ECONOMICALS AFC

Economicals 4ths

Captain: Stuart Lock 07790024815

League table Black and white striped shirts, black shorts, black socks

Date	L/C	H/A	Opposition	Result	Scorers
25/09/04	L	H	BBC III	1-0	Stuart L
02/10/04	L	A	Old Woking VIII	4-3	Errol (2), Rich P, Andy M
16/10/04	C	H	Bromleians IV	3-0	Mungo, Stuart L, Rich L
30/10/04	L	H	Old Grams V	2-1	Oslo, Andy M
13/11/04	C	A	Old Tiffs V	2-8	Errol, Rich L
20/11/04	L	H	St Mary IV	4-1	Rich L (2), Errol, Stuart L
27/11/04	L	A	Reigatians VI	9-1	Rich L (3), Errol (2), Andy (2), Stu, og
04/12/04	L	H	Old Woking VIII	6-1	Stuart L (2), Rich L (2), Errol, Oslo
11/12/04	L	A	Old Dorkinians V	1-1	Errol
08/01/05	L	A	St Mary IV	2-1	Doug, Rich L
15/01/05	L	H	Old Tiffs VI	2-1	Andy M, Joss
22/01/05	L	A	Guildford IV	2-6	Mark M, Rich P
05/02/05	L	A	BBC III	1-0	Errol
12/02/05	L	H	Reigatians VI	1-2	Andy M
19/02/05	L	H	Guildford IV	1-3	Mungo
12/03/05	L	H	Dorkingians V	0-5
02/04/05	L	A	Old Gramms V	6-2	Dave G, Doug, Fran, Lock, Andy M, Rich L
16/04/05	L	H	Wandsw'th III	2-2	Andy M, Rich L
	L	H	Wandsw'th III	1-2	Andy M
23/04/05	L	A	Old Tiffs VI	0-1

25/09/04	Team	☻	Economicals IV 1 BBC III 0
1	Abudy Taha		The new-look IVs put the BBC's dad's army to the sword with a convincing 1-0 win against a side that only lost once last year. The fourths have a revolutionary new look this season following the startling introduction of a host of players in their 20s, which has left the assorted 30 and 40-somethings of recent seasons resignedly locating their nearest gym in an effort to stay in the team. Despite the new blood, it was left to the captain marvel Stuart Lock to provide the killer instinct, hammering the ball home from a full two yards out midway through the first half. His attempt to double the advantage by winning a penalty with a blatant dive was correctly laughed at. Abudy made one brilliant save, but had very little to do, and the Comics should have won more handsomely, with only a lack of composure in front of goal preventing a more emphatic win, in a game that bodes very well for the season.
2	Joss Sheldon
3	Mick Brennan
4	Jon Pearson
5	Doug Hancock
6	Matt Walsh
7	James Mungovan
8	Stuart Lock	☻
9	Rich Lomas
10	Andy Mendelson
11	Simon Glennie
12	Richard Prothero
13	Dave Gibbs

02/10/04	Team	☻	Old Wokingians VII 3 Economicals IV 4
1	Abudy Taha		Last year we won 4 games out of 18. The new-look 4ths have now won half that in two games, both against decent oppo. We were lucky to only be 2-0 down at half time. The second half started with Errol showing himself to be deadly from 3 yards for the first time since...well ever! Andy then hit the post from 25 yards and had started his celebrations before realising that the ball actually hadn't crossed the line. Richard equalised with a sweet volley and from then on there was only going to be one winner. I must need laser surgery, because I swear it went through the keeper's hands, but Richard claimed it hit the top corner. The day belonged to Errol, as a turn and good finish made it 3-2, and saw the biggest celebration of the day. This was mainly because everyone was so surprised - Errol has now scored more goals in one game than...well ever! Again. Andy scored as they were pushing forward and they got (another) consolation in the last minute, but more like the second half and we could have a good go at this league.
2	Joss Sheldon
3	Paul Gannon
4	Jon Pearson
5	Doug Hancock
6	Matt Walsh
7	Dave Gibbs
8	Stuart Lock
9	Errol McGlothan	☻☻
10	Andy Mendelson	☻
11	Simon Glennie
12	Richard Prothero	☻
13	Mick Brennan
14	Darren Davidson

