Line-up (5-4-1)
Sloane; Johnston; Evans, Moore, Jacobs, Griffin (Elkan 70); O’Toole (Cavanagh 40), Newman, Walsh, Littlechild; Kuczynski

It was back to the business of the league as Racing Chiswick came to visit Clissold Park Rangers at South Park on Saturday. The game ended in defeat for CPR as their opponents notched up a slightly flattering 5-1 victory and condemned the home team to their first league defeat since the opening encounter of the season. CPR had been under the cosh from the opening kick and never recovered from early setbacks.

It had been a bright and surprisingly warm November day as Evans took the team through the warm-up. Rangers were without the passion of Pratt (now also known as Rachel) and the exuberance of Downey – the latter having embarked on a three-month Columbus-style worldwide voyage of exploration. In to fill their shoes were Steve ‘Festa’ Newman (probably after snipping holes in the toes) and John ‘Shaggy’ O’Toole, both having been on two-week breaks.

Downey’s absence led the captain to adjust the formation to 5-4-1 to accommodate the available players and the game kicked off with CPR almost back to their full complement of red socks (or was that sox?) after pre-match pleas from Budgie and the secretary.

CPR were slow out of the blocks as the Islington ex-pats appeared to forget the hunger and commitment that had inspired their solid start to the season. With barely a minute gone, a hopeful cross looped over into the CPR box from the home team’s left-hand side. Moore (as he divulged to your reporter later on), in close competition for the ball with the nippy Chiswick striker, unluckily skewed a clearance off the side of his left boot and the ball skidded under Sloane and into the net. CPR were behind before they could catch their breath.

Heads did not go down, but CPR had still not woken up to the task in hand. Chiswick found the ball once again down their right-hand side and moved the ball around with some tricky interplay. CPR seemed mesmerised and did not manage to make a decisive tackle tell in the build up. Then, the ball fell into a half-yard of space for a Chiswick forward and he unleashed a curling left-foot shot from the edge of the CPR 18-yard box high and into the top corner. The keeper had no chance: Rangers were 2-0 down.

CPR then began to wake up and strived to show some grit to haul themselves back into the game. They demonstrated that no longer were they prepared to roll over when a couple of goals behind and that they had the all-important belief that they could still find equalising – and winning – goals. Jacobs and Kuczynski displayed the evident determination as they performed a double-team on a bulky Chiswick opponent: Jacobs shook the man off-balance with a poorly-timed tackle from behind (leading to a yellow card from the trigger-happy ref) and Chewie clattered him (fairly) from the front, reducing him to a heap on the floor. There was life in the side yet.

However, CPR fell a further goal behind shortly afterwards. Chiswick had a free kick around thirty yards out and the kick was taken and miscued, the ball floating far over the team’s strikers instead of, as intended, onto their oncoming foreheads. Sloane, in part due to the distraction of the intercepting rays of the sun, was unable to properly judge the flight of the ball and only managed to palm the ball into his own net. Let the record stand that he scurried off immediately after the game for an “optician’s appointment”. Perhaps he will be wearing glasses next week.

A further blow took place for the whitened warriors shortly before half-time as O’Toole limped off due to a recurrence of an injury of his calf. The ill-fortuned Irishman gave way to the lithe Cavanagh, who, oddly, bounded onto the pitch like a calf.

Hope came for CPR just before half time. The Rangers had been plugging away with a series of corners and long throws, but no clear-cut chances had presented themselves, the Racing back line proving to be steadfast in the air. Then, just when needed, the ball fell loose on the edge of the box from the melee of a half-cleared corner. Thankfully, the ball did not fall to a small boy – but to Littlechild – who calmly curved the sphere over the onlooking defence and into the waiting net. 3-1, and CPR were back in it, with reason for hope at half time.

Half-time: CPR 1 Racing Chiswick 5

CPR were back out of the blocks for the second half and keen to make their mark on the game. Evans was eager to make his mark on the opposing midfielders, and demonstrated his intent in picking up a booking for a flying two-footed (but entirely legal) challenge. However, the Rangers lacked imagination and creativity going forward and rarely threatened the opposition goal. Possession was more often being used for speculative balls over the top which were being comfortably dealt with by the Racing defence.

The closest CPR got to a goal in the second half was from a corner. The ref blew up shortly before Walsh headed in a loose ball to call a foul on the Chiswick keeper, who had been bundled to the floor in the confusion. The fact it was a Chiswick player who had done the bundling seemed to escape the ref’s notice.

Either side of the disallowed goal, Chiswick extended their lead as CPR left themselves a little stretched searching for a way back into the match. The lead went first to four – with a through ball down the right and a tidy finish from their nippy striker – and then to five, when the ball fell into the path of an onrushing Chiswick winger on the left who beat Sloane at the near post.

CPR were well beaten in the end, but the side felt a little hard done by at the margin of defeat. The team trudged off, thoughts turning to the chance of doing the double over The Atholl at Victoria Park the following week.

Final score: CPR 1, Racing Chiswick 5

Match Reporter: Simon Jacobs