Great result for the 7's and 8's as well.  I have to say that with both these sides battling for promotion in the same division, i was concerned that as a club we were simply handing the initiative to Merton and BB Eagles as we knocked each other out.  However, this has proved not to be the case as both sides did each other a favour in their own version of "super saturday" as the top 4 sides met - we now have every chance of a 1-2 in this division, and how good would that feel.  Good to see the 3's hanging on in there as well with a good victory at Ibis.

So with just a few games to go, we have 4 sides who are in the frame to win their divisions, and 1 still with an outside chance of promotion, not bad for a club who just a couple of seasons ago were almost always struggling against relegation and re-election.

However, before we all get carried away, lets all learn a lesson from the 4's who I had the "pleasure" of being with yesterday.  Here we completely bossed the first half, played some good football and went into the break 2-0 up, and looked comfortable winners.  But in the 2nd half we simply didn't turn up, and although some credit should go to Lyonians who changed their tactics and looked a different side, we really threw the game away ourselves.  The message to the 4's is fairly clear, play 90 minutes like you played the first 45 and you are a formidable side.  The message to the rest of us is simply its not over until the last kick, so don't take your foot of the gas, give everything to the end and lets make sure we get the prizes this club has worked so hard to achieve.

Steve Martin-Lawrence, Chairman

I know exactly how he feels.  Yesterday was probably our worst set of results of the season and there were some lacklustre performances around as well.  The first team never really got going in their semi-final, and actually never troubled the Bank of England keeper, and by thier own admission it was a poor team performance.  The news got worse as news of Finchleians league win filtered through, and the 1's now lie 2nd on goal difference.  In fact the top 5 sides lost and the 7's got 1 point out of 6 in their crucial double header.  You could see disappointment around the bar yesterday, and in fact a couple of players mentioned to me that the atmosphere had been flat most of the afternoon, even in the dressing room beforehand.

So why the malaise?  Have we become coomplacent? Do we believe that an excellent half season entitles us to just turning up for the 2nd half and we will all be ok?  Have we become victims of our own successful turnaround, and think we just need to turn up?  I don't believe so, but I do think we need to look at ourselves and get the belief back again very quickly and put the hard work in.

In the dark clouds that gathered yesterday there were some beams of bright sunlight.  The 8's are on a promotion charge and an emphatic win over Old Wilsonians actually puts the destiny of a league title in their own hands, and that side of the bar was celebrating, but recognises there is still much hard work to be done.  The 6's also won emphatically and remain top, and all of them came back to the Cope with beaming smiles reflecting on another great performance and looking forward to this weeks game.  And let us not forget that the 1st team still actually do have their own destiny in their own hands, as they still have Finchleians to play.

So are we downhearted - well we better not be, as we have all worked so hard and to get nothing would be an absolute travesty.  So, lets pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and work hard.  Training is on Wednesday, lets make sure we make the most of it and get the whole club back to winning ways.  The 6's and 8's are leading by example, and if you saw them yesterday you will remember how good it feels when you win - lets all share that feeling next week.

I'll finish as I started with Mike Phelan "We simply had a bad day at the office.  We paid the price and we'll have to move on to the next game............we have a bad result and we bounce back afterwards. That's what we do."  Let's make sure that's what we do next week.

Steve Martin-Lawrence, Chairman

However, back to normal this week, and a mixed week on the pitch, but some very key results to us.  The first team kept their unbeaten league form going, although with a draw, which I guess that both they and I would be frustrated with, but then a couple of seasons back we would have been delighted - I keep saying it, but lets remember how far we have come here.  The important thing is that the destiny of a league title is still in our own hands and we cannot ask for more than that, and a league and cup double is still very much on the cards.  Great to see the reserves grab another win at Southbank an climb further up the table.  The reserves was always going to be a tough nut to crack, but after a slow start Gary and Keith have done a magnificent job in turning things around and an unbeaten league run in 2009 speaks volumes and bodes well for the future not only for the reserves, but for the club as a whole, where we must aim for strength in all our league sides.  Disappointing results for our 4's and 5's, but the 4's are not out of it yet, and the 2 convincing wins last week for the 5's should lay the platform for safety for them.  Well done to the 6's who took on a tricky game away to Old Actonians and won, and putting them 2nd in the league even with a points deduction.  Great to see two new young captains getting it right and playing some great football as well and with their league games averaging 6.7 goals a game, are well worth seeing if you get the chance.  The 7's v 8's was the usual high passioned affair and with two such closely matched teams a tight game was always on the cards - congratulations to skipper Steve Drake who got the 8's winner.  My biggest worry about this game was that with both teams in contention for promotion, an inter-club game was always going to hand their rivals an incentive and as a club we could end up with nothing here.  I am therefore glad that the inter-club fixtures are now out the way and both sides can concentrate on their own end of season run ins, where they can help each other by continuing to win.  The fixtures have fallen in such a way that if the 7's and 8's can get the script right over the next 2 weeks then we may see them lying 1st and 2nd in the table by mid-march, and if we could end up that way then what a fantastic achievment for the club.