16/10/04	Team	☻	Economicals IV 3 Old Bromleians IV 0
1	Tobias Julen		The first time in memory that the 4ths have been drawn against a team from a division lower than them and the result showed that difference. It wasn't as comfortable as the scoreline suggests, though. 0-0 at half time, and with the opposition creating the better chances, we could have been heading for a premature exit. Then from a loose ball Mungo drove a low shot into the bottom corner from 20 yards, and we looked comfortable. A comedy goal where Rich Lomas received the ball two yards out via a clearance and their defender's bollocks (didn't stop some idiot claiming it was off-side) made it two, and a Lock finish from Rich Lomas' pass only really made the game safe with ten minutes to go. A satisfactory performance, but improvement necessary if we want the success we're starting to talk about. Nonetheless, the fourths have never started the season with three wins before. May it continue in two weeks' time.
2	Joss Sheldon
3	Mick Brennan
4	Paul Gannon
5	Doug Hancock
6	Richard Prothero
7	Dave Gibbs
8	Rich Lomas	☻
9	Errol McGlothan
10	James Mungovan	☻
11	Simon Glennie
12	Stuart Lock	☻
13	Nic Stavnes

30/10/04	Team	☻	Economicals IV 2 Old Grammarians V 1
1	Menno Faulkner		With Lock on his honeymoon, Jon Pearson was granted the illustrious position of skipper. Whether he will get the nod again is another thing - turning up 15 minutes after kick-off with the keeper in your car is not a good start! Menno volunteered to start in goal and we began well with Gibbs hitting the post. The game was pretty evenly matched, with Grammarians threatening from set pieces, while Andy and Rich L caused their defence problems with their movement. Their goal came from a well struck free-kick and we went in undeservedly a goal down. As has been the case all season, we are a far stronger side in the second half and put them under pressure from the off. Tobi went into goal with Menno coming into midfield, and his corner was bundled in at the far post by Oslo via his knee. Gramms came back a bit more into the game but apart from a free header their front two rarely threatened. Our winner came from some decent work by Rich L, whose shot hit the post and was this time bundled in by Andy. Again a good performance against some decent opposition, while maintaining our 100% record without Locky! - a good afternoon all round.
2	Joss Sheldon
3	Nic Stavnes	☻
4	Paul Gannon
5	Matt Walsh
6	Rich Prothero
7	Simon Glennie
8	Dave Gibbs
9	Andy Mendelson	☻
10	Rich Lomas
11	James Mungovan
12	Tobi Julen
13	Jon Pearson

13/11/04	Team	☻	Old Tiffinians V 8 Economicals IV 2
1	Abudy Taha		Cup game versus Old Tiffs V, two divisions higher. Once again, captain Locky was missing in action, last seen heading off on a coach with a bunch of schoolchildren, so it was left to Jon P to give the team talk that highlighted it was about time the fourths had a decent run in the cup. Sadly this was not to be. Despite a promising opening 10 mins in which Comics were camped out in Old Tiffs' half, a failure to put away chances was then followed by some sloppy defending so that we were 2-0 down after 20 mins. What followed was much of the same, reasonable ball possession, no chances taken (despite hitting the woodwork twice) and more sloppy defending. 5-0 down at half time and we were now playing for a bit of pride. The second half was better and Rich L and Errol scored good goals. They were a good team and deserved to go through - on another day......cut out poor defending and bury some chances and it could have been a different story. Oh well, we wanted to concentrate on the league, the worst part was telling Stuart the score. Roll on the next league game.
2	Joss Sheldon
3	Simon Glennie
4	Jon Pearson
5	Richard Prothero
6	Doug Hancock
7	Dave Gibbs
8	James Mungovan
9	Errol McGlothan
10	Rich Lomas
11	Menno Faulkner
12	Andy Mendelson

