Non-League and Academy football writer

Wood Lane FC’s senior team play their football in Division One (North & West) of the Middlesex Football League. With a very youthful senior team, Wood Lane are a very talented side, who are doing ever so well in all competitions, so far this season (they are still unbeaten in all competitions, so far this season). Hamza is the Under 16s coach at Wood Lane, but he is also a big supporter of the Wood Lane senior team, seeing a lot of their matches. I recently spoke to Hamza, about Wood Lane, their fairly recent step into the FA pyramid, as well as a bit about this real community football club in general. 

Could you talk me through a bit about your background in football, prior to joining Wood Lane FC? 

Hamza: Prior to joining Wood Lane I would say that I was just a casual football fan. I played a bit of 11-a-side football in the Camden Youth League, but nothing too special. To be honest, I just wanted to help out in the community, and that was why I decided to join Wood Lane. I actually used to play for Wood Lane before they were even called Wood Lane, when they just used to play football in the local area. After finishing university I had a bit of spare time, and one of my nephews started to play for Wood Lane, and so I then ended up taking him to the club, and so I offered to coach the youngsters on a Saturday. So that was how it started really. 

Could you talk me through a bit about the history of Wood Lane FC, since the club was founded?

Hamza: Wood Lane transitioned in 2022 from what it was called before, into the current Wood Lane FC. In our first year we were playing in the Islington Midweek League, starting in Division Two. And then we ended up asking some of the youngsters who had played for us in the youth leagues during the previous season, and also some other players from the local area, places like Shepherds Bush and White City, to play for us. So we ended up playing in the Islington Midweek League, as well as the three cups that come with it. Also, we were in the London FA Saturday Junior Cup, which we won during the 2022/23 season. We lost one game in the league during that 2022/23 season, but we won every single cup competition that we were involved in that season, in our first year of running the men’s team.

After that high of winning the five trophies during the men’s team’s first ever season, we had some difficulties, with players no longer able to play for the team, as well as the manager leaving. Last season we joined the Middlesex Football League for the first time, and we also kept on playing in the Islington Midweek League. So it was a bit of a turbulent time for the club last season (2023/24), and after that great 2022/23 season, we decided to withdraw from the Middlesex League. Since rejoining the Middlesex League for this season, we’ve probably got the youngest senior squad in the league this season, with the average age of the team being around 20.

What have been some of your standout memories of being at Wood Lane FC, so far?

Hamza: The best memory for the club was beating Goldfingers FC in the final of the London FA Saturday Junior Cup, at Bromley FC (Wood Lane won 2-1). We scored a very late winning goal, to win the final.

What are some of your thoughts on how the current 2024/25 season for Wood Lane FC is going in the Middlesex League Division One (North & West)?

Hamza: We haven’t played as many games as a lot of the other teams in our league, because we went on a tour during the season, to Saudi Arabia. We went on a pilgrimage there, as a lot of our players are Muslim. We then went to Qatar, to play two professional Under 23 teams, and we won both of those games. One of the games we won 3-1, and the other game we won 2-1, getting a very late goal to win that game. I think that the senior team is doing really well in the league this season. Even though some of the teams are bigger than us and will try and intimidate us on the pitch, I think that for a young side, that last season was a real learning curve. But this season we’ve come out flying, to be honest with you. I’d say that our toughest game so far this season was against Harrow Bhoys, when we drew 1-1 with them (away). We beat Beckenham by a lot of goals (15) in the early rounds of the London FA Saturday Junior Cup. 

So just seeing the lads in the senior team, and the confidence and hunger that they have shown already this season is brilliant.

Since being part of the Middlesex League, who would you say (for their quality) has been the toughest team that Wood Lane has faced?

Hamza: I would have to say SL Benfica. When we played them last season it was a really good game, but they would definitely be the toughest team that the senior team has faced, so far.

Could you talk me through some of your memories of that 2022/23 London FA Saturday Junior Cup win? And also, the run-up to the final?

Hamza: During that run to the final we were often missing a lot of our players on a Saturday. We won our first game in the competition (we were missing a lot of players for that game) in east London, and then at Hackney Marshes we won our second game, with a squad of only 11 players. That was a tough game on a rainy day, and we just about won that game. Then in the next round we played against Catford, winning 3-0, before playing Soul. Once again, we didn’t have much of a squad for that game, but one of our youth players scored from the half-way line in that game, which changed the game. We played a team from Kingston in the semi-finals, and we were winning 1-0 in that game, before they improved a lot in the second half, when they went 2-1 ahead. One of our strikers scored a last minute free-kick over the goalkeeper, from 30 yards out, to take it to extra time. We won the game on penalties 4-3.

In the final against Goldfingers, we pretty much packed out the stadium with a lot of people supporting Wood Lane in that game. It was an incredible atmosphere in that cup final, and that last minute winner was just a brilliant feeling.

What are some of your personal hopes for the rest of this 2024/25 season for Wood Lane, as a supporter of Wood Lane first team’s step 8 side?

Hamza: Hopefully we can win our league and get promoted to step 7. If we can do that with the current players (some of the Wood Lane players have been at the club for a long time), then that would be amazing.

Could you describe to me what style of football that Wood Lane’s senior team likes to play?

Hamza: We like to play a high line, and press the defence high up the pitch. We like to get on the ball, and play quickly, giving it to our wingers (we have two quality wingers). So we play with a lot of width, and we also like to squeeze teams up the pitch with the way that we play football. I would compare our football as a mixture of Jurgen Klopp and Mikel Arteta’s football. With that high pressing football style.

What are some of your personal hopes for the future, for Wood Lane FC?

Hamza: I would love to see more of the same to be honest with you. So I’d like to see more players progressing from the youth team, into the senior team. And hopefully we can climb up the footballing pyramid and get to the Middlesex Premier Division. So I hope that we can just consistently grow the club, and there’s a lot of things that we do off the pitch, such as summer workshops and a lot of local community work outside of football, as well.