My day yesterday was spent with the 3's.  As I stated at the start of the season, one of my intentions for this year was to spend some time with all of our teams during the course of the season, and the 3's was probably the one side where I had yet to achieve this.  Originally my intention was to watch most of their game whilst keeping in touch with events elsewhere, but circumstances were such that I ended up with a full 90 minutes worth and far more involved in the action than I ever thought I would be!!!  The 3's ended up 4-3 winners in a tight game, with effectively only 9 fit players on the pitch at the end, and in doing so showed a great amount of character.  I was impressed with the 3's, Nick and Jason prepared well and a positive professional approach was laid down from the start, and even when we were severely tested by a spirited and battling Broomfield side, heads never dropped and we continued to knuckle down work hard and collectively get a job done.  At 3-3 the momentum was definitely with Broomfield, and it would have been easy for the 3's to give it up, but they didn't and some resolute defending kept us in there and made the quality Keith Fleming finish that gave us the victory late on all the more sweeter.  One thing that was said in the teamtalk was to go out enjoy it and play with a smile, something that I fully endorse and preached when I was a captain myself, and we did that and I am sure that it helped the team spirit that for me eventually won this game for us and continued in the bar afterwards - an example we can all learn from.  The result has put the 3's right back into the promotion mix, and incredibly 6 out of our 8 sides are still very much in contention for promotion this season, and long may that continue.  So much hard work has been done by us all to get us here and I would urge you all to make that final push to make our dreams reality.

Steve Martin-Lawrence, Chairman

The rebirth of the first team continues apace as well, and on Saturday they notched up their 10th straight league win in a row.  Again supported by a number of former Lloyds Bank stalwarts, the 1's didn't play to their best against an Old Westminster Cits side that belied their league form and played with a lot of spirit and determination, but it was the 3 points that really mattered here.  We cannot expect the first team or any team to play to their best every week, and there will be saturdays where they will have an off day.  However, as we are told over and over by any football pundit worth his salt, the sign of a potential league winning side is picking up the points even when you don't play well, and we seem to have got into that habit.  I know that Dom and the guys will be working hard on the training ground to get the performance back as well as the points.  One downside to saturday was the dislocated shoulder suffered by Mark Wheeler following an awkward fall.  Mark will be missed, and again I know the whole club wish him a very speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back as soon as possible.

Good wins for the 4's and 8's and 2 well earned poits for the 6's in a tough double header at Kew.  It was important that none of these sides lost on Saturday to keep the momentum going and keep themselves interested for end of season honours, so well done.  Indeed our only losses this weekend were in the cups, and nice as it would have been to get some silverware here it does allow the 2's and 3's to refocus on their league programme and continue the momentum there and the form that both have been showing of late.

This weekend sees a number of important fixtures throughout the club, with some that could determine how interested we will be in promotion issues going forward.  There are a number of games for each of our sides left, and it is important that we start to drive home now to get the impetus going and bring home the prize.  I cannot remember how long ago it was that we had so many sides in contention and it is creating a real buzz around the club.  It is up to all of us to try and make potential reality, and I wish all of our sides the very best of luck on Saturday and look forward to reporting on another great day for the club.

Cheers!

Steve Martin-lawrence, Chairman

The Cope is becoming a fortress and that is exactly what we want to see and the foundation we should build upon.  Gone are the days when teams thought that a visit to us was an easy three points and we need to continue to work hard to ensure that we never go back there.  We have a great set of captains who are working really hard behind the scenes, and you can feel the pride they have in leading a side in a successful club.  In previous weeks I have spoken about the team ethic that I have seen in a number of sides, and I really believe that this has been one of the major contributitive factors that has propelled this club forward.  It is slightly disappointing that I have heard of a bit of team disunity in a couple of our teams in recent weeks - a small minority of the club overall, but still something that we should be looking to fix immediately.  Passion and pride has a big part to play in this game and everyone will want to do well and will have an opinion on how a team succeeds.  However, there is a fine line between a healthy exchange of views and a destructive argument, and we all need to ensure that we stick to the former or as we have all seen it will affect a side on the pitch - lets make sure we destroy the opposition not ourselves!  Having said all that I do believe that club and team spirit is high, lets all work together to keep it there.

Unfortunately this week I have to end on a downside.  Yesterday one of our players had his personal possessions stolen from a dressing room. It was at an away ground, but irrespective of where it was it does highlight that we live in a society where theft and crime is on the increase, and we must therefore ensure we do all we can to make sure that events such as this are kept to an absolute minimum.  As a club, we constantly advise players to put valuables into a valuables bag that is taken out with the team, and we will put even more emphasis on this, and I will work with the captains to see how we can enforce this more strongly, but my message to you all is to be careful and vigilant and lets make sure that we simply enjoy our Saturday afternoons without episodes such as these.

