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By comparison, the 1st team game was a bit of an anti-climax although it looks as though it confirms OEs as champions and us in 6th place. The 1st XI entertains the champions in a return game at the Club next Saturday with pride at stake. There will also be a select XI playing an East Barnet school XI at the same time, so lots to watch in what will hopefully be similar weather. Congratulations to West Wickham who appear to have won Division 1 rather easily.

A number of Old Owens supporters came to the Club and they were both welcome and well behaved. They had something to cheer about when their 6th team dealt thoroughly with our 4th XI and ironically relegated our 5ths. The 6ths were disappointing against a strong Winchmore Hill side who are favourites to win the division. The 7ths produced a good performance to see off Alex Park and, after AP kindly missed some great opportunities in the first half, went on to get the goals their play deserved. The 8ths in some ways was the result of the day. Old Esthamians 5ths were top and averaging 4 goals per game, our 8ths were bottom conceding an average of 6 goals a game! Add to that the fact that OEs needed victory to clinch the title, it was a magnificent performance to hold them to a jittery 1-0 with what was our usual line up.

School Game - 3rd May
After a lapse of several years, and thanks to the efforts of Steve and Sam Down, we have restored the traditional game against East Barnet School. This fixture has been going over most of the 60 years history of the Club. The School team will be a mix of players from the 1st & 2nd team and should include the six East Barnet students that have been playing so well for the Club in the last few weeks: Mark Stibble; Stephen Prescott; Corey Goodes; Dia Erhando; Alex Costigan and, of course, Sam Down. We will likewise field a team from across most of our sides - team to be advised. We are a Club now open to the whole community, but hope that EB students will like what they see and join us, as many have before them, to maintain the traditional link since the Club started out in 1948 on an East Barnet School pitch at Ludgrove.

Saturday 10th May
There are unlikely to be any matches at the Club because of 400 tons of sand on the pitch as a further stage of our drainage work. We will be open for the ManU/West Ham match at 12.45 and there are plenty of matches to play in the darts competition. We are well down on the bar take this year and this is the backbone of our finances. We have been holding down prices this year despite increases from wholesalers and the government! As our Old Owens guests said last week, we don't rip off our members like some Clubs.

Top Goal Scorers
24 - R Harris
20 - Hodgson
16 - Nelson
14 - D Barker
13 - Barron, Berry
11 - Owers
10 - A Carroll, Daho, Hockings, Mabey, Penny
8 - C Boyce, Gale, Innes, Payne
7 - N Boyce, Sa Down, Challis, P Harris, Jakobsson, R Nayee, Purdy, Kucinovic

Functions
Almost every other week we turn down requests from non-members to hire the Club. This is because the Club is for its members and we wish to be sure that we know who is in the Club and that they will respect it and the neighbours. However, we have another summer coming up and we do need Club members to take advantage of this facility. There is nothing better on a sunny afternoon than sitting outside on the grass or in the suntrap on the terrace with a cold beer and maybe a barbecue. There is also the opportunity to have the odd friendly during the summer.

Club Dinner - IMPORTANT NOTICE
About 80 tickets have already been sold for the Club Dinner (at £22, same as last year, priced to just cover costs) indicating that, like recent years, there aren't many left. If you wish to ensure your place, no dinner ticket money can be taken on the night. The only way to reserve your seat is to pay for it! Get your ticket money to Ros as soon as possible to reserve your seat. With the end of the season beckoning there are not many Saturdays left to pay your money. The Club Dinner is strictly for members and guests of honour. This is a Club night for Club members. Nobody will be allowed to walk in after the dinner.

Vets Cup Final
EBOG Vets will be facing Bromlians in the LOB Cup Final. This match will take place on Sunday 4th May for an 11am kick off at Old Finchleians.

Dave Goymer - Marathon
EBOG congratulates Dave Goymer who took part in this years Marathon and he finished the run in just over 3 hours.

This week we had another 4 games at Alan Drive. The 2xi failed to get a point against Nottsborough, though the performance warranted at least a point. This leaves them in trouble at the bottom of the division with only one game remaining.