20/11/04	Team	☻	Economicals IV 4 Old St Mary IV 1
1	Abudy Taha		The 4ths returned to league action with some key players missing, but were determined to show the cup game was just a blip, and within 15 minutes had a two-goal lead with St Mary's barely touching the ball. Rich Lomas beat a defender skillfully and placed the first to open the scoring, and Errol doubled the advantage when he powered home. St Mary's came back into the game after 20 minutes but the Comics still looked on the more likely to score. Several chances came and went with Joss hitting the bar. 5 minutes before half time the ball dropped to Stuart who saw his 25 yard shot hit the bottom corner. A good goal, but overshadowed a minute or so later when the St Mary's midfielder hit a 30-yarder into Abudy's top corner. The game felt comfortable with Dave Gibbs in particular having an outstanding game in front of a confident looking back four, and by the time Rich L had added the fourth deep into the second half, in truth a combination of better decisions when breaking and more clinical finishing (or decent chances not falling to the likes of Joss) could have seen us hit close to double figures in a game which proves we are one of the contenders for this league.
2	Joss Sheldon
3	Simon Glennie
4	Jon Pearson
5	Richard Prothero
6	Nic Stavnes
7	Dave Gibbs
8	Stuart Lock	☻
9	Errol McGlothan	☻
10	Rich Lomas	☻☻
11	Mick Brennan
12	Doug Hancock
13	Andy Mendelson

27/11/04	Team	☻	Old Reigatians VI 1 Economicals IV 9
1	Tobi Julen		A record non-ringer 4th team scoreline doesn't tell the full tale of this sorry affair. The Comics scored only once in the first half (going down Everest) and were at their worst in any league game of the season. The poor performance may not have been noticeable if some of the decent chances had been taken, but to be fair to Proth, I don't think he was attempting to miss all three. Three substitutions at half time, but after 10 minutes the score was still 1-0. We finally took a couple of chances before a 65 year old chain smoker (I joke not) who had apparently been at school with Scholesy ghosted past Errol to give them their second goal of the season. To be fair to Errol, he only allowed him ten minutes to take his shot. Rather than their goal spurring them on, they seemed to collapse, and we finished the game scoring for fun, with the majority of the goals coming in the final quarter of an hour.
2	Joss Sheldon
3	Mick Brennan
4	Jon Pearson
5	Richard Prothero
6	Paul Gannon
7	Dave Gibbs
8	Stuart Lock	☻☻
9	Errol McGlothan	☻☻
10	Andy Mendelson	☻☻
11	Simon Glennie
12	Rich Lomas	☻☻☻
13	Mark McDonald
14	Doug Hancock

04/12/04	Team	☻	Economicals IV 6 Old Wokingians VIII 1
1	Abudy Taha		On the face of it a comfortable and satisfying victory, and for the first 20 minutes it was shaping up to be one of our best performances of the season. Passes were finding feet, the defence looked solid, and we fashioned an excellent goal. Then Jon twisted his knee and had to go off in some considerable pain, and we were awarded a free-kick (an admittedly dodgy decision) somewhere near the half-way line. We scored from the free kick and a number of the oppo went to pieces, shouting at the ref and quite frankly displaying the most appalling attitude. From there, one of their players left the pitch, their keeper decided to use any opportunity he could to foul our strikers in the most disgusting way possible (this was the same player who had specifically requested prior to the game that people refrain from 'diving in' because they had had a serious injury the week before), and they neglected to carry on playing the game in any meaningful sense. We strolled to an easy victory, but it was most unsatisfactory. To be fair, it wasn't all their players who chucked their toys out of the pram (indeed, many looked embarrassed at their team-mate's behaviour), but the reality is that some players ruined everyone's afternoon. Still, 3 points is 3 points, and if we perform like at the start of the game we can beat anyone.
2	Joss Sheldon
3	Mark McDonald
4	Jon Pearson
5	Richard Prothero
6	Nic Stavnes	☻
7	Dave Gibbs
8	Stuart Lock	☻☻
9	Errol McGlothan	☻
10	Andy Mendelson
11	Rich Lomas	☻☻
12	Simon Glennie
13	Mick Brennan
14	Doug Hancock

