Non-League and Academy football writer

Once again there were a number of Middlesex County Football League fixtures that were postponed on Saturday, because of the freezing weather conditions. However, in the Premier Division of the Middlesex League, four matches took place. Hilltop Reserves would play their home fixture against Hayes & Hillingdon at Christ College, in Finchley. It was the away side, Hayes & Hillingdon, who won this game 6-2, as they moved up into second place in the league table. Charlie Casey, Luke Baldwin (he got a brace of goals), Zakharia Belbachir, and Conor Gleeson (he scored two goals), got Hayes & Hillingdon’s goals on the day. In east London, at West Ham Memorial Ground, Jolof Sports recorded a 2-2 draw with Kensington Dragons. And also in the Premier Division, Camden & Islington United came back from two goals down (thanks to two goals from Clement Jeans, and a goal from Ryan Pickles), to win 3-2 away to London Tigers.

The final game from the Premier Division of the Middlesex League on Saturday afternoon, saw league leaders SL Benfica win 3-2 against Stonewall, in a high scoring game of football at West Ham Memorial Ground (this fixture was reversed to Stonewall’s home ground, because of the weather). Stonewall had been leading 2-0, but goals from Rafael Barbosa Dos Santos (he has now scored 17 league goals, so far this season), Egidio Mahmoud, and Filipe Souza Barros Ferreira, meant that Benfica continue their really fine league form. In the Division One (East & Central), I was in attendance for the fixture between Alexandra Knights and Stonewall Reserves, which the away side won 4-0 (you can read my in-depth match report from that game, here – https://nonleagueandacademyfootballwriter.co.uk/2025/01/11/alexandra-knights-fc-0-4-stonewall-reserves-my-match-report-from-edmonton-county-school/). 

Also in the Division One (East & Central), FC Marylebone moved up to the top of the table, with a 4-1 home win over FC Wood Green, at Paddington Recreation Ground. Jevonte Deabreau scored a hat-trick, on Saturday. He now has 17 league goals from ten appearances so far this season. Also at the Paddington Recreation Ground, Soccer Stars Fennecs Ascenders recorded a 4-1 victory over Camden & Islington United Reserves. In the Division One (South & West), the only game taking place in that division at the weekend, came from Gunnersbury Park Sports Hub, as Sporting Duet Academy recorded a 4-0 home win over Ruislip Town. The winners from that match currently lead in the table by two points to second place Harrow United, who have played one game less than them.

Two games would go ahead in the Division One (North & West), despite the freezing cold weather conditions on Saturday. The current leaders of the North & West division, Bloomsbury FC, would win 3-1 against a good Brook House Reserves side, at the weekend. Bloomsbury’s top goalscorer this season, Nathan Mandla, Louis Warnes, and Harley Keogh-Thomas would get Bloomsbury’s goals on the day. And finally, Celtic (1995) FC would lose 2-1 at home to FH Whistlers, in the same division of the Middlesex League. I’m probably going to attend two Essex Alliance Football League matches next Saturday afternoon, however, my highlighted Middlesex Football League game of next Saturday (the 18th of January), is a Division One North & West fixture between two title hopefuls of that division, in Wood Lane and Bloomsbury, at the London Tigers Sports Complex. That should be a fantastic game of football.