The 5xi battled well against a very strong Owen's side, with the point hopefully giving them something to play for in their final game. The 6xi ensured their safety, the safety of the 8xi with an excellent performance against Broomfield, who were relegated as a result. The score-line doesn't reflect how close the game actually was, with a few lapses in concentration from Broomfield costing them dearly in what was a very enjoyable and tight game on the first of the fixtures of the afternoon on the top pitch.

Finally the 8xi, looking good against Stationers came unstuck in the second half. The 8xi, now under the leadership of Harry, can hopefully take the recent good performances into the next season and make a challenge up the table.

Club Dinner - IMPORTANT NOTICE
Club dinner seats are now available for purchase (at £22, same as last year, priced to just cover costs). There is likely to be strong demand. Last year we had a sell-out with 110 attending. Please pay early to ensure your place, no dinner ticket money can be taken on the night. The only way to reserve your seat is to pay for it! The Club Dinner is strictly for members and guests of honour. This is a Club night for Club members. Remember, its on Friday 16th May.

Important Notice from Ros: I need to collect in around £2,100 in advance to pay the caterers for the meals they provide if the usual number of people attend. I have collected £814 so far (thank you to all those who have paid early). There are 2 more Saturdays with league matches, and a possible single game on May 3rd, so please pay me ASAP! Thankyou.

Sids Race Night
A highly enjoyable race evening thanks to Sid Draper and family was held on Saturday night at the club. Lewis Alflatt came home with two winners and with that shouts for a jug of lager from Nick Finney.

The 3rds got back to winning ways with Taz bursting forward to take a rare goal. This result may well have relegated Norsemen. The 4ths were up against a much better placed Norsemen side who may well have gone top as a result of this win. The 7ths had a great battle with the 4th placed side and were unlucky not to get at least a point. If they could convert a higher percentage of their chances they would be much higher up the table. However, Paul Whitebread showed he has not lost the goal touch with an excellent hat-trick. The 8ths completed the goal fest sacrificing defence for attack and providing huge entertainment on the top pitch which provided 19 goals from 2 matches!!

Unlucky for the Vets to meet a strong Mill Hill Village side when they had several key men missing. They (and the Club) are left with one cup final which may be on 27th April, date to be confirmed.

Club Dinner - IMPORTANT NOTICE
Club dinner seats are now available for purchase (at £22, same as last year, priced to just cover costs). There is likely to be strong demand. Last year we had a sell-out with 110 attending. Please pay early to ensure your place, no dinner ticket money can be taken on the night. The only way to reserve your seat is to pay for it! The Club Dinner is strictly for members and guests of honour. This is a Club night for Club members. Remember, its on Friday 16th May.

Important Notice from Ros: I need to collect in around £2,100 in advance to pay the caterers for the meals they provide if the usual number of people attend. I have collected £814 so far (thank you to all those who have paid early). There are 2 more Saturdays with league matches, and a possible single game on May 3rd, so please pay me ASAP! Thankyou.

Race Night - This Sat
Race Night is this Saturday and there are still some horses available, and the list is still on the Noticeboard. Get your money to Emma or Tony Dos Santos before the night begins on Saturday. The last Race Night was successful and everyone had a laugh, so this night should be even better. A good night is guaranteed.

Not so safe are the 5ths who have to face the same opposition and top of the table Southgate in their 3 remaining games, which makes relegation look hard to avoid. The 8ths played well enough to have managed a rare win but 2 speculative lobs and a penalty were enough to bury them.

Good to see Civil Service staying late at the Club. Buoyed up by taking 6 points from their trip and winning 3 prizes in the raffle, they then drank solidly for more than 3 hours staggering off to the station at about 8.30pm. Respect.

Vets Cup Final
The Vets cup final will now be played on Sunday 27th April at Old Finchleians FC.

