London Titans Football Club

Please note that there have been a number of fixture rearrangements on 11 and 18 April.

London Titans W5 v Falcons RA in the LUL League will kick off at 1200 on 11 April at Old Deer Park however the Romans Emperors v Titans OutWest is postponed.

Sunday 18 April sees the GFSN Cup Semi-Final Titans v Ball Bois at Hampton and Richmond Borough FC (KO 1600).  The fixtures originally scheduled for that day (Romans Caesars v Titans W5 in the LUL League and Falcons Fitlads v Titans OutWest LUL Cup SF second leg) have also been postponed.

Postponed matches are likely to rescheduled for mid-May.

Titans capped off a superb weekend of football by progressing to the semi-finals of the GFSN National Cup after defeating Hotscots 4-1 at Hampton

Manager Ed fielded a full-strength squad and having never beaten the Hotscots, Titans started the game in determined mood. The first five minutes were spent camped in Hotscots half, with a couple of corners. However, Hotscots stubborn defence held firm and the next ten minutes were largely even.

The Titans breakthrough came midway through the first half, a ball played in from the left hand side was headed goalward by a Hotscots defender and judged to have bounced over the line. An OG, but they all count.

As mentioned, Titans have never beaten Hotscots and there were key players in their midfield that we knew we had to stop playing. Thankfully, Sean & Mikey in midfield were superb in quickly closing down and preventing them having any time on the ball.

However, despite Hotscots only really creating one or two chances that peppered the Titans goal, they soon levelled through a bizarre goal. If you want the details, ask OJ

The rest of the half was mainly played out in midfield; Titans were dealing comfortably with the Hotscots attacks, but we weren’t fluid enough with our own passing or spreading the ball wide quick enough.

HT: 1-1

The second half was a different story. In the 55th minute, a throw in quickly lead to Matt “Prancing Pony” Beal carving his way through the Hotscots defence and putting the Titans ahead with a sweet strike to the bottom corner.

With a slender lead, Titans demonstrated a nervous disposition and the game became a bit frantic. Another Titans corner was almost buddled home by Birchy but was cleared off the line, and Seany was playing admirable in midfield and trying to push forward in search of his first goal.

Birchy did manage to get on the scoresheet a few minutes later. Another corner was whipped in and Birch smashed low into the net to double our lead.

Paul T then pounced on a defensive error and Titans had a 3-on-1 to kill the game. He played a square ball to Tezza/Sean and Tezza, being the kind-hearted soul he is (or a rubbish left foot?), left it for Sean to smash home.

4-1 and a comprehensive second half performance by the Titans sends them through to the GFSN National Cup Semi-Final versus Nottingham Ballbois on 11th April.

Titans Line-Up
1. OJ
2. Serge
3. Birch
4. Dave E
5. Wheeler
6. Mikey
7. Tickner
8. Sean
9. Beal (74′ Tezza)
10. Matty B
11. Tom S (83′ Miller)

Unused Subs
Ed, Neville

Match Officials
Andy W, Gavin B, Andy T

Titans secured their first GFSN League win of 2010 with a 6-0 victory over Leftfooters at Old Deer Park.

Titans, usually slow starters, raced into a two goal lead thanks to goals from Neville and Tickner and before long Tickner doubled his tally after racing onto a through ball from Tezza and slotting home.

Titans added two more goals before half-time and were cruising at 5-0.

With the Hotscots Cup fixture the next day, manager Ed and coach Chris M made some subs as the second half progressed.

To give credit to Leftfooters, they also upped their game in the second period and made life tough for the Titans, who could only manage a solitary goal in the second period from Sean L.

Well done to Peter Knight, Neville & Miller who all played 90 minutes and performed well.

Titans Line Up:
1. OJ
2. Miller
3. Ed
4. Birch (45′ Sheila)
5. Wheeler (45′ Serge)
6. Mikey
7. Tezza
8. Peter Knight
9. Tom (60′ Matty)
10. Tickner (60′ Sean)
11. Neville

The Titans Committee regret to announce that following a formal complaint about our role in the cancellation of the LUL Cup Match featuring Titans OutWest against Falcons Fitlads on Sunday 28 February, an independent adjudicator appointed by the Titans and Falcons has ruled that we should forfeit the match 3-0.  Whilst the Titans Committee disagree with the reasons behind the ruling we had agreed to abide by the adjudicator’s ruling and will do so.
 
The Committee are meeting as a matter of urgency to discuss the ruling and its implications and will communicate further after this has happened.  In the meantime we are confident that all members of the London Titans will respect the ruling and act professionally when responding to any comments from players from other Clubs.  If anyone has any concerns or wishes to discuss or report anything in connection this they should contact a Titans Committee member.