11/12/04

Team

☻

Old Dorkinians V 1 Economicals IV 1

Abudy Taha

There's no question that this has to be regarded as two points dropped against an inferior side, but the most frustrating aspect of this result was the number of chances we failed to convert. Even in a first half where we played poorly, there were several chances that came and went: Oslo was clean through, Menno's shot blocked from a good position, Rich Lomas dragged a 10 yard shot wide, Stuart half-volleying over (understatement) when well placed and had a header cleared off the line. They took the lead after about half an hour from one of the worst goals you'll ever see - Abudy tried to grab the ball half a dozen times and it was forced in from about a yard. Straight from the restart Simon took it round their entire side, Maradona-esque, but was Rosenthal-esque with the finish. As has become common, the fourths were a better side in the second half, and spent virtually the entire time camped in their half, creating a number of good chances. Menno missed the best of them when clean through with the keeper committed, but just as it looked like it really wasn't going to be our day, Errol scored after 5 times controlling the ball from a yard out. A disappointing point, but without the late goal it could've been a lot worse.

Joss Sheldon

Simon Glennie

Fran Murray

Richard Prothero

Nic Stavnes

Dave Gibbs

Stuart Lock

Errol McGlothan

☻

Andy Mendelson

Rich Lomas

Mick Brennan

08/01/05	Team	☻	Old St Mary IV 1 Economicals IV 2
1	Abudy Taha		The sign of a championship team is when you play badly and still win. That's been heard before, but it probably doesn't matter as we were far worse than bad for the majority of this game. We beat an ageing and poor St Mary's side via a couple of scrappy goals, but we are very lucky to have our unbeaten record intact. On a bobbly pitch we struggled to control the ball, too often being caught in possession and winning few 50/50 challenges, and when Doug slotted home a rebound we reflected at half-time that we were unjustly 1-0 up. The only really positive period of the game was at the start of the second half, and after Richard's neat finish we should, with the ability in our team, have finished the game off . The truth is that St Mary's scored a good goal to get back into it, and could easily have had more than one . The midfield, Gibbs excepted, was absent throughout the game and is much indebted to Richard and Fran for their composure at the back, given the pressure exerted on them. Big improvements necessary in fitness and commitment. It's a big game next week and we'll get tanked playing like that!
2	Joss Sheldon
3	Mick Brennan
4	Fran Murray
5	Richard Prothero
6	Nic Stavnes
7	Dave Gibbs
8	Stuart Lock
9	Rich Lomas	☻
10	Menno Faulkner
11	Doug Hancock	☻
12	Simon Glennie
13	Andy Mendelson

15/01/05	Team	☻	Economicals IV 2 Old Tiffinians VI 1
1	Abudy Taha		Against the strongest team we've faced this season, the 4ths took a massive step towards the league title and/or promotion with a hard-fought victory. It didn't look good as it took us ten minutes to get into the Tiffs half at the start, and they threatened throughout the game with long throws which threatened the goal from anywhere inside our half. Nonetheless, despite a large amount of possession, our defence stayed strong and they didn't have many chances. Proth, Ganno, Mark McDonald and Joss had immense games. About 20 minutes in, Rich Lomas received the ball near the half way line and backheeled it into Andy's path. A cool finish meant we were 1-0 up. Lomas then shot over from 8 yards, and forced a sharp save from the keeper. Tiffs had two powerful shots blocked. Just before half-time, a cruel deflection from a powerful shot beat Abudy to send us in at the half level. Both teams were up for it in the second half, and Tiffs hit the woodwork twice, as well as us clearing one off the line. With two minutes left, Joss took a corner, and following a header and a number of challenges, Joss himself forced the ball home with the keeper on the ground. A very important victory achieved through hard work and commitment.
2	Joss Sheldon	☻
3	Paul Gannon
4	Mark McDonald
5	Richard Prothero
6	Nic Stavnes
7	Dave Gibbs
8	Stuart Lock
9	Rich Lomas
10	James Mungovan
11	Andy Mendelson	☻
12	Fran Murray
13	Doug Hancock
14	Errol McGlothan