Club Dinner
Club dinner seats are now available for purchase (at £22, same as last year, priced to just cover costs). There is likely to be strong demand. Last year we had a sell-out with 110 attending. Please pay early to ensure your place, no dinner ticket money can be taken on the night. The only way to reserve your seat is to pay for it! The Club Dinner is strictly for members and guests of honour. This is a Club night for Club members. Get your ticket money to Ros as soon as possible to reserve your seat. With the end of the season beckoning you may not have many Saturdays left to pay your money.

Midweek Fixtures
Wednesday 9th April
1's v Norsemen 6pm at Alan Drive
5's v Southgate 4's 6pm at Alan Drive
4's v Old Finchleians 4's 6pm at OF's main ground

Tuesday 15th April
1's v Old Easthamians 6pm at Alan Drive
4's v CEV 5's 6pm at CEV's main ground

Wednesday 16th April
3's v Old Owens 6pm at Alan Drive

Wednesday 23rd April
4's v Winchmore Hill 6's 6pm at Alan Drive
5's v Old Owens 6's 6pm at Alan Drive
8's v Southgate 6's 6pm at Southgate 's main ground

Please can you help your skippers by letting them know if you are available to play in any of these games. If all goes to plan and we don't have any more bad weather, the last league games of the season will be played on Saturday 26th April

Club Kit
Some sets of kit are well short of the originally provided numbers because presumably items have been taken home in people's kit bags. Please check and return any items immediately as you may find yourselves short of kit when you get to a game. One of the away kits has lost half its shorts which implies they have been 'borrowed' for a 5-a-side team. This is outrageous and could ruin Saturday arrangements. Return them immediately!!! Mid-week games put huge pressure on kit supply with a very fast turnaround. Please help Sid and Kym by ensuring everything is returned to the bag and if it you can't get it back to the Club, give Sid a ring and see if you can deliver it.

Post Holes
Please remember that the post hole covers need to go back on the sockets after the games or all kinds of crap will lodge itself down the holes eventually preventing the posts descending to the right depth. Repeatedly they are being left in the net bags. You may have noticed pieces of turf have been laid around the holes. This is to prevent the grass cutter damaging the covers. Please don't remove the turf, it has good purpose.

No problems for the 1sts this week who brushed aside a poor Lyonians side in a match which could have gone to double-figures. Even Lyonians lost count as they've logged the result as 0-6 on the SAL website - perhaps they forgot their OG! One of the performances of the season for the 2nds who snuffed out any hopes West Wickham had of being champions and closed up on their relegation rivals at least one of whom lost on Saturday. The threes were waiting to get on a train at High Barnet with only 9 men, Nick Boyce as emergency captain, and the prospect of a game at top of the table Alleyns. A nightmare scenario! They managed rustle up two more players but arrived late and did remarkably well to hold the final score to 1-2. Nick Boyce, the man who put the OG in EBOG, managed to score one and create one at the other end.

The 4ths managed to consolidate 4th place with a good win after Captain Callow's comeback was cut short after breaking down in training. Enter Sam Patel, who thinks training is something to do with the railways, who led the team to a fine victory notching a couple of goals himself. The 5ths lost narrowly to the 3rd placed side after a host of changes. Similarly a much changed 6ths had a close contest with their 3rd placed opposition with the other OG-meister Nick Finney notching their winner! The 7ths lost half their team and were helped out by East Barnet schoolboys Corey Goodes, Stephen Prescott, and Dia Erhendo. They played well but lost to a side that will probably win the division. Despite great efforts and the help of schoolboys, the 8ths still lost their fixture, once again the victim of dropouts from above.

WHOEVER HAS THE UNAVAILABLE BOOKPLEASE BRING IT BACK!!

On top of the drop-out crisis, the Club had to cope with a junior Old Boys Cup Final (Reserves) on the bottom pitch. This led to 4 games being played at Alan Drive and accommodation required for 8 teams. Thanks to Saturday Manager Rick Smyth who kept control of the organization and kept it running smoothly. Also to Ros and Annabelle Bertauche who supplied 119 meals to 5 visiting teams and supporters, not forgetting Liz Ricketts who helped clear up the resulting mess.

