Saturday 2 March 2024
Kick off 3:00pm
Referee: Nathan Morris
60A Broad Walk, Kidbrooke, London SE3 8NB
Bar Open from 12 noon
Ham, Egg and Chips from 2:00pm hosted by Christine Wheal

Reflections

As we enter the run-in to the end of what is proving to be an all round disappointing season for Charlton Park, we come into our penultimate home match against Beccehamians off of the back of a narrow defeat against mid-table Deal and Betteshanger Lions. The defeat was a bitter pill to swallow not least because it probably should never have been allowed to take place in the first place. Days of torrential rain had turned the Drill Field into a quagmire and further heavy rain during the game didn’t help to the point where the referee abandoned the game on 60 minutes. All of the players were caked in mud and Fran Cotton emerging from a muddy puddle wouldn’t have looked out of place from pictures and videos I have seen. However, it is what it is so we carry on.

Having endured the awful conditions, the mood certainly wasn’t lifted by the England performance against Scotland. Bright start but it all went downhill after that. If this six nations is anything to go by, I can’t see many England players making the cut for Andy Farrell’s British Lions squad. Surely, that’s going to be dominated by the Irish and Scots with more Welshmen than Englishmen.

As mentioned, this week we take on Beccehamians and as a coincidence, a video came up on the Charlton Park Instagram account. We were tagged in by ‘the_athletic_advantage’ and the video was entitled ‘My top 3 tips on how to hit your max speed’. The features non other than Josh McMullan (or is it Ben) and it’s a clip of him in action against Beccehamians from a few years ago where he picks the ball up in the Park 22, glides past opposing players and feeds Jake Conway. If you want to view the video, it’s been posted on our Twitter / X account. As I type this preview, I’m thinking .. if only.

Our opponents

Our opponents this week are Beccehamians. They are having an outstanding season and currently sit second in the table with a playing record of having played 17 (W:14 D:1 L:2). You have to admire the progress they have made over the last few years having been promoted from what is now Counties 2 Kent. They have a thriving youth section and have just built and built and built to the point where they are now challenging for a place in the regional leagues. The squad has a good mix of exuberant youth and wily old foxes and they are in a foot race with Dartfordians to grab that runner-up spot behind runaway league leader, Canterbury Pilgrims. It’s going down to the wire and Beccahamians play Canterbury in the last match of the season … at home. So that should be a cracker.

As usual your support today will be greatly appreciated.

COME ON PARK