How Many Were There Going From St. Ives?

When the fixtures were announced there was no doubt in my mind that I would be at Orient watching them take on promoted Chesterfield. A couple of weeks ago I had decided that I would take in Clapton's visit to Haringey Borough but having seen Clapton pummel Ealing Town in a friendly I didn't need to scratch my Clapton itch 2 games in a row.

But where to go? In the end I conducted a social media experiment. I sent a tweet to 4 clubs asking them where I should go on the first day of the season. Of the 4 it seems that Haringey Borough and Rayners Lane set up accounts and then promptly forgot about them. So no reply from them. That left Wingate & Finchley and North Greenford United. I had no reason to expect anyone to answer but if I were a betting man I would've backed Wingate as they seem to to be pretty web savvy. I was wrong. Within 5 minutes North Greenford tweeted me back telling me West London was the place to be. So, off I went.

It's a long way from zone 4 at the eastern end of the Central line to Greenford but it doesn't quite feel like the time zone traversing you need to undertake to get to Heathrow on the Piccadilly line. Greenford itself doesn't seem like anything too exciting; to be honest it's veering towards Ballardian nightmare. But once you're past the bright orange pub and the retail park that boasting Poundland as one of it's attractions it's not too bad strolling up the road with Horsenden Hill park dominating the road with the exception of an enormous kebab van. Making my way past public playing fields and an Irish social club I eventually found North Greenford United. It's a simple set up with a few seats behind one goal and cover on the half way line. It was difficult to find any locals though as almost everyone seemed to have made the trip from St Ives.

The number of clubs in London with virtually no real fanbase beyond the people actively running the clubs saddens me. It seems to be more of a problem north of the river too. The people at North Greenford seem to be doing a good job though as it's a nice place to visit. This was my first Southern League match in more than 20 years. It does seem to be a slightly gentler, less sweary league than the Isthmian. The football was good too. St Ives went in 2:0 up at half time and should have been out of sight. North Greenford will be kicking themselves after a much better second in which they scored a corker but couldn't quite level things. It's fair to say that St Ives were carrying a little excess baggage so maybe they struggled with the slope after half-time.

Ridiculous Non-League shout: One of the St Ives Town massive yelled to the ref at one point "You look like Arthur Bostrom from Allo Allo!" He really didn't either. He wasn't even moustachioed! Maybe the fan was taking the puss...

Non-League tall story: A North Greenford fan spent much of the second half remarking disbelievingly on the Britt Assombalonga transfer to Forest. He regaled everyone with the tale of Assombalonga beginning last season with Brimsdown Rovers (who ceased to exist in 2010) in the Spartan South Midland Division 2. What a meteoric rise!

You don't often see: A programme issued with an erratum sheet. Nice work correction work North Greenford.

Non-league homeliness: North Greenford's mascot is a retriever named Ted. He even gets a shout out in the programme.

Attendance: 92

I'd be happy to go again if they ordered me to do so via social media.