Incidentally, Old Owens 2nds beat Old Finchleians to take the Cup. The wet week softened the pitch and the slits did not cause as many bad bounces as might have been expected. Once the slits cover over we will be an excellent Cup Final venue.

Easter Saturday
You will see from the Team Sheet that unusually we have 4 home games on Easter Saturday. This is because we need to catch up on missed home games at the beginning of the season. Obviously some people will be away that weekend so if you are available let the relevant captain know. If you can't get a game, come up anyway and support the Club by watching a game and having a drink.

Club Dinner - Friday 16th May 2008
A note for your diary. It's the day before the Cup Final and the likely cost will be £22. You can pay Ros any time now.

Race Night - Postponed to Saturday 12th April
In order to avoid Easter it has been decided to postpone the Race Night to 12th April. This gives more time to buy horses (which have only just gone on the Noticeboard) and get your money to Emma or Tony Dos.

The 2nds gained a vital 3 points in their annual battle against relegation (will it go to the last match again?). The threes couldn't re-inflate the bubble against mid-table opposition but are still were in a strong league position. The 4ths managed to get the right result against the bottom team to stretch their lead over the 5ths to 6 points. The 5ths had a much tougher match against the 2nd placed side and managed a creditable draw.

The 6ths couldn't build on last week's cricket score and slipped away against the 3rd placed side. The 7ths were massacred by drop-outs and only had 9 men shortly before kick-off, but some resourceful phone work managed to get the bare 11. However, a spirited performance was unlucky not to earn a draw with both Downs scoring. The 8ths went to Crouch End knowing they had little chance with10 men throughout but put up a spirited performance to only lose1-5. I hope that all those who felt compelled to drop-out at the 11th hour and cause this chaos are satisfied that they really had no choice.

The Vets, also badly affected by absence and injury, did very well on Sunday to progress into the Semifinal of the LOB Cup at the expense of Southgate County, having already reached the Final of the OB Cup.

Club Dinner - Friday 16th May 2008
A note for your diary. It's the day before the Cup Final and the likely cost will be £22. You can pay Ros any time now.

SAL or Old Boys Cup
Because of fixture congestion, the League is enforcing the rule next season that we can only enter 2 cups. This leaves most teams with a choice between Old Boys Cup and SAL Cup. The latter is better organized but historically we have got further in the former. If you have a particular view let your Captain know who can input the team's preference at next week's selection.

Race Night - Saturday 22nd March
Impresario Big Sid is back by popular request, after the successful Race Night in December, bringing some new races to the Club on 22nd March. Horses will be posted on the Noticeboard soon and keep an eye on Rowan's strategy as he won 3 races last time and might be restricted by Course officials!

Message From Old EBOGGER Simon Gosling
hi all was sitting at home listening to a gale blowing and the first thing that popped into my head was the good old days down at allan drive all the faces some still playing.

well done to all those people especially the ones who keep the club going throughout the years. jules, the boyces, andy mac, dos santos, sam patel, jess,and many more sorry if i left anyone out. what a great club ebogs is. i have had some great times playing there but without the dedication of loyal members mentioned above the club would be finished.(thank god its not)its inspired me to want to play again.

i wanted to let the club know that if theres anything i can do to help such as pitch maintenance or clubhouse maintenance then let me know id love to help free of charge of course. keep up the good work and keep ebogs alive.

simon gosling

The 5ths continued their poor run losing to one of the few sides below them. Unless they have a turn of form they will slip into a relegation battle. The 6ths had two welcome guests from days gone by with Kevon Sargeant (now in Bournemouth) making an immediate impact with an early goal. Also playing was Terry Ellis who visits from North Yorkshire via New Zealand. They are welcome back anytime. The 7ths lost their fixture for the second week running because of drop-outs. Hopefully next week will be better now half-term is over. The 8ths came up against a very strong Southgate 6ths (?) side.

Whilst the late drop-out situation was better than last week, some people still seem to think that they can just mention it to a random person from the same team or in some cases not tell anyone!! This leads to mayhem on Saturday lunchtime and needless delay whilst we work out whether someone is going to turn up. It doesn't help if your mobile is switched off at this vital time.