22/01/05	Team	☻	Old Guildfordians IV Economicals IV 6
1	Abudy Taha		A poor side beat a worse one as the 4ths never got going after a long trip to Guildford. On this evidence, the title will not be ours or theirs. We were outfought, outplayed and outclassed - but they didn't have to do much to beat us as we just didn't play. Rich Prothero and James Mungovan played well but too many players had an off day, and they were 3-0 up within 30 minutes. Their player was allowed to head the ball at chest height from a corner, and minutes later for the second we were unable to close their player down from the 18 yard box. The third was a comedy of errors. We simply had nothing to our game except the long ball, and their fat centre-midfielder sat in front of the defence and ran the game. Mark McDonald scored a good headed goal from a free-kick just before the half. Though we thought we'd get back into it, a sustained period of pressure came to nothing and they scored a fourth from a break. Midway through the second half, with all subs used, Ganno got injured and we finished the game with ten men. Somewhere between these events, Proth scored from a corner - and his performance deserved that goal, but overall the team got what they deserved - sod all. Good luck to Joss travelling South America - see you next year in Div 8 (if we can shake this performance off).
2	Joss Sheldon
3	Paul Gannon
4	Mark McDonald	☻
5	Richard Prothero	☻
6	Nic Stavnes
7	Fran Murray
8	Stuart Lock
9	Rich Lomas
10	Errol McGlothan
11	Andy Mendelson
12	James Mungovan
13	Doug Hancock
14	Simon Glennie

05/02/05	Team	☻	BBC III 0 Economicals IV 1
1	Abudy Taha		There has never been a goal so peppered, and at 1-0, you never know, but this victory was more than confident. Against BBC's ten men, we had lots of space, the vast majority of possession, and hundreds of chances (for Errol) plus dozens more. Errol scored after passing to the keeper from six yards without another player from either side in the area. The keeper passed it back to him and he put it in. Every player except for Abudy missed a chance, and against a better side we may have paid for it, but this was an easy 1-0. Abudy did have one serious save to make; their striker clean through from a break hit it very hard, but he saved well. Seven to go. We're still very much in it.
2	Will Taylor
3	Gav Russell
4	Harry Stoakes
5	Richard Prothero
6	Dave Gibbs
7	James Mungovan
8	Stuart Lock
9	Rich Lomas
10	Errol McGlothan	☻
11	Andy Mendelson
12	Mick Brennan
13	Doug Hancock

12/02/05	Team	☻	Economicals IV 1 Old Reigatians VI 2
1	Abudy Taha		Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Some thinking to do and changes to be made if we're going to get any more points this year. There was nothing good about this performance and we must start to take chances.
2	Tobi Julen
3	Mick Brennan
4	Richard Prothero
5	Fran Murray
6	Dave Gibbs
7	Nic Stavnes
8	James Gray
9	Errol McGlothan
10	Rich Lomas
11	James Mungovan
12	Andy Mendelson	☻
13	Stuart Lock

19/02/05	Team	☻	Economicals IV 1 Old Guildfordians IV 3
1	Abudy Taha		Three losses in the last four has ruined our championship chances and decimated promotion hopes. In reality, this wasn't the worst performance of late and until the last few minutes we were in it. Not taking chances was again our downfall, though there weren't as many as usual. We have also lost an entire back four, and seven or eight players good enough to start to injury or moving jobs. They scored first when all three of our centre midfielders went missing, and we were lucky to go in level after Mungo took our only really good chance of the half. The second half started better, but after five minutes they scored another soft goal . Stuart, Errol and Rich Lomas then bottled our three best chances, and in pushing forward they scored another with the disorganisation that accompanied a poorly disseminated change of formation. Their captain admitted that we were unrecognisable (in performance rather than personnel) from the team that travelled there a month ago, and had we taken our chances, we would have won. It was unpleasant to finish the game with players on our own side bawling and swearing at each other - and while we desperately want to win every match, it can only be hoped that we can also regain some of the team spirit we have showed through the majority of the season.
2	Mick Brennan
3	Doug Hancock
4	Richard Prothero
5	Amol Mandrekar
6	Dave Gibbs
7	Stuart Lock
8	Nic Stavnes
9	Andy Mendelson
10	Rich Lomas
11	James Mungovan	☻
12	Errol McGlothan

