Greetings one and all and welcome to the first TLFG of September - yes, autumn is here!
I don't know about you, but the transition from summer to autumn has been pretty stark with the heatwaves abating and grey skies and rain coming in pretty much straightaway.
Not that I'm complaining about the rain - we badly needed it!
My football week has been pretty busy, seeing another two Actonians games.
After the win over QPR on Sunday, they were thrown straight back into action against Fulham in another derby in the FAWNL Cup on Tuesday.
The Cottagers won the A's division last season and are already among the early pacesetters in the division above.
Despite our improvements over the summer, this was always expected to be a tough game.
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| The diminutive Wiktoria Fronc (centre) scored five for Actonians |
Unsurprisingly, the pack was shuffled and several squad players were given starts by both teams and the first half was a closely contested affair.
Fulham took the lead but Actonians equalised from the kick-off, only to fall behind again shortly before half-time when the visitors broke clear and scored after seeing our free-kick come off the underside of their bar!
The visitors rattled in a couple more after the break for a 4-1 win and although they deserved their victory, the game felt a lot closer with the A's hitting the woodwork three times and forcing easily as many saves again from Gibbs in goal.
Putting that behind them, it was back to far more important league football on Sunday and a trip to Billericay Town.
The Essex side had a terrible 2025/26, losing all of their matches as they were relegated from Tier 3.
Having lost all the early games of this campaign too, the free-scoring A's were expected to win.
The first half an hour or so was surprisingly close with the sides locked at 1-1 until two goals in a minute saw Wiktoria Fronc add to her earlier penalty to complete a first half hat-trick and put the visitors in a commanding position.
At the start of the second half I was joined behind the goal by injured defender Lois Colley and we had a first go at doing some online commentary to the A's faithful who couldn't travel via the 'Spaces' feature on X.
She gave me some of her usual fantastic insight into the team and information on some of the new signings and even got into an argument with Billericay's goalkeeper at one point!
As for the game itself, player/investor Steph McCaffrey added a fourth before Fronc rattled off another two to end the game with five as Actonians won 6-1.
The FAWNL's new website has already earned itself a terrible reputation with scores slow to update and stats woefully out of date - I bring this up because Fronc is now probably joint top scorer in the whole league, but it's only showing her on three when she has six.
Next up, they welcome Ascot United for another FAWNL Cup game. In theory, another big win is possible. While Actonians are playing well and scoring an average of four goals a game in the league, the Berkshire side have lost each of their three matches 6-0.
I'm actually off next weekend but I have an American friend in town who's not particularly into football and I think they'll have higher priorities than a trip to Bedfont!
THE WEEK AHEAD
As is so often the case, the biggest match of the week comes right at the end when Arsenal take on Chelsea in a huge London derby at the Emirates at 430pm on Sunday. Tickets are like gold dust and if you do want to go, it will be the black market or hospitality and both will probably cost you well into three figures.
Elsewhere in the Premier League, Brentford entertain Sunderland and Fulham host Crystal Palace in another derby but both are currently limiting ticket sales to members.
If you haven't got a ticket for anything yet then the EFL is probably your best bet. There's a busy programme of midweek and weekend games.
Arguably top of the bill is the match between two of the sides just relegated from the top flight as West Ham United play Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday. The Hammers are struggling to find their feet and have yet to win whilst Wolves are second. On Saturday two of the current top five meet at Loftus Road where QPR welcome Middlesbrough, a side who made the play-offs last season.
Bromley got battered 7-2 at Sheffield Wednesday in League One on Saturday but they'll have a chance to bounce back against Leyton Orient on Tuesday in another derby.
TLFG clubs have made a great start to the season in the National League with Boreham Wood, Sutton United and Hornchurch making up the top three after five games.
Carlisle United were the pre-season bookies' favourites and they travel to Boreham Wood on Saturday for the match of the week in the fifth tier - it's on TV as a result and kicks off at 530pm.
Below the National League, all the main action this week is in the FA Cup which has reached its First Round Qualifying stage where all the seventh-tier teams enter the draw alongside the survivors from the eighth and ninth tiers.
The are only two ties in TLFG's catchment area between two seventh-tier teams.
On paper the better of the two would appear to be Chertsey Town against Carshalton Athletic. Both were early leaders in the Southern and Isthmian Leagues respectively and they're still in play-off positions coming into this so it should be well contested.
The other is the all-Isthmian League clash between Aveley and Cheshunt. This is a particularly good one for groundhoppers as it's being played on Friday night before all the other ties.
Ninth tier Broadfields United, who groundshare with Rayners Lane in north-west London, looked to have gone out in the opening Extra Preliminary Round. They'd done well to draw at eighth tier Herne Bay but then got stuffed 6-1 at home in the replay. However, the Kent club made too many substitutions and the FA ordered the tie to be replayed again and Broadfields won 2-1. They went on to beat Corinthian in the next round and now welcome seventh tier Chichester City to Tithe Farm for one of the biggest matches in their history.
It's also a big day for Frenford. The Ilford-based club who play in the ninth tier Essex Senior League saw off the higher ranked Haringey Borough in the last round and now face Isthmian League leaders Enfield Town at the Jack Carter Centre. This is the furthest the east London club have ever been in the FA Cup so history will be made whatever happens.
If you want to see a tie every day over the weekend, then Southall play Cobham at Uxbridge's ground on Sunday at 3pm. The pair both play in the Isthmian League South Central so it should be close.
Away from the cup, in the ninth tier, Everett Rovers have a big match on Tuesday against Risborough Rangers. The Watford-based club stepped up to senior football last season and stormed to the SSML Division 1 title. Now up in the ninth tier SSML Premier, they're third and looking to push on again. Risborough are the early leaders so it will be really interesting to see how they do.
One team to keep an eye on in the 10th tier could be Westside in the CCL Division 1.
Unbelievably, leaders Bovingdon have already played 10 games but second placed Westside have only played eight and are only a point behind. On Wednesday it's their groundshare derby with Colliers Wood United so they could go top if they win.
In youth football there's an eye-catching U21 fixture between Crystal Palace and Paris Saint-Germain in the Premier League International Cup. It's being played on Wednesday at Sutton United's ground.
There are also numerous ties in the FA Youth Cup for U18s.
It's a huge week in the women's game as the WSL returns.
Big spending London City Lionesses open the campaign on Friday night in Bromley with an intriguing-looking game against Manchester United, whilst Chelsea welcome Aston Villa to Stamford Bridge on Saturday lunchtime.
On Sunday there are three more games. Charlton Athletic are back at this level after winning last season's play-off against Leicester City. They are expected to struggle but will play their games at The Valley and they open their campaign at home to Liverpool.
Watford are back in WSL2 and they've made the decision to play all their games at Vicarage Road. Like London City, they start their season on Friday too with a home game against Burnley.
In the third and fourth tiers, it's the next batch of games in the FAWNL Cup with the west London derby between QPR and Fulham at Hayes & Yeading United's ground being the most notable.
It's a big day in the fifth tier where two of the early pacesetters and local rivals Hammersmith and Brentford meet at Gunnersbury Park.
Below that, there are also a few ties in the Women's FA Cup with Cray Wanderers' fixture against Camden Town being my pick of what's on offer.
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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