Greetings everyone and welcome to the latest TLFG.
Despite there being no senior games on Monday or Thursday, it's still a big week with the EFL Cup, National League, Isthmian League, Southern League and FA Cup all getting underway.
I'm not sure where I'll go yet but Hilltop in the FA Cup on Friday is fairly handy, whilst QPR and Harrow Borough both have home games on Saturday.
Over the last week, I've been to a couple of women's games.
On Thursday I headed up to The Hive to watch Barnet's women's team, and one of Actonians' biggest rivals, London Bees.
A former Tier 2 team, they've been down in the fourth tier for two seasons now and finished fourth on both occasions.
Although not winning promotion, they've had great runs in the FA Cup which have made them a lot of money.
This is probably one of the reasons why they've been able to recruit a lot of players this summer, many with Tier 3 experience.
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| The FA Cup gets underway this weekend |
However, pre-season had been a struggle up to this point with back-to-back 5-0 home defeats to Real Bedford and Norwich City and a 1-1 draw against Wycombe Wanderers.
Here they welcomed fifth tier newcomers Hammersmith.
The west London club, who play and train next to Actonians at the Gunnersbury Park Sports Hub, are incredibly ambitious and have won two consecutive promotions.
On arrival, I ran into former A's and QPR assistant manager Sinead Friel and it was a pleasure to watch the game with her and get her insight on things. It was also great to run into TLFG reader and Hendon board member Bryan R and have a quick catch up.
In the first half there was very little between the two sides, with both fashioning reasonable chances.
However, not long before the interval, the hosts scored from a corner and that was it for the Hammers.
A series of substitutions and a lower-level of fitness to their semi-pro opponents saw it end 5-0 as Dan McKimm's side went through the gears to wrap up a comfortable win.
The most disappointing part of pre-season for me has been the new management regime at Actonians dispensing with the services of captain Mara Bramwell - a decision which has rocked fans and players alike.
She was present at this game and I had a brief chat with her on the way out. I assumed she'd signed for one of the teams on show but it turned out she's signed for Chatham Town who are strongly favoured to win the title and who Actonians play on the first day of the season.
Having spent most of my life watching men's football where the players are distant demi-gods who the regular fan has little to no contact with, being told this face-to-face by the player themselves was a surreal experience - it made the disappointment even greater. Anyway, good luck to her.
With Mara's departure confirmed, the first team travelled to Tier 3 Norwich City on Sunday for a behind closed doors friendly which meant I headed down to Sussex instead to watch the reserves at Three Bridges.
The Crawley-based club have a really nice modern ground with a 3G pitch which was officially opened on Non-League Day 2025.
Sadly for the A's they had a threadbare squad with only one sub and this must have contributed to their 3-0 loss on a blazing hot afternoon.
Once in a while, my family invite themselves along to one of my football away days and this was one of those occasions.
As an added bonus, my mother-in-law came along too.
Rather than come to the game, they all went to check out Tilgate Park which I'd never heard of.
For a family day out, I'd give it a big thumbs up - it has a lake with pedalos, zoo, Go Ape, adventure playground, a woodland area, walled garden and possibly mini golf too. Who knew you could have so much fun in Crawley?
Anyway, that's more than enough for me - enjoy your week!
THE WEEK AHEAD
Without doubt, the most high-profile match of the week takes place at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday where Arsenal welcome German club Borussia Dortmund for the glorified friendly which is the Emirates Cup.
However, if proper competitive football is more to your liking, it's also the start of the season for EFL clubs. Unusually, though, their first games will all be in the EFL Cup rather than the league.
For me, the tie of the round is the derby between QPR and Millwall on Saturday at 2pm.
Just behind that, I'd recommend the match at the London Stadium. West Ham United are now back in the second tier after 14 years and they've landed a home draw against Portsmouth.
Watford, AFC Wimbledon, Bromley and Leyton Orient also have home ties too.
Saturday is also opening day in the National League.
Beaten in last season's play-off final, Boreham Wood start their campaign against Tamworth but it's also a huge day in east London where newly promoted Hornchurch play their first ever game in the fifth tier against Kidderminster Harriers.
The Isthmian League and Southern League also get going on Saturday - the biggest crowd will be found at Champion Hill where Dulwich Hamlet host newly promoted Maldon & Tiptree who've been hit by all kinds of scandal in the close season, so it will be interesting to see how they fare.
Hanworth Villa also make their debut in the seventh tier following promotion with a home game against Taunton Town.
Although there are a small number of league games, the main focus below the seventh tier will be on the opening, or Extra Preliminary, round of the FA Cup.
This is where the 'Road to Wembley' begins so if you're going to attempt seeing a game in every round, you need to pick where to start now.
Wembley FC always used to be a good place to start but they play in the 10th tier these days and don't qualify any more, so you'll need to select someone else.
As a result of groundshares, the first batch of ties take place on Friday night - Kingstonian play their first competitive game at Ashford Town (Middlesex) against Hastings United, whilst Hilltop welcome Grays Athletic to Silver Jubilee Park.
On Saturday, I really like the look of the tie between Buckhurst Hill and Barking which is a repeat of last season's Essex Senior League play-off final which the hosts won.
The biggest crowd of the round in London could well come at the Old Spotted Dog where Clapton CFC host Benfleet in an all-ESL tie.
In the far north-west of town, Everett Rovers play their first ever FA Cup tie against local rivals Kings Langley.
There aren't any glaringly obvious games with cupset potential but I think Isthmian League club Hendon could have their hands full with last season's ESL runners-up SOUL Tower Hamlets who claimed the scalps of higher-ranked clubs Hanworth Villa and Ascot United in last season's competition.
If you want to make a whole weekend of it then Erith & Belvedere have a tie against Billingshurst at Park View Road on Sunday too.
At the beginning of the week, there are lots of ninth and tenth tier league games - Abbey Rangers and Camberley Town are among the early leaders in the CCL Premier South and they meet on Tuesday.
In the tenth tier, Brook House and May & Baker have got off to good starts and both have midweek home games.
Women's teams are all still in pre-season - the pick of the friendlies sees Fulham welcome fellow third-tier side Rugby Borough to their training ground at Motspur Park on Sunday.
Hashtag United narrowly avoided relegation from the third tier last season and on Sunday they host Moneyfields who lost in the southern Tier 4 play-off final.
Whilst up at The Hive complex, London Bees take on fellow fourth-tier side Maidenhead United. Despite the industrial level of signings they've made, the north London club have only won one game in pre-season and that was against lower-level opposition
As always, please make sure you check with clubs before you travel just in case a game has been called off or the venue or kick-off time has changed - this is highly possible for some of the lower non-league clubs and development matches. Also, please let me know if anything is wrong or missing.
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