12/03/05	Team	☻	Economicals IV 0 Old Dorkingians V 5
1	Abudy Taha		We had the better of the first half, with the wind, and should have been at least two goals to the good. They were delighted to be level at half time. Second half? They wanted it more and we had too many passengers. Despite that it was 0-0 until 70 minutes gone, and 5-0 is harsh, but the better team won. Time to start planning for next season then.
2	Mick Brennan
3	Doug Hancock
4	Anil Patel
5	Gav Russell
6	Jez Healy
7	Stuart Lock
8	Nic Stavnes
9	Andy Mendelson
10	Rich Lomas
11	James Mungovan
12	Tobi Julen

02/04/05	Team	☻	Old Grammarians VI 2 Economicals IV 6
1	Abudy Taha		The return to form took until the second half but this was an easy victory in the end. We deservedly went 1-0 down after starting slowly, but Gibbs' first goal for 3 years - from a yard - got us level and Doug scored from a similar distance but and impossible angle to put us up. They equalised from a penalty and it was 2-2 at half-time, and we weren't playing well. In the second half we had the slope, we started to win the ball, and Abudy barely touched the ball; it was one-way traffic. A throw in and two flick-ons (from Stuart and Oslo) gave Fran an easy chance from a yard out, and a similar move a few minutes later with the single flick from Oslo presented Stuart with an almost identical finish for 4-2. Andy M then turned in a keeper fumble and there was still time for Rich Lomas to beat two defenders and rifle in from ten yards - the first goal from further out than a than a yard. Rather than shooting from 20 yards plus every time we approached their goal, taking more considered options really paid off, and this could have been double figures if the best chances hadn't fell to Gibbs. Oslo's introduction in the second half made a big difference - battling, tough and the best player on the pitch for that half. We can actually still get promoted and we must aim to win our last three games.
2	Mick Brennan
3	Doug Hancock
4	Mark McDonald
5	Rich Prothero
6	Dave Gibbs
7	Stuart Lock
8	Fran Murray
9	Andy Mendelson
10	Rich Lomas
11	James Mungovan
12	Nic Stavnes

16/04/05

Team

☻

Economicals IV 2/1 Wandsworth Boro 2/2

Tobi Julen

Two nil down after half an hour against the best side we've played this year and it wasn't looking fun. The fact that these were a bunch of wankers (though an unbeaten bunch of wankers who'd also won the cup) and were intent on kicks, threats and general twatishness made it an even less enjoyable afternoon, but coming back to 2-2 via an Andy M goal and a cool Lomas finish (after he turned the same player about 6 times) was sweeter. That may deny them the league title. Good if it does.

1-0 up at half time but exhausted, it'd have been daylight robbery if we'd got anything out of this game, but we could have. Several players wanted to come off at half time but we battled on. They won an ugly contest. Stuart was concussed. Andy M scored a similar goal to in the last game, but in reality they were the better side. Shouting "you ginger prick" at one of our players or deliberately attempting to injure players means that this lot will not be missed from our division.

Mick Brennan

Doug Hancock

Joe LSE

Rich Prothero

Dave Gibbs

Stuart Lock

Fran Murray

Andy Mendelson

☻☻

Rich Lomas

☻

James Mungovan

Nic Stavnes

Paul Gannon

Emmo

23/04/05	Team	☻	Old Tiffinians VI 1 Economicals IV 0
1	Abudy Taha		The season ended with a defeat to an understrength Tiffs side who scored a spoony goal while we had ten men and Lock sweating ethanol. There were plenty of chances for us to score despite our inability to pass to one another, but it was one of those days. Lomas missed the easiest of chances from two yards, we hit the bar, and Andy missed a couple of gilt-edged ones. Mungo passed when scoring would have been simple. The plus points were that they really didn't look dangerous up front - and a large part of that must be because of our defence having another good day, and this team will be stronger in September - and must be considered the favourites for the league title next year.
2	Mick Brennan
3	Doug Hancock
4	Paul Gannon
5	Rich Prothero
6	Nic Stavnes
7	Stuart Lock
8	Fran Murray
9	Andy Mendelson
10	Rich Lomas
11	James Mungovan