La Chiesa's inaugral season ended on Sunday as it had started back in September -  with defeat at the hands of Woodford Hammers.

LC/DC have generally made friends with the opposition this year, but  the previous two encounters with Woodford had been played amidst a bad atmosphere, and this one was no different. The Hornchurch Rossineri arrived at Avondale Drive minus keeper injured Danny Hardwick, full back Terry Soteriou, and suspended midfielder Sam Knowles, but still had enough men available to afford themselves the luxury of a substitute, veteran Benny Lee, whilst the Hammers started the match with just ten players.

For as long as they enjoyed the numerical advantage, Chiesa had the better of the play. Notoriously bad starters, they stroked the ball around as well as the overgrown pitch would allow them and it was no surprise when Danny Trew gave them the lead after fifteen minutes. Cy Taylor has been been nicknamed Michael Bolton - 'The Soul Provider' for his assists this season and it was his cross from the right that was flicked on by Adam Jeffers for Trew to knock in his sixth goal of the season from close range. Matt Gillham went close with a long range that dipped just too late to trouble the Woodford keeper and a cross from the Chiesa left winger was spilt and the rebound from Jeffers was cleared off the line before a ball from Jeffers found Taylor in space on the right again. He controlled the ball on his chest before finding Trew who tucked it away for his second, but Chiesa's joy was short lived.The Woodford Boss had mistakenly flagged for handball and the goal was disallowed.

That was a curious decision and it was matched minutes later when Woodford were allowed to bring on a player wearing a dark blue kit that looked made him look more like a second referee than an eleventh Hammer. Still it was eleven v eleven, and Chiesa management couldn't be bothered to make a business of it. The match start to take an unsavoury turn when Woodford's number ten, a goalkeeper in the previous matches, left his foot in when challenging stand in Chiesa stopper Mark Harris. Soon after, the player in dark blue set up Andrew Stylianou for the equaliser, a cross from the left that the Woodford striker swept in from the edge of the box.

From then until half time Chiesa found it hard to pressurise Woodford, and all the talk at the interval was of how best to get back into the game.

Cy Taylor had a great early chance to give the visitors the lead but failed to keep his composure and blasted over when clean through while Iain Gay was playing out of his skin at the heart of midfieldbut Chiesa couldn't get that second goal. The second half was ticking by without any nasty incidents until a fracas occured between Benny 'G-Man' Gillham and the huge no.10 who had shamelessly taken out Harris in the first half. Pushes and obscenities were exchanged but no names were taken by referee Champion. Minutes later though Woodford found themselves down to ten men. John Riley launched himself into a crunching last ditch tackle on a Woodford forward, and the toys were out of the pram again. The Woodford 10 was on his way for abusing the referee after complaining about the tackle.

It was now that Chiesa manager Knowles decided to tinker- and like Claudio Ranieri in Monaco - the decision rebounded on him. Midfield grafter Gillham was replaced by defender Lee, ostensibly to give Matt Gillham and Cy Taylor more freedom to attack, but the switch to seemed to suit Woodford better than Chiesa and within minutes thay were in the lead. Chiesa appealed in vain to their linesman Warren Hardwick for offside, but, in accordance with the strict code of honour that all LC/DC players have to swear to on joining the club, 'Towser' refused be influenced into giving a biased decision, and had to let the goal stand - if only all linesman had the same high moral standards...

Chiesa threw caution to the wind for the final twenty minutes and were unlucky not to equalise when Taylor set up Jeffers whose goalbound effort was cleared off the line. But the more they attacked, the bigger the gaps they left at the back, and twice in the last five minutes Woodford counter attacks were finished off to make the scoreline an unhealthy looking 4-1 to the Hammers, who had managed to find substitutes by now, although Chiesa were not allowed to do the same when the sides met in the cup in December .

There was no time for niceties after the match, the childish behaviour of Woodfords manager leaving an unpleasant taste in the mouths of Chiesa supporters / girlfriends who had to listen to his foul mouthed utterings throughout the second half. The keys were handed back to Old Man Withers at the changing rooms, and LC/DC were on their way back to the Church of the Horn, vowing to right this wrong in 04/05.

LCDC (3-5-2); Harris; Hodsell, Riley, Williams; Taylor, Gray, Gay, B Gillham (Lee) , M Gillham; Jeffers, Trew

Gol - Trew

Arbitro - D Champion