 Steve Martin-Lawrence, Chairman 

Yesterday, I watched the 4's v 5's (in probably their biggest crowd of the season, thanks to the added support of the 8's Bacon sandwich brigade) and as ever with interclub league games it was a typical feisty derby-like affair, but overall played in a good spirit.  The 4's ran out 3-1 winners, but not without a few scares, and had Ben Townsend not made an excellent save at 2-0 tipping a certain goalbound shot onto the bar then things might have been different.  I have been impressed with the 4's this season, where Trevor and Stu have had to do a total rebuild from last season and the run they are putting together now justifies the patience they have taken in doing this.  Yesterday they looked a solid unit and worked very hard for each other, good ethics for a team that is now climbing the table.  The 5's did give them a stiff test though and after what was described by themselves as a poor performance last week, they were much improved yesterday.  I'll leave the last word to 4th team captain Stu here - "If they play like that every week they won't have a problem winning games".

Well done to the 2's also who are also on the rise and consolidated that further yesterday with a good point against high flying Old Westminster Citizens.

So we have a few teams in the club now having a good run and becoming handily placed in the league.  The club is definitley on the rise in terms of results, and the stats back this up.  Look at the stats page; for the first time this season cumulatively we have now won more games than we have lost and if you look at the form guide 7 out of 8 sides are now green status.  This is excellent and we should all pat ourselves on the back.  However the job is not even half done yet and we should very much beware complacency.  We need to continue to work hard to maintain this.  That means getting to training when we can, not letting our teammates down and ensuring that we all pull together.  Yesterday we lost more games to the weather and there are some sides who are having a very broken up set of fixtures because of this.  We need to ensure that this doesn't make us lose focus and must make sure that we concentrate on getting it right.  There is no doubt that we as a club are having a good season - lets all make that extra effort to make it a great one!

Steve Martin-Lawrence, Chairman 

The 1's set the tone, beginning the New Year as they saw out the old, top of the league.  It was important, that having reached that height, they did not let it go easily, so I was pleased to see another victory chalked up and momentum maintained.  At home we had three league games, and I started my trip round the pitches watching the 6th team against high flying South Bank.  They dominated the first passage of play and deservedly went a goal up, and only heroics from the South Bank keeper kept the lead down to a solitary goal.  I left that game at 1-0 confident that we were on the right track, and so when news came that it was 1-1, I was slightly surprised and did return in time to see them back on song and firing in two goals to get an important victory that takes them right back into the mix.  I was impressed with the spirit and commitment in the 6's, and the encouragement from the sidelines where Ash rivalled the volume of Stu from the previous game there!  They also played with a collective smile and really seemed to enjoy their football, something we can all learn from. An important result here that puts the 6's 3 points off the top with games in hand.

I didn't catch too much of the 3's, but what I did see was a very professional performance.  Nick and Jason have things well organised here and have maintained great team spirit on and off the pitch, but also seem to have stepped up the performance on the pitch as well.  Confidence seems high and I do believe that yesterday was a springboard to a good second half of the season.  Like the 6's, the 3's have plenty of games in hand which could see them battle their way into possible promotion contention, so well done to all associated.

Most of my afternoon's viewing though was with the 2's, who were playing top of the league Southgate.  The 2's and I keep missing each other, so it was the first time I had seen them for a while, but the news on the grapevine was that they were playing a lot better than their recent results would suggest.  And so it would seem, as the part of the first half I saw showed a young team dominating play and deservedly go into half time 2-0 up.  However, Southgate are not top for nothing and did come out battling in the 2nd half and when they got their first goal, nerves on the sideline were strained.  However on the pitch the 2's simply rolled their sleeves up and kept battling and I was convinced that we had seen the storm through and were destined for the 3 points.  However cruelly in the 5th minute of injury time, Southgate broke away and got their all important equaliser and potential joy gave way to diappointment and disbelief.  Perhaps there was a little naivety in how Southgate got that goal, as the 2's pressed for a 3rd rather than hanging on, but that would be harsh criticism for a team that battled and worked hard, and they are a young team and will learn from it.  My message to the 2s is that the management team there really do believe in you and feel you do not realise how good you can be, and from what I saw yesterday I would agree with that.  Confidence comes with results and you are close to that - yes remember the disappointment of yesterday, but channel that into a positive to ensure it doesn't happen next week, get the result you deserve and that I'm sure will give you the springboard to your true potential.

Next week sees a full league fixture programme, and there will be some sides and players who because of the Christmas break and postponements due to the weather and opposition cry offs will not have played for a month or more.  So this week I want each and every one of you to consider whether you are ready and prepared for the rigours that lay ahead of you on Saturday.  Training resumes this week, so if you get the chance try and get yourself down there and get yourself as fit as you can for Saturday.  If you can't make training, think of what you need to do.  Football is a team game and all of us have a responsibility not to let our teammates down.  Yesterday was good - look at the stats page, the results barometer is swinging the right way, lets all keep the momentum going.

