Southern Amateur League 1 - 0 Arthurian League

​The Arthurian League Rep team ended their 2024/25 season with a narrow 1-0 defeat to the Southern Amateur League at the Quintin Hogg Memorial Ground in Chiswick on Tuesday evening. With the AFC unable to raise a side to complete the three-team round-robin Argonaut Trophy, these two sides met for the second time this season, the Arthurian League having already run out comfortable 4-0 winners on a cold November night in Arkley. This proved a very different encounter, however, with the Arthurians held goalless at the break, despite enjoying the better of the early exchanges, before succumbing to a spell of a severe pressure in the opening twenty minutes of the second half. The only goal arrived courtesy of a straight ball down the middle that bisected the two centre-backs, the SAL forward keeping his composure well to wait until the last possible moment before lifting the ball over the fast closing Bowers and into the roof of the net. Despite recovering to finish the game once more on top, the Arthurians were indebted to keeper Bowers for two magnificent late saves late on that prevented an even greater margin of victory.
 
Despite the loss, the first for the Arthurians since a 5-0 defeat to Conference North side Curzon Ashton in Jersey last July, there were plenty of positives to take from the encounter for weary manager Billy Jenkins and his players and staff. With the fixture having been arranged at short notice and several events impacting the build-up - not least the tragic passing of former Old Alleynians skipper Josh Lawrence just a couple of days beforehand – it was a fine effort to cobble together a competitive squad of fourteen that once more featured several new faces eager to impress. Merlin Ferrinho (Reptonians) started at right-back with another debutant in front of him, KCS Wimbledon’s Aren Sargood. Another Reptonian, the lively Eno Nto, started up front, club teammates Jake Raine and Josh Riley, who were integral to the England side’s efforts in the UEFA Regions Cup in Finland last summer, provided prodigious support from the bench, alongside the final new boy, Old Kimboltonian Harry Darnell.
 
Conditions in southwest London were perfect with a warm evening, little to no breeze and an immaculate if slightly slow artificial pitch on the banks of the Thames. The Arthurians began brightly, especially down the left-hand side where several times overloads provided moments of danger for the SAL rearguard, the final cross just lacking the requisite quality. Once the SAL had grown into the game, play became slightly scrappy with too many long balls from both sides, all of which were comfortably dealt with by the respective back fours. With twenty minutes played, both sides then created their best chances of the half in quick succession: a long ball from left-back Tayo Felsted, who enjoyed a superb first half, freed Sam Fetherston into the box but his attempted volley flew just wide of the far post. The SAL then broke quickly up the other end, their inverted right winger, clearly their most dangerous player, cutting inside onto his favoured left foot, his low shot inside the near post smartly saved by Johnny Bowers.
 
As the half wore on, the Arthurian League gradually settled and began to play with more confidence, some lovely one and two-touch football showcasing the best of the men in white, with the evergreen Samra and Callum Holland in the middle both increasingly influential, Aren Sargood on the right coming into the game for the first time. But for all the promising football, there was little sign of an end product, with front men Eno Nto, Payne, Fetherston and Sargood all struggling to break through a doughty SAL back four. Manager Jenkins made his first changes just after the half-hour mark and five minutes before the break both the Reptonian substitutes were involved in the last chance of the half: some excellent build-up play on the left resulted in a long ball over the top for Jake Raine to run onto. The striker beat the keeper, who had rushed out of his area, to the ball, nodding it past him, but a covering defender scrambled the ball out for a throw. That was taken quickly and Josh Riley delivered into the box but Sam Fetherston was unable to find a way past a phalanx of defenders inside the six yard box, three or four shots on goal were all blocked before the danger was cleared.
 
Plenty of encouragement was forthcoming at the break, with the Arthurians generally satisfied with their first half’s work even if there was nothing to show for it on the scoreboard. But the opening twenty minutes of the second half proved a very different affair, as the SAL, for the first time in the two encounters this season, finally showed what they were capable of with a spell of suffocating pressure. The men in blue swarmed forwards at every opportunity, pinning the Whites back inside their own half, the visitors now struggling to string even a couple of simple passes together. It took only eight minutes for the pressure to tell, the only goal of the game arriving when a perfectly weighted pass straight through the middle caught Langley and Darnell too far apart, the forward running on to lift the ball over the advancing Bowers despite late pressure from retreating defenders.
 
It could and probably should have been more in the immediate aftermath, with the Kimbolton keeper twice called into action to keep the Arthurian League in the game. A flowing move from the SAL through the middle ended with a powerful shot from the edge of the box that seemed destined for the top corner until Bowers dived full length to his left to tip the ball around the post. Three minutes later and a similar intervention was required, this time the save deflecting the ball over the bar as the SAL pushed for a decisive second. A free-kick on the edge of the box offered a further opportunity but again Bowers proved up to the challenge, palming the ball onto the bar before earning a free-kick as a forward arrived rather too over-zealously.
 
Having ridden this storm, the Whites gradually worked their way back into the game, Nto and Payne returning to the action as the manager decided to push more forwards onto the pitch. The changes seemed to pay off, too, as the visitors were soon causing problems of their own. A quick break down the left saw Riley cross for Jake Raine inside the box and although his effort was blocked by the keeper at close quarters, the ball ran loose and should really have been finished only for Nto to blaze his effort wildly over the bar. Suddenly it was the Arthurians back on top, Raine narrowly missing out on a couple of occasions, drilling a shot just wide after excellent work from Nto on the right, before then heading just past the far post after a free-kick delivery from Holland.
 
Unsurprisingly, given the conditions, the final ten minutes saw the pace drop slightly and the SAL recover their composure, limiting the Whites to a couple of half-chances and no more. Indeed, the most dangerous moment arrived at the other end when the excellent SAL winger, who somewhat ironically been on the bench during his side’s spell of dominance, produced a scintillating late run, cutting inside once more before curling a shot onto the top of the bar and over.
 
With the FA Inter-League Cup re-starting once more next season, this victory will provide a badly-needed morale boost to the SAL, who must have started to develop something of an inferiority complex towards the Arthurian League given recent results between the teams. But with numerous players unavailable for this game, and plenty of newcomers pushing hard for a place in the squad, the Arthurian League will be confident that they can put up a strong defence of the title they won in such dramatic circumstances last summer. The players can now enjoy their well-deserved summer break, batteries to be recharged before the hard work starts once more come September.