides who move their players up and down the sides as we do. They have to suffer the same occasional thrashings from ‘squads of mates’ that are allowed to form in other Clubs. Apologies to AP for the complete lack of water at Bethune which hasn’t been fixed from 2 weeks ago when we last played there.

Aloysians were on a neighbouring pitch and had a colour clash. Our 8ths sportingly agreed to swap shirts but, because our Ref was 20 minutes late, Aloysians finished before us and disappeared. Mind you the 8ths are keen to hold on to the green kit as it is obviously lucky. Aloysians lost their game in our kit!! Sid may disagree.

A footnote to the day. Sam Patel turned up to the Club unexpectedly as he was meant to be on a skiing holiday. This was cancelled due to a family illness but not until after he had sold on his season tickets to Arsenal v Chelsea. So he will have had to sit at home and miss one of the games of the season whilst others warm his precious (wide-bodied?) seats!

Please visit our website for more information about our club at www.ebog.co.uk