Steve Martin-Lawrence, Chairman

The other game that I caught a lot of on Saturday was the big derby game, 8's v 7's, which you will see from above was comprehensively won by the 8's.  It would be slightly unfair on the 8's to say that it was due to the 7's having an "off day" (although that may have contributed), and the view in the bar that it was one of their best performances of the season so far.  From my perspective I was very impressed with the teamwork and how hard everyone in that side worked both when they had the ball and when they were defending - it really was an excellent display of unity and togetherness.  That result leaves our 7's and 8's 3rd and 4th respectively, and the if the 7's just erase Saturday from the memory banks and go back to playing with the style and commitment I know they have, and the 8's just carry on in the same vein, then I see no reason why both sides will not be challenging for the top 2 spots at the end of the season. 

I did also catch some of the 4's game - it was like old times with Stu bellowing in my earhole(!) - although this time off the pitch as he exhorted his players to great things.  A good result for the 4's here, and it should be remembered that this is a totally rebuilt side - almost all of last year's 4's have gone and it has not been the easiest task for the two newest captains to get the 4's back on track, and there is still work to be done.  But Saturday showed that they are very much on the right track, and I am sure that this was the first of many steps forward here.

So as we reach Christmas, in traditional style I will take the opportunity to reflect on the ghosts of past present and future.  It seems incredible that only two seasons ago, our first team were bottom of the league and I was required to apply for re-election to the SAL.  In my letter, I commented on the good facilities we have available, but more importantly talked about how our club was still rebuilding since coming back to Beckenham, and that we were attracting a number of new players.  Our 8's had just won the league, and so we were starting to get it right, but just needed to get some extra quality higher up.  Since then as a club we have worked very very hard indeed both on and off the pitch, and that hard work is beginning to pay real dividends.  When I wrote that letter, I could never have dreamt that we would turn things round quite so quickly, and as I look at the present we have one side top and three others very much in contention for promotion, but all sides with the potential to have an excellent 2nd half of the season to make this a very special season indeed.

And the future? Well that is very much down to us all.  The result of our hard work on and off the pitch is all starting to pay off, and we are all building something to be proud of here.  But the task has only just started, and all of us need to play our part to the full to ensure that we really do have something at the end of the day that we can all be very proud of.  The spirit, unity and optimism in the bar on Saturday was evident to all and no-one doubts the pride our players and members have in our club, but the prize is there for the taking, so lets make sure we all play our part in getting there.

Finally, therefore in this my last notes until the New Year, I would like to take the opportunity to wish you, your family and loved ones a very happy Christmas, and for us all a happy, prosperous and successful 2009.

Steve Martin-Lawrence, Chairman

However, that does bring me on to my issue this week, and that is availability and selection.  Last week was one of the worst weeks for putting together a teamsheet that I can recall.  The main issue was that we had around 20 players unavailable around the middle of the club, and as you can imagine this did cause quite a few problems.  It wasn't just the initial unavailables that were the issue, but the growing number of cry offs that occured during the week - some of which were cases of players just not advising that they were unavailable in the first place.  I would like to pay great credit to all of the captains who worked very hard last week to try and resolve a situation that threw up fresh challenges each day.  There were times that they thought that they had their side sorted only for another batch of cry offs and call ups to shatter their team and cause them to start again.  I can really share their frustration here and have great sympathy, and we are now working behind the scenes to try and improve here.  There was far too much time wasted on putting teams together last week, and lets face it we all have busy lives and this is definitely something we can do without.  So how can players help.  Well basically by clearly communicating their availability to their respective captains. I have no doubt that some of the absences last week were down to injury, sickness and late work arrangements, but many of them would have been know substantially well in advance.  Like us the SAL has people who work very hard behind the scenes to ensure we have a well run and enjoyable league, and this especially includes the league fixture secretary.  The SAL are not ogres and will always try and help clubs when required - their aim is to ensure the games are played as fairly as possible.  Thus, if we know 3 weeks in advance that half a side is missing, we can talk to the SAL and they will work with us and try to help us as much as they are able.  We cannot however expect them to change a complete set of fixtures at a weeks notice because we can't be bothered to sort out our availability.  So if you are aware that you will not be available at some time in the future, or even that a group of you are on, for example, a stag weekend then please let either your captain or me know asap so we can try and take the appropriate action.  additionally, please ensure every week that on a Saturday you confirm your availability (or otherwise) for the following week.  This will save everyone so much time and we can then concentrate on other things.  Please do not let last week ever happen again.

There is no doubt that as a club we are taking huge strides forward, but we still seem to have episodes and issues like the above that are letting us down and sometimes holding us back.  Let's concentrate on eradicating those, so that we can really push on and enjoy the heights that the 1's and 7's are currently leading us to.

