Nottsborough Vets take West London Vets League title!

The season was brought to an end at Polytechnic’s ground on Thursday evening as Nottsborough the Conference Division winners met The Alliance Division winners Polytechnic in a one match play-off for the West London Vets League title.

Nottsborough started the match as if they were a team of 45 year olds, which is pretty much what they are. Polytechnic looked about 5 years younger per man as they dominated the first 20 minutes. One header was cleared off the line and then a shot rattled the bar. Polytechnic took the lead on 20 minutes as a speculative shot from 30 yards flew in just under the bar for a superb opener. Nottsborough were struggling but Grove and Watkins were managing to cover over the cracks – just. Slowly Nottsborough raised their commitment from gentlemen players to competitors. Johnson and Lyons were working very hard to get their team back in the game and Hughes was starting to make some runs from midfield. Up front Hill was starting to make some runs behind the left back and suddenly Nottsborough were back in the match. Gregory had a great chance but headed straight at the keeper, whilst Johnson fired in two good strikes from long distance. When Nottsborough broke through on the left Hill knocked the ball past the keeper and a Poly midfielder hand-balled on the line. A penalty, and a sending-off. Dustin Seale smacked the ball into the keepers right hand corner on 35 minutes. Hang on a minute!  Nottsborough were being gentlemen again insisting that they wanted to play against 11 and the sent-off player returned. 1-1 at half time.

Nottsborough started the second half in charge with Appleby and Hill combining nicely up front. In what was one of several very good substitutions Nottsborough changed their keeper and Braithwaite went on to make two very important saves later on. The introduction of Bayles, however, was to prove crucial. With his hamstrings twanging, but vitally staying intact, the former AFA man did what he used to do which is control the ball and probe for openings. When Appleby cleverly held a ball up and fed Gregory the first time cross found the Bayles forehead and the ball was buried in the bottom corner for a 2-1 lead with 25 minutes to go. Polytechnic responded superbly forcing several corners and free kicks around the area. Braithwaite made his two sound saves and Watkins appeared from nowhere to clear the ball off the line. For me the man of the match was another former AFA man Mark Grove who provided just the steely challenges required in this tough but excellent Vets match.

One can see why Polytechnic won the Alliance Division. They are a very good Vets side with several fit, able players. Nottsborough only started to make a game of it when they started to get stuck in. Having done that they were more than a match for Polytechnic and just held on in a frantic final ten minutes when either side could have scored. A second title then for Nottsborough Vets in the second season of what is becoming a very successful league as stronger teams enter. With promotion and relegation this season there will be a very strong top division next season. Nottsborough will do well to retain their title for a third time, but for now they must be happy to be the only name on the League Cup after two seasons..

Six of the Best

The SAL Representative team play in the semi-final of the FA English Leagues knock-out cup on Saturday against the Isle of Man Representative team. This is as good as it gets for amateur soccer in England. The SAL won this tournament back in 2008 and Bob Leeds’s men will be trying really hard to repeat the feat this season. Nottsborough have six players selected to travel to the Isle of Man – Dan Ashley, Matt Kerr, Arren Sutcliffe, Richard Parker, Ian Cooper and Alex Ewin. This is a superb achievement for the club.

Last night in a warm-up match at the London Soccerdome Nottsborough put a squad of 15 players out against the SAL Rep team. The match was played for an hour in three 20 minute slots. The score was 3-1 to the SAL Rep team, although this was slightly unfair on the Nottsborough team who gave the league side a real work out. Dan Field and Ian Cooper looked good for the Rep team and Cooper’s 35 yarder was the highlight of the night. Opposing them Chris Kerr and Jeremy Field did not look at all out of place. Chris Apaloo put Nottsborough back in the game at 2-1 and then passed up a great chance to equalise before the league made the game safe in the final third. Rob Egan (ex-Loughborough) made a very promising debut for Nottsborough and there were fine performances from several Nottsborough 2’s players. Each player got at least 40 minutes. The Nottsborough squad was – Ben Hickes, Matt Rolfe, John Grant, Dean Mitic, Gary Cullinan, Rich Pilcher, Si Stanko, Michael Classen, Jeremy Field, Chris Kerr, Rob Egan, Ben Hughes, Rory O’Brien, Chris Apaloo, James Taylor.