April 18 2006

The Den

It's a chilly Easter Monday night and Jamesey reflects on rivalries and memories.

Sorry if the title of the column reads like a firm of Beckenham solicitors, but there you go.

It's an odd feeling - we are in the play-offs in 6th position and, come what may, can't end up any lower, whatever our or our competitors' results.

Whatever happens, the real business for CPFC will start after the normal season ends.

Millwall and Brighton were relegated on Easter Monday and, despite the widespread glee from the Stripey Nigel viewpoint, I quite regret that we won't be playing the Wall or the Weed in the league next season.

Millwall have always been the real foe for fans of my vintage but I'm willing to spare a little venom for Brighton, just to be obliging.

But surely won't we miss that extra needle when those two home and away derbies are missing from the 06-07 fixture list?

On a much more personal level, if the editor and readers will indulge me, can I conclude briefly on the news that Accrington Stanley were promoted from the Conference at the weekend and are in the league again after 44 years.

When I was small boy, my family was for a time based in Wrexham, north Wales, and when British football resumed after World War II, my father took me to my first ever game.

Perched on his shoulder, the match the diminutive Jamesey watched was Wrexham v Accrington Stanley and, apart from red shirts versus blue shirts, I can remember little although it obviously must have struck a major chord.

Anyway, it started me off on a rewarding and most agreeable lifetime as a football lover, predominantly at CPFC later, of course.

So for that, welcome back Accrington Stanley and grateful thanks for playing a part in enriching my own life, starting all those years ago.

Email Jamesey with any comments to Jevans3704@aol.com