 Steve Martin-Lawrence, Chairman

With around a third of the season gone, I wanted to reflect on progress so far, and I do think that we have already made great steps forward so far this season.  The top of the club is certainly the strongest it has been for quite some time and the feedback from training has been positive.  Also to be able to get a ninth team out has been a great achievement and has shown that we continue to attract players to our club.  There have been a couple of issues along the way (as you would expect in any club our size), but these have been dealt with swiftly and efficiently and we are better for the action we have taken.  Off the pitch, the website has been developed and the members section gets very positive feedback, so our communication throughout the club is improving.

However, we are not there yet.  We still need to improve on a number of things and improve how we communicate to players and perhaps improve still further the growing unity within the club - remember last week I said that we must ensure we are a club with 9 teams, and not nine teams that make up a club, and this must be our continuing mantra if we are to continue the goodwork and hard effort and great steps we have taken.  Also, if you are a member, look at our stats page in the members section.  Here you will see that on the pitch we have actually lost more than we have won (although draws have kept the results barometer on the plus side), but we can only say that we have really achieved our goal if we start to reverse that.  Discipline has been good over the past couple of seasons, yet last week we had an off day accumulating 7 discplinary points.  Six of those were for dissent based offences, and that is 6 points too many.  There will always be bookings for mistimed challenges and I accept that, but dissent is something that can always be avoided and something that we must cut out.

At the start of the season, and at the AGM, in the style of the advert I said that we were on a journey, and invited all of our club to come on board.  I am pleased to say that many people did.  Now we have to complete that journey, so lets make sure we all arrive together and bring back the silverware, the continued enjoyment and the pride to the Cope!

Steve Martin-Lawrence, Chairman

So there were thrills and spills at the Cope yesterday.  The 1's defence was an enigma again, as the tight ship that is their league form, became a leaky bucket and allowed South Bank in 7 times - just what it is about the 1's and cup games this season!  Still, as before I am sure that will work hard at training and hopefully next week (another cup game) we will see the return of the 1st team defence that we know and love.  Well done to the 2's as well, a tense finish but all of our penalties in the shootout were first class, and all credit to Kap for two great saves to set up the victory.  And what about the club spirit - it was great to see every home side out there supporting the 2's in the final minutes of extra time and the buzz afterwards was top class.  Well done to the 3's who put in an impressive performance to beat RBS.  Congratulations also to the 4's who for the second week running had a very late goalkeeping change, but this time did the job with an excellent 4-1 victory at Kew.

Club sprit is something I would like to touch on this week, because I don't think that this week on the lead up to Saturday we were as good as we should be.  Some of our communication at selection level and even in letting our players know what was going on was poor this week, and as clear communication should come from the top, I have to take a fair amount of responsibility for this. However, it helps if we unify as a club, for example when we all went out to give the 2's the support at the end of their game yesterday.  I would remind you all that we are a club that has nine teams, and not nine teams that make up a club. So players will move between sides (as per our (and the SALs) selection policy) and I expect our players to back that to the full.  So, having taken the responsibility, I have had another look at the way we communicate, both at selection level and as a club as a whole, and have already made changes to how the teamsheet is put together starting this week, and will be looking at how the captains communicate with me and each other, and also how we communicate to you the membership.  Misunderstanding and miscommunication can be very destructive, so I am determined to get this right, but as ever can only do that with your help.

Steve Martin-Lawrence, Chairman  

Congratulations also to the 1st team, who extended their unbeaten run with a fine victory against Southgate.  This was a tough game on paper, and made even more difficult with the loss of a keeper an hour before kick off.  A great result therefore and thanks to Tom Frost who stepped up from the 4's to fill the void between the sticks for the 1's, and to those who found me kit so I could help out the 4's! However, the state of the gloves that I was given (I've worn marigolds with more grip!) did make me vow to ensure that all the spare bits of kit in the kitbags are at least fit for purpose so that we are always equipped for emergencies and don't let ourselves down in that department.

This did obviously give me the opportunity to spend an afternoon with the 4's, who have had mixed fortunes on and off the pitch recently, and I have to say that in general I liked what I saw.  It was a good battling performance in a somewhat feisty encounter, but both sides played with plenty of commitment, and given that the 4's are currently in the process of reinventing themselves and so is a relatively new team, the spirit was very good with plenty of encouragement for fellow players.  Having soaked up some early pressure we did make chances ourselves and a draw would probably have been a fair result, and so it was completely gutting to go down to a last minute goal.  However if the spirit and commitment is maintained I am convinced the 4's can start climbing the table very soon.

One thing I would like to raise this week is the Respect campaign being run by the FA.  This does not only affect the professional game, but goes right down to grass roots level, and is something that the SAL backs.  Our disciplinary record over the past couple of seasons has been good, but it could be improved and yet again we have received bookings for dissent.  We are lucky to have the referees we have and I am pleased with the hospitality and respect we show them in the bar after a game.  However, this respect should also be shown on the pitch also.  A referee is only as human as either you or I, and will make the occasional mistake.  However, he is there to make a decision and once that decision has been made he is not going to change his mind.  So moaning and having a go when a decision goes against you is a complete waste of time, as you will firstly get the refs back up and secondly end up paying the cost of a dissent booking.  I'm all for open communication and banter with the ref, but yesterday (and indeed in other games) I saw examples of players (from both sides) just continually moaning at the referee.  If you want to spend 90 minutes on a Saturday taking your frustrations out on an individual, then go to an anger management class, the rest of us are here to play football!!

