135 Wadham Road
Walthamstow
London
E17 4HR
Ground Number: 1512
Saturday 10th January 2026
Ocean Pacific 6-2 North East Lions
Essex Alliance Premier Division West
OCEAN PACIFIC & NORTH EAST LIONS - A BRIEF HISTORY
Although both teams use the same venue, Ocean Pacific was designated as the home team for this fixture. They were established in 2020 and are connected to the Ocean Pacific Shipping Line freight company, who are based in Dagenham. They started in Sunday League Football and joined the Essex Alliance League Division 1 in 2023, finishing 4th in their debut season. They earned promotion at the end of last season after finishing as runners-up to Condor and took their place in the Premier Division West for this season. North East Lions were also formed in 2020. They joined the Essex Alliance League upon formation and have been in their second tier (step 8) ever since. Their best finish came in 2023 when they finished 4th in Premier West.
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The clubs are both based in Walthamstow at the Peter May Sports Centre. The ground is named after cricketer Peter Barker Howard May CBE (31 December 1929 – 27 December 1994), who played for Surrey County Cricket Club, Cambridge University and England as an amateur. He was described as a "tall and handsome with a batting style that was close to classical, and... the hero of a generation of schoolboys" and by Wisden as a "schoolboy prodigy" who went on to become "one of England’s finest batsmen". He was made a CBE in 1981 and posthumously inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2009. The London Playing Fields Foundation acquired this ground in 1991 and transformed it into our flagship site thanks to funding from the Peter May Memorial Appeal and the Sports Lottery. In addition to its range of sports pitches, the ground features an indoor cricket hall, health and fitness studios, and changing rooms, all managed by Better. The state-of-the-art 3G surface has pitch markings for 11v11, 9v9 and 7v7 football.
MY VISIT
It was a fairly easy journey back across London on Saturday evening. I was back at Amersham just after 7.20 and had fifteen minutes to wait for the bus home. In the meantime, I got a bag of crisps and caught up on Twitter. As expected, many games bit the dust, but examples like Altrincham, where the game was cancelled six minutes before kickoff, showed a total lack of respect for the fans. I was back home shortly after 8 and had a couple of drinks before bed, nothing crazy, as I had caned it on New Year's Day and hoped to have a few with the Wycombe game tomorrow. I got a reasonable night's sleep and woke before my alarm. The forecast said - 6, but it was reading - 2 on my car. Even so, I had to stop on the way to work to scrape ice off, despite it being clear when I set off. It was a busy day at work, but a productive one. I often find a hard day's work therapeutic after a good day off. The second half was a grueller, full of customers and their families, but I got out pretty soon after 1. I drove home, dumped the car, had lunch and a pint before my lift arrived. This was not my usual pre-match, but I had a can on the way to the ground, having paid a fairly reasonable £25 for my Wycombe Wanderers v AFC Wimbledon ticket.
There was news on the radio that Hull City v Watford had been called off fifteen minutes before kickoff, a disgrace, and fans were treated like shit once again. Wycombe, meanwhile, eased to a happy 2-0 win on a chilly day, and it certainly didn't feel like a Sunday. It warmed up on my walk home, although the streets were still super icy and I had to watch my footing. I stopped at Spoons for a Big Cheese Christmas Burger and an Irn-Bru beer for £7.42. After another pint, I walked home and had another drink. It had been one of the unhealthiest starts to a year, but great fun, and it felt like three out of four days of the new year had been Saturdays. I was looking forward to a week of detoxing and woke well before my work alarm on Monday. Work was easy at first, but then the masses came in; it appears as if many are still off for Christmas & New Year. Tuesday was my day off, and I took my usual walk to town and back. As expected, my proposed revisit to Horley Town was off, though I'd long ago decided on a night in. Wednesday was far harder than expected, and the evening brought little inspiration about where to go on Saturday. Thursday was another busy one, but I did finally decide that Ryan FC would be my destination on Saturday. The severity of the weather in some parts was indicated by the fact that Oldham Athletic & Chesterfield had already called games off. It was great that they had made an early call to save fans from wasting time and giving them a chance to make alternative plans.
This game was only decided at the last minute. I had known about a 4 pm game near my first all week, but had dismissed it in favour of a post-match pub crawl. However, the suggestion would not go away. I was reminded of it via a post on the non-league matters when I got on the bus in the morning. However, it was not until I got to the second Wetherspoons that I decided to go ahead with it. It became apparent that my mate River would be heading back up north earlier than expected, and so that reduced my enjoyment of the potential post-match libations. I had already procured a couple of bottles of cider at Tesco before the game, but had consumed them during the first game. Needing to stock up, I got Irn Bru, Samosa, Cake and Cherry Wine. The latter was fantastic. It was not a bad walk to the ground, around fifteen minutes in all, during which I listened to BBC Five Live. There were a few other hoppers there, including some who had opted for the same double as me.
Post-match, Ocean Pacific were 5th in the league, having won seven and lost six of their games. In their last game, they won 4-3 at Onyx. North East Lions were 7th and had won five, drawn one and lost eight. They last played on 20th December, winning 4-2 at London Cranes. The game got going at 4.05, and Ocean Pacific took the lead five minutes in, finishing off the right-hand post. It was 1-1 two minutes later, an attack down the right on the break and a finish from Arthur Wright. The visitors took the lead on 10 minutes, Oskar Lukasz Plusa following up after the keeper parried. On 15 minutes, it was back level, 2-2, a shot from the edge of the area. 20 minutes in, it was 3-2 to Ocean Pacific on the break, with the defence nowhere to be seen. A minute later, the hosts had a goal disallowed after lobbing the keeper, but they made it 4-2 on 22 minutes with the keeper stranded. It was in danger of becoming a rout as Ocean Pacific missed two easy chances. They added two further goals in the second half, although near the end, North East Lions had a late rally and forced a few good saves from the keeper. Ocean Pacific's goals were credited to Carlos Solis (2), Eduin Saul Cruz Aguilar (2), Jossue Sierra & Darwin Gonzalo Orozco.
I left the ground just before 6 and had hoped to get a bus to the station. However, everything was out of action due to roadworks popping up all over the place, thanks to the generosity shown to utility companies. It was a sobering walk which put me back half an hour. Once I had got to King's Cross, there was a long wait for the train to Amersham, around 20 minutes. No mobile signal, of course, as this is Sadiq Khan's underground, which hasn't been modernised since 1995. Eventually, we got to civilisation, and I was able to sort out my pictures and edit my blog. It was up just before we got into Amersham, and I pressed share just as the doors opened. There was still this one, but I reckoned it would have to wait until the following afternoon. There was around 15 minutes wait for my bus, so I popped across to Tesco for a meal deal. A drink for now and food for the morning. I was back home by 9.15 and put a pizza in the oven. A final pint would see me reach stone-cold sobriety at 4.25 am. I could have done with another, but decided not to, with me having to drive soon after that. It did leave me in a pleasant mood, though, and I climbed into bed at 10.30. This blog would have to wait until the following afternoon due to a lack of prior research. I was glad to discover that I'd walked 10.5 miles across the course of the day.
THE GROUND
THE PETER MAY SPORTS CENTRE is a decent 3G cage with a viewing area that has one and a half sides viewing area. There is no cover, and I am not sure what is in the sports centre itself. There is, however, a notable Harry Kane statue and mural outside the ground. There wasn't much nearby, and although it's 40 minutes walk from Walthamstow Underground station, the buses are a bit patchy at the moment due to roadworks.
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