Today’s look back on this day in the club’s history begins on 16th February 1915 and a wartime friendly against South London side West Norwood at The Avenue Ground which finished 2-0 to Hampstead Town thanks to a pair of goals from G Fox.

9-years later in 1924 Enfield came to The Avenue in the Middlesex Senior Cup and were beaten 5-2 thanks largely to a hat-trick from Freddie Young and other goals from Lewis Smith and Ken Seabrooke. In 1929 another Middlesex Senior Cup tie ended in defeat as Barnet won 4-2, Sid Moore and Freddie Sherman netting the Hampstead goals.

1935 produced another defeat, this one fairly heavy as Southall won an Athenian League match 7-3, Billy Breagan and David Miles scoring for Golders Green but there was better luck in 1946 as Sutton United came to visit Claremont Road in the London Senior Cup. Melvyn Griffiths was the hero with both goals in a 2-1 win.

In 1952 an Athenian League match at Claremont Road saw the Greens trounce Barking 8-0. Roy Stroud struck a hat-trick, Roy Evans and Bob Avis grabbed two goals each and Arthur Phebey the other and in 1957 on the same day that Ingmar Bergman’s classic ‘The Seventh Seal’ is released Walton & Hersham were comfortably beaten 3-0 in the Athenian League as Tommy Lawrence (2) and Miles Spector scored the goals.

John Baker was on target in 1974 as the Greens played out a 1-1 Amateur Cup draw with Leatherhead – the sixth consecutive match in the competition – and in 1980 as a traffic jam of 176km extended itself north of the French city of Lyons making any future delays on the M25 appear minor by comparison, Croydon handed out a 4-0 smarting at the Croydon Arena in the Isthmian League.

Two goals from Alan Cosby saw Harlow Town beaten 2-1 in 1982 and Neil Wolstenholme was the difference in a 1988 London Senior Cup tie against Brimsdown Rovers with the only goal of the game, this as US military advisors went into action for the first time in El Salvador.
Simon Clark was on target in a 1993 1-1 draw against Enfield in the Isthmian League Cup and a year later as an earthquake that
measured 6.5 on the Richter Scale hit South-Eastern Sumatra, killing more than 200, Molesey were beaten 3-2 on the road. Barry Blackman, Scott Ashenden and Uche Egbe with the Hendon goals.

Matthew Maran came off the bench to secure a 2-1 Full Members Cup win over Heybridge Swifts in 1999, Paul Whitmarsh with the other goal for the Greens to secure a visit to Canvey Island in the next round and in 2002 a penalty from Jon-Barrie Bates secures a 1-1 draw against champions-elect Gravesend & Northfleet in the Isthmian League after the dismissal of ‘Fleet keeper Jamie Turner.

Lee O’Leary marked his return to the club in 2008 with the equalising goal that was added to by Brian Haule in 2008, but they weren’t enough to prevent a late strike from Lyndon Rowlands securing a sixth straight league defeat at Maidstone United, the Stones coming from behind to win 3-2 and a couple of years later in 2010 Brad Thomas saw red as the Greens slipped to a 2-1 defeat at Boreham Wood, Jamie Busby with the Hendon goal.

Just a year later in 2011 another set of eventual champions came to Vale Farm, this time Sutton United, and were beaten 1-0 with Aaron Morgan grabbing the winner and finally two years ago today our miserable 13-match winless run came to an end as we shook off the dismissal of Luke Tingey to beat Merthyr Town 2-0 in Wales courtesy of Shaquille Hippolyte-Patrick and Connor Calcutt goals.

That’s 18 matches played on 16th February in the past of which 10 have been won, three drawn and 5 lost. 40 goals have been scored and 30 conceded.