Steve Martin-Lawrence, Chairman

Congratulations to the 1st team who took their unbeaten run to 6 with a victory at Alexandra Park.  This makes Saturdays game against Southgate a real top of the table clash now, and both sides will I am sure be very much up for what promises to be a cracking fixture.  Words cannot say how proud I am that we are now regularly we are staging games like these, and the number of former players that are now coming to watch or taking a real interest in our results now again pays testament to the progress we have made over the last couple of seasons.

However, we do also let ourselves down occasionally, or rather we have individuals that let the club down, and this was illustrated by the non- event that was the 6th team fixture at Old Actonians where only 6 players arrived for the game.  There were some legitimate reasons why a couple of the players didn't get there, which was unfortunate, but there were players who simply let their side, the club and indeed the SAL down - the individuals concerned have been suspended from selection with immediate effect.  We have enough players in the club who are proud to wear the shirt and are fully committed to making it a great club to play for and be part of, and as I said not so long ago we really do not need people who think it ok just to turn up when they feel like it - over the past three days we have had three enquiries from potential players who have heard how good it is to play for a club like ours and wanting to get involved as soon as they can, and these are the type of players we want to join us.  On a more positive note, I would like to take this opportunity to show support to Richard and Greg, who I know did absolutely everything they could when learning of their plight to try and get a side of some sort there and they deserve our backing and support.

Finally, this weekend we welcome the annual visit from our friends from Stafford Branches, who will play two games (against our 9's on Saturday and a guest XI on Sunday).  It is always great to host this event and the games are always enjoyable and the beer afterwards more so.  So please do help make them as welcome as possible, and lets make this weekend one to remember for the right reasons!

Steve Martin-Lawrence, Chairman

Thank you 1st team for proving me right! A fantastic 1-0 victory over fellow promotion rivals Bank of England which puts us right in the mix, and it was indeed a solid defensive performance that laid the platform.  What a buzz in the changing room afterwards, things are certainly looking promising.  And its not only at the top of the club - well done to the 8's, to get a victory against a side 2 divisions above is one thing, but to comprehensively beat and outplay them was a tremendous effort and you deserve all the plaudits you are rightly getting.

And then there's the 9's. What a story this is.  It was becoming clear that we were building up a surplus of players and to keep everyone interested we decided to create a 9th team friendly side.  The idea was that we supplement our spare and fringe players with players from a team that may not have a game that weekend, but yesterday for the first game we came up with an unsupplemented squad of 15, all ultra keen to get out there and prove a point or two.  A mixture of old hands and new players (exactly as it should be) played a great game against Old Wilsonians, who deserve a lot of credit for the way the game was played, a competeitive friendly played in a great spirit, with both sides staying on in the bar afterwards.  The icing on the cake was a 5-3 victory, but in truth the victory was actually seeing a 9th team playing again.  Three years ago we wondered whether we had done the right thing putting an 8th team in the league as we scraped a side together vitrtually every week, but the seed grew and has blossomed, and is just another example of how far we have come. Thanks need to go to a number of people for making yesterday happen, but I would like to thank especially Gary Borrett and Mike Kelson who have stepped forward to take on the captaincy of the 9's for the rest of the season.

So, short and sweet this week, but big on content.  I left the club yesterday on a real high filled with the buzz and enthusaism charged by sides at the top and bottom of the club.  I wanted to bottle that and give it to every side in the club, but you know what - I think we may be quite a bit of the way there already.  Lets hope I'm proved right again next week!

 Steve Martin-Lawrence, Chairman     

Firstly, I would like to thank all those who turned up to watch the first team on Saturday.  We certainly had our biggest crowd of the season and it was a delight to see so many former players coming to see how we were getting on including two ex chairmen.  There were some kind comments too, with people generally impressed with our improvement over the last couple of seasons, and I hope that they will all be back again soon.  Thanks too to the 1st team who gave us an absolute thriller of a cup tie, and played some very attractive and purposeful football going forward.  At 3-1 I thought we had the tie sewn up, but in the words of our 1st team manager, we were sloppy and allowed them back in, and unfortunately went out to a penalty shoot-out.  A couple of weeks ago I remarked how impressed I was with the solidity of the 1st team defence, and my view hasn't really changed as previous results will testify.  I truly believe that we simply had an off day at the back on Saturday (and looked great going forward), and that we will sort it out at training on Wednesday and be back to business as usual on Saturday.  Our aim must be promotion this year, and I believe that we are more than capable of achieving that goal.