Top Goalscorers
19 - R Harris
14 - Hodgson
11 - R Barron
10 - A Carroll, Owers, Berry.
9 - Nelson
8 - C Boyce, Payne
7 - Gale, Challis, Innes, Purdy

Corner Flags and Post Covers
Corner flags are getting left all over the Club. Please note that the Kit Room has a rack for corner flags. Please use it and you will find them next week. Congratulations to the teams that are sweeping their changing rooms but there are still some teams not doing it.

Please note that post covers should go in the bag during the game then go back on the sockets at the end of the game. We keep finding the covers in the net bags which leaves the sockets open to all kinds of cr*p.

Drop Outs
Anyone who is not available to play a fixture must tell the club before the game on Saturday. We have said this many times before that there is an "Unavailable Book" located on top of the fruit machine in the club. If you are not available for any reason just write your name in book under the correct date.

Also if you have to drop out, please make sure you call the number on the bottom of the teamsheet and dropout to that person (which is usually Andy Maclaren or Caskie) before 7pm on Friday, NOT your team captain and NOT on Saturday mornings or even worse a no-show, this is happening to frequently and is causing problems.

Gifts
Many thanks to Scott Alexander for the gift of an excellent Dishwasher and to Monkey Harris who appropriately supplied the Club last week with copious bunches of bananas. EBOG thrives on gifts so please bear the Club in mind.

Thanks to Sid and his Big Quiz
Many thanks to Sid for an excellent and varied quiz on Saturday 16th February enjoyed by all. A narrow victory by Mick Linton, Kate Deeks, Sam & Henna Patel, Fiona Oxley over Roy, Ros, Andy Copeland, Andy MacLaren and John Rose resulting in a good prize.

Darren Barker Vs Steve Bendall. Friday - 22nd February
"Dazzling" Darren Barker will make his first defence of his Commonwealth Middleweight Title against former European title challenger Steve Bendall at York Hall, Bethnal Green, this Friday, 22nd February and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports. Tickets have been available from Lee and Richard Barker down the club for the past few weeks now, the price being £30. If you didn't get the chance to get a ticket from them and would still like to show Darren some support then please let Richard Barker know ASAP on: 07939545606.

Race Night - Saturday 22nd March
After the successful Race Night in December, popular request has led to impresario Big Sid bringing some new races to the Club on 22nd March. Horses will be posted on the Notice board soon and keep an eye on Rowan's strategy as he won 3 races last time and might be restricted by Course officials!

The 3rds put in another good performance to consolidate 4th place with games in hand to possibly get to 2nd - a remarkable performance from Captain Scott and his team. Goran has started a late run for the goal scorer's trophy. The 4ths managed to put more distance between them and the 5ths with a big win against Crouch End 5ths. George Mabey turned scorer rather than architect this week and notched his first hat-trick for the Club. The movement of Adam Callow to non-playing manager seems to have done the trick! One strange feature of this match was the appearance of a young player for CEV some were estimating wasn't even old enough to be a teenager! You would have thought he might turn out for the bottom side but not the 5ths!

Our 5ths couldn't score again and are slipping down the division. Maybe they should look at Adam Gourpinar who scored twice from right-back for the 6ths, although we don't know how many his left-winger scored while he was surging forwards! This CEV side was devoid of children and too tough for us! The 7ths had, on paper, their toughest game of the season away against Parkonians 7ths who are 11 points clear at the top (17 points above their 6ths?!!). It was a close game, however, with equal possession, but one well-taken goal and a dubious 'ball to hand' penalty decided it. The 8ths travelled with the bare XI after late drop-outs led to desperate phone calls and it was unfortunate that they were faced with the only side who could possibly catch Parkonians the top.

Corner Flags
Few people seem to have caught on to the fact that corner flags are now located in the Kit Room in natty little rack knocked up by equipment supremo Ian Nuckey. If you don't put them back you won't find them next week.

