London Colney - Cotlandswick

London Colney FC

Cotlandswick

North London Road

London Colney

Herts

AL2 1DW

01727 822132

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Ground Number: 368
Wednesday 7th May 2014
Risborough Rangers 0-3 Kings Langley
Spartan South Midlands Division 1 Cup Final

LONDON COLNEY FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

London Colney FC were established in 1907 and joined the Mid Herts League early on in their history. They would remain there until 1955 when they joined the Herts Senior County League. A 3rd place finish in Division 1A in their debut season was good enough for promotion to the Premier Division. They would remain in the league's top tier for the entirety of their stay and almost exclusively would stay in the top half, the notable exception being 1975/75 when they finished 14/16. They would be league champions five times before they departed for the South Midlands League in 1992. They were runners-up to Bedford Town in Division 1 in their first season and following reorganisation, runners-up to Toddington Town in the Senior Division of 1994. They won the Senior Division the following year and were promoted to the Premier Division. A 3rd place finish was achieved in 1996. In 1997, the league merged with the Spartan League to become the Spartan South Midlands League. London Colney were Premier Division Champions in 2002 but in 2008 were relegated to Division 1. In 2012 they won the league to regain their Premier Division status. After two runners-up spots, they were SSML Premier champions again in 2017 but declined to join the Isthmian League. Last season they finished bottom of the table and started this season in the Combined Counties Divison 1.

London Colney have made the 1st Qualifying Round on eight occasions. This included notable victories over Hornchurch in 1998 and Marlow in 2010. Their best run in the FA Vase came in 1999/00 as they beat Ipswich Wanderers, Wootton Blue Cross, Potters Bar Town & Elmore before losing 4-3 at Eccleshill United in an epic 4th Round tie. Local honours include the SSML Challenge Trophy winners in 2002 & 2017, the Herts Senior Centenary Trophy in 1990, 1995 & 2010, the Herts Charity Shield in 1994 & 1999 and the Herts Intermediate Cup in 1975 & 1983.  In 1971/72, a Herts Intermediate Cup match against Leavesden Hospital on 6 November ended in a draw. The tie subsequently needed six replays before London Colney finally won 1–0 in the sixth replay on 17 December. The matches were recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest cup tie in football. The club went on to win the competition in 1974/75. Former Wycombe Wanderers player Ryan Sellers made a single appearance for the club in 2022. The club is or was owned by former St Lucian international footballer Ken Charlery who played in the Football League for Peterborough United, Watford, Birmingham City and Maidstone United amongst others.

London Colney is the second largest village in England, behind Cottingham near Hull. It's noted for its large number of pubs, relative to its size and population of 9,500. In the early morning of 12 May 1941, a German spy, Karel Richter, descended by parachute near London Colney. Richter buried his equipment and hid for a couple of days. Driven out by hunger (he had mistakenly buried his food parcel as well), Richter was approached by two lorry drivers who asked him the way to London. Suspicious of Richter's non-committal reply and foreignness, the lorry drivers then approached Constable Alec Scott and mentioned the strange man. Scott found Richter who asked to be taken to a hospital as he was feeling unwell. Scott called his superiors who quickly sent a car to pick up Richter and take him to jail.  The village also houses the training grounds of professional sides Arsenal and Watford, such is its close proximity to the M25 and is considered a commuter town for nearby St Albans.

MY FIRST VISIT

The season was drawing to a conclusion by now and games were getting more tricky to find, so I was glad when this fixture was announced a few weeks back. I had been to the semi-final where Risborough Rangers beat Kentish Town to get to this final. It had been a good evening watching football, so I was looking forward to this final, especially as it was at one of the remaining Spartan South Midlands Premier grounds that I had to do. I had a fairly busy day at work, not finishing till 1.15. I had to get petrol too and added to the fact that there was a bit of traffic, I didn't get home until just before 2. After having lunch I had a bath, watched some YouTube videos and did a few other bits. Before I left I had some lamb curry before leaving at 5.15. I picked Anwar up at 5.45 and we went to a shop to get some stuff for the game. It had been on the news that there were big delays on the M25 but luckily we had no problems until we got off at the London Colney junction. It was busy there with around 15 minutes delay but we still got to the ground just after 7. After paying to get in out of my car window, which was £5 including a programme, I went out and uploaded a picture to Instagram before typing a bit of tonight's blog. I then went and got some pictures of the ground on my main camera before taking a seat in the stand for the game.