Congratulations to the 2's on their first league win of the season, which was well overdue, and I am sure they will now kick on from that, and also to the 4's who haven't enjoyed the greatest time of late, so their 10-1 cup win was exactly the filip required, and well done to the 8's too for a good victory at Old Wilsonians.

Now to the apologies.  Basically, I would like to apologise to every single one of the 5th and 6th team that turned up on Saturday, but were let down really badly by their team mates not turning up.  I recognise that in a couple of cases this was unavoidable and these things happen, but crying off less than hour before kick off, or even the morning of the game is clearly unacceptable.  I would also like to apologise to the captains who had to go through so much pain to get their teams out on Saturday.  There seems to be a growing problem of players either not confirming until very late, or just dropping out towards the end of the week for reasons they must have known about probably a week before.  I spent most of Thursday night and some of the early hours of Friday trying to sort some of the mess caused by this minority, and one captain who had Friday off supposedly to relax spent the entire day orchestrating the teamsheet to ensure we had the right available players in the right teams for Saturday.  Clearly this too is unacceptable.  People are asking why our teamsheet is being delayed or is unpublished - my response to those people is, ask your teammates if they have confirmed their availability and made it easy for everyone else.

So let me finish with a question to that minority that is really letting the rest of the club down.  Do you want to be part of a club that is on the up, that is showing a vast improvement on the pitch and a fantastic team spirit on it, where everyone pulls together, is part of a team and always try to support their team mates?  If the answer to that question is YES, then fantastic you are very welcome, but please think how you can help by advising availability promptly and paying fees promptly.  However, if you are someone that just wants the occasional game when they feel like it, will try to get out of paying match fees and membership when you can, and just want everything put on a plate for you, then to be honest we will not be sorry to see you go, for really you are not in spirit part of our club.

Steve Martin-Lawrence, Chairman 

The 5's were to say the least unlucky, a splendid overhead kick into the top corner by skipper Alex Pitblado gave them a lead, but examples of not closing down as much as they could led to two goals to Old Kingsburians, and whilst the 5's were on the end of shall I say some unlucky decisions, they created more than enough chances to win, but luck simply was not with them.  The positives were there, hard work and endeavour, some great football going forward and good commitment, all very good signs for the league season ahead.  The 2's weathered an early storm, and looked set for a result of sorts when an unfortunate error gave a soft goal away.  However, heads didn't drop and you could see the desire and hunger to get back into the game, and they were unfortunate that they couldn't convert at least one of their chances. I am sure that one result will kick start their season and I have no doubt that this column will be reflecting on future victories sooner rather than later.  The 3's also showed desire coming from a goal down to grab a good victory, but tie of the day at the Cope came with the 7's who led a side a division above them and played some passionate stuff - no lack of heart there.  At 2-1 the view from the side was that the 7's could hold out, but credit to Kew for never giving up and grabbing a latish equaliser, and so it was that at 2-2 the 7's found extra time.  A well taken effort from Dane Simmonds saw the 7's lead 3-2, but perhaps some naivety in continuing to go forward rather than protecting a lead saw Kew with time and space to fashion their own wondergoal, and then grab a winner - but to criticise a team that showed fantastic spirit and a desire to go continue to go forward and kill the game would be harsh, and again the 7's should take the positives of near giant killing and hold their heads up high.

So a mixed bag of results at home, and away as well as the 1's showed their pedigree with a 5-0 win, the 8's did manage the giant kill with a 2-1 victory at Kew and the 6's in now customary fashion scored 5, but unfortunately conceded 6 as they went down 6-5 in extra time.  However, despite the mixture every team I saw should hold their head up high.  There was some really good football played by all sides, commitment by every side and some really good team spirit both on and off the pitch.  I left the bar at around 6:30.  A couple of years ago I would be one of the last people leaving at that time, but yesterday it was good to see a pretty full bar still there with players from all sides, and even better one of our visiting refs saying what a great atmosphere and buzz there was there now.  That is how far we have come as a club in recent years, success and desire on the pitch and an excellent club and team spirit off it.

My only "negative" this week is that in two of the games at the end our opposition afforded a really rousing 3 cheers for the Lloyds side responded to with some pretty weak and feeble efforts by ourselves.  It may sound a bit petty, but if our opposition are prepared to give us respect in this way (or even if they don't) we should always look to give them full respect as well.  It is all part of the SAL culture, and should be embedded in our own as well.  So, respect to ourselves for how far we have come both on and off the pitch, but lets also treat our opposition the right way as well.  If anyone thinks from all this that we are the finished article, however, then please think again.  We are going the right way in all aspects, but there is still a lot of hard work to be done, and it needs every single one of us to get there.  So lets get out there and continue the upward journey next week.

