The La Chiesa Roadshow travelled east this week, the convoy arriving at Hainault Recreation Park with high hopes following their battling display against Woodford Hammers in the Arthur Anthony Cup a fortnight ago.Their opponents, Onur Gokdemir's Esprit , however came into the match on a five game winning streak, which included a 3-1 win at Coopers last month, and were going to be a tough nut to crack.

Yet again, La Chiesa's build up was affected by injury and withdrawals, the most notable being ever present keeper Danny Hardwick being ruled out with a back injury, which meant  Mark Harris taking over in goal, and Benny Gillham playing in an unfamiliar role at right back.

LCDC's aim was not to be bottom of the table at Christmas, but this could only be achieved by a doing something they had never managed before... winning a league match. The chances of that happening were diminished as early as the fifth minute when a misdirected cross from Neg Dupree looped over Harris and into the back of the net. Amazingly, it was the third time in six league matches that La Chiesa have conceded a goal in this manner. Minutes later it was two when Darren Bull, hat trick hero last time the two sides met, found space in the box to fire past Harris. La Chiesa's confidence was now at it's most fragile, and soon after, a stray pass was intercepted by the speedy Wale, leaving him with a clear run on goal. A third goal seemed inevitable, but his shot was going wide until  Bull, seemingly standing in an offside position, tapped in at the far post for his second of the match. To the disbelief of the travelling fans, the goal was allowed to stand, and LCDC were in disarray. Three goals down after half an hour to a team on a good run, with gale force winds blowing isn't the most pleasant way to spend your Sunday morning, but, to their credit La Chiesa kept battling. Sam Knowles, who had been ineffective up front , switched to right midfield to allow the more physical presence of Trew to lead the line. La Chiesa's first real chance came when Adam Jeffers, starting his first competitive match in nine years, met a right wing cross with a diving header which was deflected wide. From the resulting corner, Terry Soteriou was denied a certain goal by an great save from the keeper and his follow up was cleared off the line. If La Chiesa didn't have bad luck, they wouldn't have any luck at all!

At half time the score was 3-0, and a tired Jeffers asked Sam Knowles to pull him off, a request that was refused in no uncertain terms!  La Chiesa Director of Football Dave Knowles gave a rousing team talk in an attempt to rally the troops and make a team out of the ramshackle bunch that were wandering around aimlessly in the first half.

Although the attitude improved in the second half, the scoreline got worse when a move broke down in the midfield, and Esprit launched another long ball over the top for Wale to chase. Harris came off his line to clear, but it was a one sided race, and the Esprit forward rounded La Chiesa's keeper and fired home via a deflection from Warren Hardwick. Hardwick is trying to claim it, but the goal belongs to Wale.

There were still forty minutes on the clock and this was no time for moping from La Chiesa. Bobby O'Toole came on to replace Benny Gillham, whohad  tried his best, but been played out of position at right back. Trew and Jeffers were linking up well in attack and La Chiesa pulled a goal back when Esprit's keeper fumbled shot from Colin Williams and Jeffers was on hand to stab the ball into the net.

Colin Williams' heat seeking missiles are one of La Chiesa's main weapons and when the keeper failed to hold another of them minutes later, Sam Knowles was following up to knock the ball into the empty net for 4-2. Well, that is what should have happened, but somehow he contrived to knee the ball across goal and the danger was over. The score remained 4-1 and we had an absolute certainty for for miss of the season from the boss of the league's bottom club. The boy's from the Church of Horn were attacking constantly now, and  their next move involved good passing and movement from Jon Gray and Trew,  and ended up with Jeffers crashing a header against the post from Trew's cross. Jeffers went close with another header soon after, and could well be the answer to La Chiesa's goalscoring problems if he carries on in this form. Esprit had a couple of chances towards the end as both teams tired, but a fifth goal would have been harsh on LCDC, who were in no way flattered by the final score of 4-1.

So, La Chiesa Del Corno will be bottom of the Corinthian League Division Three on Christmas Day. Not the start that we envisaged when we started up back in February, but,  the spirit of the team is still strong, we have played the top two sides in the division twice, and there is still two thirds of the season left and all to play for. I hereby guarantee all supporters of La Chiesa that they will not be propping up the table when the season ends. All that is left for me to say is 'Feliz Navidad!' to all of you.

LCDC;(4-4-2); Harris; B Gillham (O'Toole), Riley, W Hardwick, Soteriou; Knowles, Gray, Williams, M Gillham; Trew, Jeffers