Kings Langley had a great season, finishing in 2nd and earning promotion alongside fellow Watford-based side Sun Postal Sports who went up as Champions. I had seen Risborough Rangers earlier in the season as they beat Kentish Town 4-0 to reach the final of this cup. They had a steady if unremarkable season, finishing in 14th. Risborough had bought some great fans who were very vocal and it was their team that had the better of the early exchanges. Gradually the favourites Kings Langley came back into it and it was they who took the lead on 23 minutes when a shot from the edge of the area was driven in the bottom corner to give them the lead. The advantage was doubled on 35 minutes with a cracking volley from distance into the top corner. That was how it stayed until half time and at the break, I went to the toilet. I was going to get a Bovril but the queue was so long that I decided not to bother. I retook my seat for the second half and the game was a lot duller. I looked on the internet for fixtures and provisionally planned in a cup final at Cradley for next Tuesday. I was also disappointed to see that Man City were beating Aston Villa as I thought that Liverpool's attacking style of football deserved to win them the title. The game was livened up a bit when Risborough's number 2 was booked by the referee for telling the official that he was 'fucking shit'. This summed up the evening for Risborough Rangers who were very poor on the evening and will be disappointed with their performance on their big night. The game was wrapped up in the last minute when the Rangers keeper was unable to get enough on the shot to prevent it from going in. I was by the car by the time the game finished and so I was able to get a quick getaway. After dropping Anwar off in Aylesbury at 10.10, getting home myself at 10.35. I finished typing my blog and watched TV before going to bed at 11.30.

MY SECOND VISIT

I would be without Colin for this Tuesday as he had opted to go to Burnham Ramblers with fellow hopper Richard so that he could get closer to completing a league. There was not a huge amount of choice owing to Easter coming up and an England v Belgium international. I initially thought I was going to go to Wimbledon Casuals but it was being played at Walton & Hersham FC which I had been to. A revisit it would have to be then and the nearest ground I had not been to for a while was London Colney, last visited in 2014 for a cup final between Risborough Rangers and Kings Langley. I had seen London Colney a couple of times as they lost 4-3 at Hertford Town in 2014 and 3-1 at Tring Athletic in 2020. Maybe if I wasn't aiming to have a record-breaking March in terms of games seen, I'd have stayed in. However, after doing research into the club's history, I started to look forward to the game. I left at 6.30 on the day of the game, it was yet again raining and there was a bit of traffic. Nothing unreasonable though and I was there at 7.15. The ground was at the end of a long dark lane and the car park was a bit wacky races with cars parked every which way. I eventually got a space after getting myself facing the right way to leave and paid £7 to a club official. After getting some pictures, I made my way to the stand, the dull metal stand doing it's job of keeping the meagre crowd dry. By my reckoning, only twelve were in attendance, plus a couple of latecomers chose to remain in their cars. No doubt influenced by the poor weather, home teams form and televised games.

It had been a disappointing season for London Colney as they sat just above the relegation zone. They had drawn 1-1 at my local team Holmer Green on Saturday but had not won in 16 league games. They had played British Airways back on 28th October and lost 5-2. The visitors were flying high and it was only Amersham Town that had clipped their wings as they sat in 2nd place. They'd drawn 2-2 against the leaders on Saturday and beat Westside 2-1 before that but had suffered a shock 2-1 loss at strugglers Holmer Green in their last away game. The torrential rain continued and though a little bobbly, the pitch held up well with the game kicking off at 7.47. It was a fairly even opening but on 17 minutes, BA took the lead, finishing with a low shot into the bottom left corner. The visitors had by far the better of the game, London Colney were by no means out of the game but lacked quality in the final third. The second half started with the hosts in the ascendancy but not really threatening. The best chances came to British Airways on the break. London Colney had one cleared off the line on 70 minutes but then had to be on their guard to avoid being caught on the break. The hosts got their deserved equaliser as full-time approached, Dion Laughton cutting in and firing home a low shot from the edge of the area to spark joyous celebrations. However, British Airways came back straight from the kickoff, equalising after the hosts failed to clear the ball. In a frenetic finish, there was even time for London Colney to hit the bar with a curling shot. 

THE GROUND 

COTLANDSWICK is a fairly basic ground with all the covered accommodation on one side. The stand is one of those metal ones and it held around 150 on blue tip-up seats. Alongside it was a small shelter, probably only holding around 15. The rest of the ground was open hard standing. There was a bar with a tea bar inside which seemed pretty decent, though I didn't try anything. The ground seemed pretty isolated, so you would probably be out of luck if you wanted other pubs or takeaways.

2024 PICTURES & GROUND UPDATE

The ground had barely changed between visits, although the stand was a lot more welcome this time with the rain, plus the car parking was a bit more chaotic. There's plenty available though outside the ground if you are willing to walk. There was also some nice touches on the back of the dugouts too.