Steve Martin-Lawrence, Chairman

I wasn't around yesterday, but still had an active involvement in the games played yesterday, and so this week would like to illustrate some great teamwork off the pitch as well as taking the opportunity to thank a few people.  We are lucky in the SAL that we do get reliable referees appointed to our games, and it is a rarity that any of them actually cry off - however injury and illness took their toll this week, and in the space of 15 minutes on Friday night we lost not only one but two of our appointed referees for the games yesterday.  Not an easy task to replace at such short notice, but Alex, Scott and myself got down to the task in hand to attempt to do so and between us made over 40 calls to try and resolve the situation.  We had great backing from the SAL (Mike Redhouse and Gareth Dineen) and the AFA (Trevor Syms) and between the lot of us we eventually came up trumps.  A special thanks to Mr Chaudhuri, who having refereed a game in West London in the morning then made a 150 mile round trip to help us out in the afternoon.  The dedication of all those involved in ensuring that we had the requisite number of officials is to be applauded, and the determination shown is perhaps something we can all think about when taking to the pitch.

With that in mind, I look forward to reporting on a better set of results next week.  Please remember training this Wednesday, an opportunity to get the disppointment out the sysytem and start afresh next Saturday.

Steve Martin-Lawrence, Chairman 

However, this week I want to use my column to highlight a concern and something that I want to cut out from our club at all levels, and that is some of the negativity from some players that I witnessed in a couple of our games yeaterday.  We will at some time all have bad games either individually or collectively as a team.  At those times we will show our true character.  The best way to do that is to rally round each other and encourage as best as possible and try and work through the bad time together.  Unfortunately what I saw yesterday from a minority of people  were players who weren't performing brilliantly themselves, but as soon as a fellow team-mate made a mistake then taking the opportunity to verbally lay into them and shatter that players confidence further.  We all make mistakes, and lets face it if we didn't we would be gracing some premiership stadium rather than a field in Beckenham, and I am all for constructive criticism which helps to improve a player and also a gee up call when it is given in the right spirit.  An example I can give from own playing days involves a current captain of this club, who was playing left back that day.  We gave away a soft goal, and he let me know in no uncertain terms that I should have come and claimed the ball, but importantly because he knew I was capable of doing so...and he was right.  After that I came and claimed everything I could, because I knew what he had said was true - I needed the wake up call and certainly got that, but in a way that inspired rather than destroyed me.  There is a fine line between constructive criticism and having a go at someone, and yesterday there were a few players that went way over that line and destroyed their team-mates confidence, and what made it worse was that those players were actually playing no better themselves.  So, please think about the consequences of your actions - yes, sometimes we all need a wake up call or to have the error of our ways pointed out to us, but please let us do it in a way that has a positive result, rather than destrying the confidence of a team-mate and in the process destroying the morale of the team.  If we all take that on board, we have the potential to turn anything round, and who knows perhaps next week we will be focussing on the good things again.

Steve Martin-Lawrence, Chairman

Encouraging news from the lower sides as well.  The 4's can be pleased with a point from a Kew side that was very strong last season.  I was fortunate enough to catch the last 15 minutes of the 5th team game where on arrival they were 2 goals down.  Not sure that the Chairman can take any credit with his appearance, but it was good to see that heads had not dropped, that we played football and two brilliant balls into the box gave us the two goals that earned a point - well done to all.  The 7's were also at home and looked confident and it was nice to see one of our new players get on the teamsheet in a strong performance and a game which we dominated.  News from away was that the 6's scored four, but conceded more but are at least finding the net, and that the 8's showed real spirit in coming back from 2 goals down to beat Bank of England 3-2.

So, a mixed bag of results, but probably positives that can be taken from every game, good attendance and spirit in the bar afterwards and definitely an opening day that we can build on going forward.  Don't forget training on Wednesday, and lets go forward with confidence and our new found optomism. 

Steve Martin-Lawrence, Chairman

On Saturday, I went to watch our 8th team at Old Wilsonians.  As I don't have any captaincy responsibilities this year I am looking to spend at least one dedicated Saturday with every side this season, and so I started with the 8's.  A game in difficult conditions, our 8's were 1-0 down at half time before a storming 2nd half performance saw them bounce back to become 4-1 winners.  So what did I (and hopefuly they) learn. Well, in the 1st half there was a lot of high and long balls which simply didn't help us and a second half dominated by short pass and move more than helped our cause and was very pleasing on the eye.  It helped that Wisonians appeared to wilt more than us in the later stages of the game, although even the 8th team would agree that fitness is possibly not quite there yet.  It was good to see that most of the lads stayed afterwards and team spirit in the bar was certainly as strong as it had been on the pitch.  So an enjoyable afternoon made even better with reports of victories and strong performances from both our 1's and 5's - well done to all.

So, a promising start, but lets not get carried away.  We really need to ensure we are fully prepared for the start of the season as titles can be won and lost in the first few games.  I would therefore urge you all to make an effort to get to those last couple of training sessions and ensure we are as ready as we can be when the competitive season eventually kicks off.  I am really looking forward to the coming season, and hope that you are too, so lets make sure that we are ready and start as we mean to go on.

Steve Martin-Lawrence, Chairman