Availability
As you will all know, at the beginning of the season our home pitches were unavailable and a lot of teams were playing away games week after week. With only 10-11 weekends until the beginning of May, EBOG sides still have a combined total of almost 80 league games to play and nearly 60 of them are home fixtures.

The amount of double headers we can schedule is limited given that most of the away games have been played so it is vital we can get sides out every Saturday, including some games on Easter weekend if at all possible (that's 22nd March) The 8th XI have been hit particularly hard by drop outs this season and are way off even getting half way through their games. Much of this is due to the cumulative effect of people pulling out of the higher teams.

It would be a real shame to have to concede games for the 8th XI simply because other players higher up are not committed enough. Please do all you can to make yourselves available for the remainder of the season so we can give it our best shot of fulfilling all of our remaining fixtures.

Sid's Big Quiz - This Saturday 16th February
Sid is devising a varied quiz on Saturday to include about 10 sections and spot prize sections, which should have something for everyone. Teams of up to 5 are invited and entry will be £5 per team and a prize for the winners. An entry from every FC team is expected, including the Ladies, with an A & B team if necessary. We have a PA system so there is no limit on the number of entries, which will increase the size of the prize.

Darren Barker Vs Steve Bendall - 22nd February 2008
"Dazzling" Darren Barker will make his first defence of his Commonwealth Middleweight Title against former European title challenger Steve Bendall at York Hall, Bethnal Green on Friday, 22nd February, to be broadcast live on Sky Sports. Tickets are available from Lee and Richard Barker down the club for £30. For any other enquiries

A magnificent come back by the 3rds from 0-2 down against 3rd placed Weirside Rangers puts them in 5th place in Div1, and in a strong position to be EBOG's highest placed side. Gary Haycock marked his first full comeback game with a typical headed goal from a corner. The 4ths managed to consolidate 6th place with a good win over Parkonians stretching away from the 5ths that couldn't turn their domination into goals against Norsemen.

Finally, the 8ths battle hard on the top pitch but couldn't quite get back on terms with Stationers. We hosted this game because Old Stationers ground was still unplayable, a complete reversal of last year and some reward for all the investment. Several more cases of cramp were evident at Alan Drive. The new consistency of the playing surface seems to sap the strength out of the legs - or is it just a lack of fitness?

The Vets trounced last week's opposition to progress to the LOB semi-final but this week were disappointed to get changed, put up the posts (in freezing temperatures), to have Hale End turn up with only 5 players!

Darren Barker Vs Steve Bendall - 22nd February 2008
"Dazzling" Darren Barker will make his first defence of his Commonwealth Middleweight Title against former European title challenger Steve Bendall at York Hall, Bethnal Green on Friday, 22nd February, to be broadcast live on Sky Sports. This will mark the second time in as many fights that Barker will appear at York Hall, the most historic boxing venue in London. In November Barker captured the Commonwealth title there by dominating previously unbeaten in 20 fights and tough Australian Ben Crampton, a performance that generated an unbelievably loud and lively response from Darren Barkers enthusiastic fans, and we hope that once again there will be a big crowd to support him.

Tickets are available from Lee and Richard Barker down the club for £30. For any other enquiries about the fight you can contact Lee on: 07940310178.

Race Night - Saturday 22nd March
After the successful Race Night in December, popular request has led to impresario Big Sid bringing some new races to the Club on 22nd March. Horses will be posted on the Notice board soon and keep an eye on Rowan's strategy as he won 3 races last time and might be restricted by Course officials!

Sid's Big Quiz - Saturday 16th February, Be There!
Sid is devising a varied quiz to on Saturday and it includes many different subjects, which should have something for everyone. Teams of up to 5 are invited and entry will be £5 per team and a prize for the winners. An entry from every FC team is expected, including the Ladies, with an A & B team if necessary. We have a PA system so there is no limit on the number of entries, which will increase the size of the prize.

Telephone List 2008
The website has been updated with the latest members contact list. Just go to the Members page. More copies of the new 'pink' telephone List are available at the Club. It is important to have one as they may enable you to ring someone in an emergency. If you see any mistakes please let Tony Dos or Roy know so they can get it right next time.