The SSML league campaign began on Saturday albeit with just ten teams in the Premier Division with the other two divisions starting next weekend. The FA Cup campaign continued with 13 clubs looking to reach the First Round Qualifying, and at 5.00pm four clubs made it into Monday’s draw.
FRIDAY 11th SEPTEMBER/SATURDAY 12th SEPTEMBER
WEEKEND HEADLINES
New Salamis continued to set new records in their debit season in the FA Cup and are one of just three of the 20 debutants this season remaining in the hat. The top two of last season’s Premier Division void campaign, Colney Heath and Tring Athletic, battled out a hard fought affair exactly eleven years to the day when they had fought out an eleven goal clash, back in 2009 Colney Heath won 8-3 at Tring Athletic while this time around Colney once again came out on top winning 2-0 at Colney. Elsewhere the Arlesey Town/North Greenford United fixture saw Arlesey win an opening day league fixture for the third successive season since re-joining the league while North Greenford United lost for the third successive time on opening day since re-joining the SSML. The weekend brought about two sell out attendances since the imposed restrictions and one game being played behind closed doors.
Weekend Stats: 17 games played of which 7 were home wins, 7 away wins and 3 draws.
Weekend Highest Attendances: 315 New Salamis v West Essex, 300 Harpenden Town v Aveley and 250 Harefield United v Leighton Town.
Season’s Highest Attendances to date (Premier Division Clubs): 300 Harpenden Town v Aveley (FA Cup), 250 Harefield United v Leighton Town (FA Cup) and 148 Oxhey Jets v Chalfont St Peter (FA Cup).
Season’s Highest Attendances to date (Division One Clubs): 315 New Salamis v West Essex (FA Cup), 285 Winslow United v Newport Pagnell Town (FA Cup) and 236 New Salamis v Colney Heath (FA Cup).
THE EMIRATES FA CUP Preliminary Round
The weekend action began at Haringey Borough FC on Friday evening as New Salamis entertained West Essex in front of a sell-out crowd of 315, New Salamis (Step 6) continued to set new club FA Cup records with an emphatic 5-1 win over Step 5 Essex Senior League opponents to book a place in the First Round Qualifying draw. Saturday brought about another eleven ties featuring SSML clubs with one guaranteeing another name in the hat as fellow Premier Division sides Harefield United and Leighton Town met at Preston Park. Leighton Town overcame this difficult hurdle by the odd goal in three. Potton United travelled to Thetford Town and were rewarded with a fine 2-0 win against their Thurlow Nunn League opponents. Dunstable Town required penalties to book their place in the next round (just like their previous tie), the Bedfordshire side defeating Hellenic League side Easington Sports (Tring Athletic’s conquerors in the previous round) 7-6 in the shoot-out following a 1-1 draw. Broadfields United suffered their heaviest FA Cup defeat when going down 0-4 at Combined Counties League side Sutton Common Rovers. Biggleswade United were another club to suffer a 0-4 reversal when their trip to Step 4 Isthmian League North side Cambridge City was to end their Wembley dreams. Harpenden Town also faced Step 4 Isthmian League North opponents when Aveley visited Rothamsted Park and the full house of 300 witnessed the visitors winning 3-0. Edgware Town’s hopes ended in that lottery of a penalty shoot-out, the Wares were beaten 1-4 after a 2-2 draw at Fairford Town. Division One side Winslow United went down by the odd goal in three at former SSML club Risborough Rangers, the two sides meet again at Winslow in the FA Vase this coming Saturday. Eynesbury Rovers found their journey to Thurlow Nunn League side Ely City a step too far as they were beaten 1-3 while Oxhey Jets fell to a last minute goal at home against Chalfont St Peter. Elsewhere Leverstock Green were beaten 1-4 at home against Hellenic League side Burnham. Full results and goalscorers (where known) are listed below.