London Titans have two GFSN games this weekend, as we race towards the end of the season.

On Saturday 20th March, Titans host our friends Leftfooters in a home league game at Old Deer Park. Kick off is scheduled for 10:30am.

The next day, Sunday 21st March, sees Titans hosting Hotscots FC in a GFSN National Cup Quarter-Final. The game is scheduled to kick off at 11am and will be played at Hampton & Richmond Borough FC

Saturday 20th March – 10:30am
GFSN National League – London Titans vs Leftfooters FC

Sunday 21st March – 11:00am
GFSN National Cup QF – London Titans vs Hotscots FC

London Titans took two teams to the Yorkshire Tournament 2010 last weekend and whilst neither progressed to the knock-out stage, all players had a great weekend away.

Some players arrived on Friday evening and took advantage of £1.50 shots, whilst the majority of players arrived the next afternoon and immediately started supping champagne cocktails. Congratulations to Tezza and Scotty on being the ‘last Titans standing’, arriving back at their respective hotels at 5am on Sunday morning.

With some players stinking of booze we took to the field and Titans 2 did extremely well. Ed Connell started banging in goals galore (much to his own, and others, surprise).

Titans 1 definitely scored the goal of the century (maybe). One touch passing moves, with Chris F cheekily backheeling the ball through to Tezza who smashed the ball first time into the top corner.

A close second was OJ’s scorching shot from near the halfway line that left the keeper with no chance.

Titans 2 almost… almost… made the knock-out stages but succumbed to a defeat in their last group game against Newcastle Panthers. Beal nearly grabbed a hat-trick in one game, and Sally was her usual reliable self in goal.

Highlight of the day came in watching the demise of Falcons, who couldn’t even muster a win against Leftfooters. The good-natured banter on the sidelines certainly got most of the tournament’s players interested!

As usual, the Yorkshire Tournament was excellently organised and everyone had a great weekend in Leeds. Even Miller, who couldn’t drink due to medical reasons!

Sunday 7th March – Old Deer Park
Titans succumbed to another loss in the league this season against table-topping rivals Falcons at Old Deer Park.

OJ in goal pulled off some fantastic saves in the first half and despite going behind, Titans equalised just before the interval with a fanny-tapper goal from Beal (they all count).

However in the second half Titans couldn’t get any rhythm to their game and Falcons scored twice more to put the game beyond doubt.

Next week sees the Titans take two teams to the Yorkshire Tournament.

In a must win match versus opposition who have yet to drop points this season, London Titans were beaten by Bournemouth by a solitary goal on the south coast.

With our first-choice goalkeeper injured for the game, Birchy took the gloves with Serge lining up at centreback with Sheila. Otherwise, it was virtually a full-strength line up for the Titans.

Chances for both sides were few and far between, with both defenses comfortably dealing with any attacks. In the first half, the only real notable chance for Titans fell for Matty B but his shot from the edge of the box was straight at the keeper.

The second half was much of the same as both sides played out a midfield battle. Titans brought on replacements Miller (at leftback), Peter K (left wing) and GFSN debutant Alan B (on for Beal).

But a sucker-punch goal from Bournemouth 12 minutes from time, all-but-ended Titans title hopes for another season. The Bournemouth striker collected the ball 25 yards out from goal, and smashed home a low drive into the bottom corner.

Paul T had a chance to equalise late on but his first time, left-footed shot from 15 yards was skewed horribly wide.

All-in-all, a decent performance by Titans who maybe didn’t deserve to return to London empty handed – however winning teams create chances, and ruthlessly take them. Something Bournemouth did in this game. Titans will have to wait another year to win their first title – whilst Bournemouth march towards their second.

Next up in the GFSN League for Titans is Falcons GFC at Old Deer Park on Sunday 7th March.

As you will be aware our fixtures on 10th January (Romans Emperors v Titans W5 and Titans OutWest v Romans Caesars in the LUL League) and 17th January (Falcons v Titans in the GFSN League) had to be postponed due to the weather.  We are seeking to reschedule these games as soon as we can agree revised dates, so please check back here for new fixture dates.  Please note that owing to our heavy schedule some of these matches will need to be arranged times outside our normal Sunday afternoon slots; apologies in advance to those who will be impacted by this but there are simply not enough Sundays before the end of the season, plus we are trying to get matches in before the London Boroughs close their football pitches down in mid-April.

On a happier note there are two tournaments that we are planning to attend in addition to the World Gay Games (31 July to 7 August in Cologne).  These are the Stockholm tournament over Easter weekend (2-5 April) and the GFSN Summer Get Together which will be in Blackpool on 12-13 June.  Further details will be announced in the Forum.

