London Titans Football Club

London Titans GFSN side secured their first league win yesterday in a heated contest with Brighton Bandits. Titans were three goals up within 16 minutes, a scoreline which reflected their dominance of the game (scorers: Felton, Beal and Baker).

Some momentary sloppiness in defence allowed the Bandits to pull a goal back before half time but any hopes they might have had that this goal would signal a revival in the fortunes were short lived. Not long after the start of the second half, Titans scored a fourth goal (Paul T) putting the match beyond doubt.

The final goal came from Serge, on as a subsitute for Thomas Scheurch who made it 5-1. The result, however, was marred slightly by the dismissal of a player from both teams.

Manager’s man of the match was Dave Simpson who put in a solid performance in goal, making some crucial saves including one which resulted in him taking a boot to the face.

The Titans next GFSN game will be against another of the league’s newcomers Cardiff Dragons.

A squad of seven Titans plus Gez as coach took part in the Leicester Wildecats annual 6-a-side tournament on Sunday 6th September.  Titans won this tournament in 2006 and were runners up in 2007 (it did not take place last year to avoid clashing with the IGLFA World Championships which were in London).  2009 was the largest ever entry with 27 teams participating.

 As usual the group stages were tightly fought with all the Titans’ group’s matches except one 2-2 draw ending 0-0 or 1-0.  The Titans’ team won 3 and lost 3 to finish mid-table, though only a couple of points off the top two finish required to go through to the quarter finals.  The tournament was won by Village Manchester in a final against Mersey Marauders.

Controversy arose in the match against new team Exeter when the referee failed to notice that the ball had gone into the Titans’ net before it rebounded straight back out.  After much dithering he concluded that the goal should not be awarded as he had not seen it, however the organisers decided to award the goal retrospectively after Exeter had protested and the Titans’ confirmed that the ball had entered the net.  This earned us a Fair Play award nomination and we duly won it. 

 The tournament was notable as the first tournament that the newly formed gay-friendly club in Exeter and the newly formed Bristol Panthers team, who have adopted the name of the previous Bristol GFSN club which disbanded four years ago, attended.  We wish them all the best in getting going and look forward to seeing them both in Richmond!

Squad: Kris, Duke, Sally, Haz, Aus, Maurice, Grandad.  Goals: Maurice, Grandad, Leftfooters OG.

London Titans humbled local rivals Falcons GFC 2-1 in the first round of the GFSN Cup at Warren Farm last Sunday afternoon (Sep 13).

Titans began the match demonstrating a nervous disposition as Falcons made the most of the wind behind their backs and the slight downhill slope. And it wasn’t long until Falcons scored, after a long ball into the box deceived the Titans keeper and the Falcons striker slotted home into an empty net.

Slowly Titans got back into the match and starting playing some good passing football. A free-kick out on the left was whipped into the six-yard box by Tezza on 30 mins which created confusion, and only luck prevented a Titans equaliser.

2 minutes before half time though, the equaliser came via a smashing shot by a former Falcons player. A glorious throw-in on the left-hand side was flicked into the area, where Birchy was waiting to take a touch past the central-defender and smash past the Falcons keeper.

HT 1-1

The second-half was a different matter, with Mikey – returning from the RAF – brought on in midfield bringing a combination of composure and class to proceedings alongside Captain Felton who was battling hard against the physical Falcons midfield.

But it was Paul T, making only his third start, who produced a sublime moment of skill to outfox the Falcons defense and smash home the winner with 15 minutes to go.

Titans can be proud of their performance on Sunday, especially after the poor game against Newcastle three weeks prior. Birchy was splendid at centre-half, comfortably dealing with every arial challenge and remaining composed with the ball on the floor.

Beal was solid upfront winning the majority of his challenges and flick-ons, and Paul T was fantastic in creating opportunities in attack.

Next up this coming Sunday (20th) is Brighton Bandits at Old Deer Park, another GFSN League game.

A squad of seven Titans plus Gez as coach took part in the Leicester Wildecats annual 6-a-side tournament on Sunday 6th September.  Titans won this tournament in 2006 and were runners up in 2007 (it did not take place last year to avoid clashing with the IGLFA World Championships which were in London).  2009 was the largest ever entry with 27 teams participating. Read the rest of this entry »