5-1 New Salamis v West Essex (Portou [3] [1 pen], C Georgiou, Michael) / (Mignot) Attendance: 315
4-0 Cambridge City v Biggleswade United (Sharman [2], Olukanmi, Ingrey) Attendance: 293
1-1 [7-6 pens] Dunstable Town v Easington Sports (Mulonda) / (Unknown) Attendance: 138
3-1 Ely City v Eynesbury Rovers (Townsend, Bullinario, Foster) / (Brown) Attendance: 107
2-2 [4-1 pens] Fairford Town v Edgware Town (Stanley, Herring [pen]) / (McGleish, Morris) Attendance: 118
1-2 Harefield United v Leighton Town (Underwood) / (Campbell, Jewell) Attendance: 250
0-3 Harpenden Town v Aveley (Sach, Sykes, Allen) Attendance: 300
1-4 Leverstock Green v Burnham (Cox) / (James [2], Hamid, Williams) Attendance: 137
0-1 Oxhey Jets v Chalfont St Peter (Ibie) Attendance: 148
2-1 Risborough Rangers v Winslow United (Haule, Read) / (King) Attendance: 270
4-0 Sutton Common Rovers v Broadfields United (Henry, Brown, Twum, Fernandez) Attendance: 68
0-2 Thetford Town v Potton United (Eze, Etheridge) Attendance: 138
PREMIER DIVISION
The opening day of the SSML Premier Division saw ten sides in action, in a repeat fixture of last season’s opening day Colney Heath eased past Tring Athletic 2-0 thanks to goals either side of the break from Boodhoo and Devine. Wembley entertained London Colney in a game where both defences remained unbreached while Newport Pagnell Town enjoyed a 3-2 success at Crawley Green in an eerie empty stadium, Luton town forbidding any fans into their training ground due to the Coronavirus. Elsewhere Baldock Town are the first table toppers of the season after winning 4-1 at Aylesbury Vale Dynamos and Arlesey Town were made to work hard in securing a 2-1 home success over North Greenford United. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.
2-1 Arlesey Town v North Greenford United (Miller, Randall) / (Kirwan) Attendance: 65
1-4 Aylesbury Vale Dynamos v Baldock Town (Workman) / (Morris [2], L’Honore [2]) Attendance: 87
2-0 Colney Heath v Tring Athletic (Boodhoo, Devine) Attendance: 103
2-3 Crawley Green v Newport Pagnell Town (Bunker [pen], Watson [pen]) / (Burnside, Stronge, Shepherd) Attendance: 0 Behind Closed Doors
0-0 Wembley v London Colney Attendance: 42
AND FINALLY
Sunday afternoon saw Tottenham Hotspur and Everton meet in the Premier League in London while in the Woman’s Super League Tottenham Hotspur Women travelled north to face Everton Women and for the Toffees it was to be to pleasant afternoon with both their teams winning 1-0.
Don’t forget that every Sunday afternoon the Non-League Show on Three Counties Radio (Herts, Beds & Bucks), a show all about local non-league football. The popular show presented by Ollie Bayliss has been increased to two hours each week and moves to a new day and time, every Sunday afternoon from 2.00pm – 4.00pm and is the perfect opportunity to catch up with our local non-league scene at all levels.
For those who missed it then you can catch up here:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08qdv35?fbclid=IwAR3yy4T7EmBuCblr1aio0QDswCuU5r0lhfcSoYS4GUrsMxZIscUP_WaaQbk
The result of this week’s Team of the Weekend Poll with 60 votes cast is:-
New Salamis 58.3%
Colney Heath 15.0%
Baldock Town 15.0%
Potton United 11.7%
Some FA Preliminary Round stats for you:-
Clubs in Debut FA Cup Campaign into 1st Qualifying Round – New Salamis
Exited in Preliminary Round but set best run – Winslow United (3rd campaign)
Exited in Preliminary Round and Equalled Best FA Cup Run – Broadfields United
Biggest Wins of the Preliminary Round – New Salamis 5-1 West Essex (Record Win and Record Defeat)
Preliminary Round Cupsets – New Salamis (6) 5-1 West Essex (5)
Hat-tricks – Kyri Portou (New Salamis)
Miscellaneous
All the clubs that have played in this year’s FA Cup to date with a name that starts ‘Th’ are already knocked out of the competition
Source FA Cup Factfile
THE EMIRATES FA CUP First Round Qualifying
Monday 21st September
New Salamis v Brentwood Town
Tuesday 22nd September
Barking v Dunstable Town
Leighton Town v Mildenhall Town
Wednesday 23rd September
Grays Athletic v Potton United