Cup Cash Injection for Harlow Kitty

Hopperational details

Monday 13 September 2010 @ Mile End Park Stadium: Bethnal Green United 0 Harlow Town 4 (Teams from the Essex Senior League (Step 5) and the Isthmian Div 1 North (Step 4) respectively) in their FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round replay.

This match in one sentence

Bethnal Green United were still in the game at half-time at only 0-1 down, but a second goal straight after the restart, and a red card sending them down to ten men, allowed Harlow Town to take control of the match.

So what?

Harlow Town, you go on to further FA Cup riches and a 2nd Qualifying Round tie at the delightful surroundings of The Dripping Pan in Lewes.  Bethnal Green… you leave … with nothing.  Sorry, I was channeling Anne Robinson there for a moment.

Who caught the eye on the pitch?

Bethnal Green’s #5 (for towering defence in the early stages of the match) Harlow’s #11 (for pace and trickery on the wing).  At this precise moment in time, I cannot firmly identify them due to the total absence of announcements at the stadium.  Harlow’s goalkeeper also had to work quite hard for his clean sheet.  A scoreline of 1-3 would have been a fairer reflection of the game as a whole.

This match had the same effect on my pulse rate as …

… a Reader’s Digest feature on 101 Ways to Let Apricots Into Your Life

A snippet from the programme

The programme is quite interesting for the visiting neutral but almost devoid of anything new for the home fans.  Admittedly, this particular issue would have been a rush job for an unexpected Monday night replay.  The club officials spell out the community dimension of the club at length and it reads like a school prospectus in places (I should know, I wrote plenty of ‘em) with bullet-point lists of core values and development plans.  The most memorable single sentence is, “We find playing at our home ground Mile End Park Stadium an inspiration”.  The club want to be in the Conference within 10 years, and all credit to them for vision and ambition.

What I learned today

The Bethnal Green slums were allegedly the worst in London at the end of the 19th Century, and the Boundary Estate which was built to replace them in 1900 was in effect the world’s first council housing.  Lew Grade (media mogul) and Bernard Delfont (entertainment impresario) were brought up there.

Modus Hopper Random Talking Point

I had a distinct shiver of anticipation as I drove for the first time past the rapidly-developing Olympic site in nearby Stratford.  The distinctive exterior of the basketball arena is already clearly visible, and the (*geek alert*) isosceles triangles of the main arena also stand out.  It inspired me to visit www.london2012.com again and catch up with the latest news.  Bethnal Green United will no doubt be hoping that they benefit from any regional legacy.