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| Ashton Playing Fields Image from the club Facebook page |
Meanwhile, a new version of Walthamstow Avenue was formed in 2000, playing at Town Mead in Waltham Abbey and competing in the London County League before switching to the Middlesex County Football League for the 2003–04 season.
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| Woodford Town at Harlow Arena |
Another club, Walthamstow Pennant, were absorbed by Leyton FC to become Leyton Pennant in 1995. A new Leyton was formed just to add to the confusion and cause controversy. Walthamstow Pennant was continued at a lower level and merged with Avenue to form Walthamstow Avenue & Pennant in 2005.
The new club merged with Mauritius Sports in 2007 to form Mauritius Sports & Pennant. To add further confusion, another new version of Walthamstow Avenue was set up as an Amateur Sunday League Side based in Leyton. Meanwhile, Leyton Pennant changed its name to Waltham Forest in 2003 and then to Walthamstow FC in 2018.
Mauritius Sports & Pennant FC became members of the Essex Senior League, changing their title to Mauritius Sports Association UK in 2009 and then to Haringey & Waltham Development in 2011 while sharing Coles Park with Haringey Borough. They became Greenhouse London in 2013 and then Greenhouse Sports two years later.
Another change of title, to Haringey & Waltham FC, came in 2016-17, with home games played at Terence McMillan Stadium in Newham before Woodford Town FC was adopted. The club shared the Goffs Lane home of Broxbourne Borough FC before changing venue to Barrow Farm Stadium, also known as the Harlow Arena.
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| Ashton Playing Fields |
At Harlow Arena
The road to Wembley in the greatest of all cup competitions was underway at Harlow Town, and I was glad that I eventually got talked round into going after an early shift at work. The Extra Preliminary Round was being played midweek, with all games to be decided on penalties if the scores were level after ninety minutes.
There had been a ban on spectators at games under COVID-19 regulations for long enough. My regular travelling pal and driver, Tony, texted me while I was at work. We'd already been to the venue a few times, but we would have only been sitting around at home. I think we were both hoping the other would push for a trip out.
It was good to catch up after being collected at Stanmore for the trip on the A1, M25 and M11, which were all very quiet, especially for a Bank Holiday. We couldn't work out why this was the only tie on the day, with all others the following two nights. Sure enough, a bumper crowd turned out. Tracking and tracing were done through the Eve Pass App.
That system had also been favoured by Kings Langley the previous Saturday, though cash was the means of payment at the turnstile. We took up a place on the far side, where there was a pleasant surprise, as John, my Hendon supporting pal and Trust board member, had decided to take a ride.
The perfect artificial playing surface and pleasant weather helped make it a decent game. Woodford were cheered on by some enthusiastic fans over in the seats, though I wasn't sure about the cacophony of three drums being beaten for the whole match, but it was good to see clubs getting support.
I was slightly surprised at the proximity of fans next to each other in the seats. The covered section option was out of bounds and used for subs. The queues for catering were well marshalled, with staff adding milk and sugar to stop multiple use of cutlery.
The hosts were reduced to ten men after an otherwise classy centre back, Evangelos Empochontsif, dropped his mate Shaye La-Rose in it with some sloppiness, leading an onrushing forward to be tripped. The Colney players surrounded the referee, who showed a straight red card.
The visitors took the lead from a goalkeeping error to allow Ibrahima Kalil to score. Gradually, Town rebuilt and went down the tunnel for the break, all square after a goal from substitute Luke Parrott after half an hour. Woodford deservedly went through to the next round on their second-half showing.
Another keeping error aided Rigert Rama to put his side ahead ten minutes after the interval. But there would be nothing anybody could do about the goal that clinched it. Parrott went on a jinking, incisive run before smashing the ball home. It was a goal of the highest quality. His team strolled through the rest of the game playing some very pleasant football to the eye.
The red card was probably on the harsh side, but the ref did well to keep a lid on mounting emotions towards the end, which slightly spilt over after the full-time whistle before order was restored. I gave Tony some gentle ribbing on the way home after he had succumbed to Step-5 and Step-6 instead of his every home and away game with West Ham for the immediate future.
He had previously laughed at me for attending such games and maintaining that he wouldn't be bothered about going to any. I knew I'd snare him in the end, though my threat of introducing him to real ale and the Socialist Worker may have been a while away yet. At least if his reply was anything to go by!
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