We are pleased to announce a number of social and fundraising events for the first half of 2010. Read the rest of this entry »

The Titans will be in the bars of Soho this evening (Thursday 17th December) selling the 2010 “Swimwear edition” calendar. It is a steal at just £7.

The calendar has been selling fast following its inclusion in last month’s QX magazine and this month’s 3sixty magazine. The calendar can also be ordered online by contacting manager@londontitans.com

Mr. April

We are please to announce that the London Titans are being sponsored by the Warners LGBT Christmas Party.  Titans and their friends and families are invited to come along (entry £10) to Profile Bar, Wardour Street, on Wednesday 9 December from 7.30.

Amongst other things the Titans will be selling their 2010 promotional calendar (”the swimwear edition”) and selling shots. 

There will be a range of entertainment at what is always a fun night, with the added advantage that Titans are benefiting financially from the event.

Titans West 5 were knocked out of the LUL Cup Quarter-Finals by Falcons Fitlads after losing their single-tie game 3-0 at Old Deer Park.

Meanwhile, a few miles away in Barnes Stonewall FC and Titans Outwest played out a classic match that will go down in history as one of the great games ever to be played in LGB-friendly football.

Facing an uphill struggle to recover from a 3-1 defeat in the first leg, not even torrential rain or a rainbow could stop them from playing the match.  The game plan was simple – attack attack attack. This team knew (and so did Stonewall) that it had goals in it and the best defensive record in the league.

Beal scored Outwest’s first goal after ten minutes, and five minutes later Paul T got another to equal the tie on aggregate.

Stonewall heads dropped and Titans went on to win the first half 5-0 (6-3 on agg) with further goals from Tickner and Peter Knight.

The second half was even crazier. With complacency setting in, Titans replaced 6 players all at once, and Stonewall smelt blood by scoring twice (making it 6-5 on agg).  

Tickner managed to pull another goal back (7-5), and then ’fox in the box’ Maurice saw a header from the 6 yard line appear to bounce over the line, however the match officials couldn’t tell for sure and the ‘goal’ wasn’t awarded.  Almost immediately, Stonewall then raced down the other end of the pitch to grab another goal (7-6).

Tickner managed to get his fifth goal (8-6) but injuries started to creep in with several Outwest players coming down with cramp.

Tal gave away a needless free-kick on the edge of the box which Stonewall spectacularly scored from. This made it 8-7 to Titans with only minutes remaining. The roles had been well and truly turned. I can’t quite remember how they got their equalizer, but they did, right at the end. 8-8 on aggregate. 

 5 minutes into extra time and Peter K was the hero when he scored an identical goal from his first, another rebound. 9-8 on aggregate. Surely we could hang on now. We almost did. They threw everything at us and we defended bravely. Everyone back in hand-to hand fighting, nerves fraying, doing whatever it took to keep them out.

Birchy made a couple of amazing saves, one punching over the bar and another diving bravely at Eric’s feet to calm Titan nerves. Swiss Tom (singled out by Eric as the sole cause of the Stones’ defeat because of it) also stood out by clearing a shot off the line. 

Stonewall were down to 10 men when they got a corner in the last 2 mins. Their keeper came up. There were 21 men in the box! It came to nothing. But as Birchy took the goal kick quickly to feed the ball to Beal who faced an open net with their keeper struggling to get back, the kick landed at the foot of one of their players near the half way line who hoofed it back goalwards.

In slow motion we all just watched as it looped over Birchy’s arm  onto the underside of the crossbar and in. They had equalized again in the last 30 seconds. 9-9 on aggregate. 

Onto Penalties and with Stonewall missing all their penalties, and us scoring 3 out of our 4 (ironically it was Tickner, the 5 goal hero who missed!) Outwest were through.

A fantastic game, Titans were a credit to the club and deserve their place in the semi-final

Titans headed to Scotland this weekend (Nov 21/22nd) looking for revenge over their bogey side, Hotscots FC.

Last season, Hotscots defeated Titans in London (4-2, GFSN League), and in Edinburgh (6-3, GFSN Cup).  So 18 Titans and supporters made the long journey back to Scotland looking to avenge last season’s defeats.

London Titans have introduced a new yellow and black home kit.

Made by Adidas, the kit features embroidered logo, front & rear sponsorship and personalised names for players.  The yellow shirts comes in both short and long sleeves, black (numbered) shorts with yellow piping, and yellow socks.

The kit was debuted in the away game to Hotscots FC on November 22nd and the club will be purchasing more shirts over the rest of the season.

http://www.discountfootballkits.com/