Congratulations to EBOG's 1sts who are now certain of promotion after their 8th win in a row. They need only a draw next week in their final game at Lloyds to deservedly go up as champions. It wasn’t easy or pretty this week. Crouch End were out to spoil the party and closed down quickly with some aggressive and in some cases late and unnecessary tackling. Our players and particularly those up front showed an excellent temperament just getting up and getting on with it. If they’ve learnt nothing else this season it is that retaliation is a mugs game. Often the intention of a defender is to provoke the forward and get him sent off. You don’t win games when your short of players and you lose a lot of football if you’re sent off. Hopefully the 1sts will take this greater maturity into next season and get a good start in Division 1. They may even have to consider going training!

The 2nds couldn’t have had a better start against the top side moving quickly into a 2-0 lead before conceding a killer goal a few seconds from half-time. After that Acton went up a gear and put us in our place, but it was a good sign that we had them very worried. To avoid relegation, we now have to win our 3 remaining games and hope that others don’t.

It was a big day for 3bog in the first ever SAL Cup Final for an EBOG side. They couldn’t have had a bigger challenge because they were up against undoubtedly the strongest 3rd team in AFA football and we were the only side to have taken any points from them in the League. The SAL couldn’t have found a venue much further away than Beckenham, Kent so it was a railway journey for our squad which included Darren Barker ‘fresh’ from his fight the previous night.

The game didn’t start well and we allowed Nottsborough to speed to a 3-0 by half-time. However, 3bog don’t give up that easily and the fighting spirit which has served them well all season enabled them to force the game into extra time including the usual Captain’s goal. It was only in the second half of extra time that they finally cracked and conceded two more goals. They can look back on an excellent season, however, as the EBOG team playing at the highest level.

Once again drop-outs ruined the 4ths chances but on this occasion many were from their own team. They are slipping away from the top into mid-table anonymity.

Similarly the 5ths were much changed but it was still galling to lose to a last minute penalty. The Crouch End pitch was so bad the Ref offered to call it off!

The 6ths were mostly the 7ths but were still unlucky to lose both matches. There was a guest appearance from Tim & Terry Ellis the latter visiting from north Yorkshire after a spell in Australia.

All the drop-outs caused the cancellation of the 7ths who had less matches left than the 8ths. A much changed 8th team just couldn’t quite get the goals against the bottom side and inherit their position!

Good news for 8th’s Captain Matt Freeman who had a suspected broken leg during the mid-week match but it turned out to be a badly damaged muscle. We sent two more to Barnet General on Saturday: a Crouch End Vamp with a bad gash on the shin and Sean Carroll with a dislocated shoulder. Sean returned with his drinking arm in a sling - an alarming development just before the Dinner!

For more information on EBOG FC, visit our website www.ebog.co.uk