"Yes, Golders Green are a really good side," was the comment made by one of the numerous newspaper men in the Press box at Ilford on Saturday, and when time was called the general concensus of opinion by a body of men who take a detached view of matches they are called upon to attend was that Golders Green had an excellent chance of winning the replay, and thus entering the competition proper of the F.A. Cup.

The replay took place yesterday [Thursday November 15] at Claremont Road, and the result will be found in another column [of this edition of the paper.]

Saturday's match failed to attract the big crowd that Golders Green had hoped for, but in view of the terrible conditions one was surprised to find that as much as £84 was taken at the gates. On a fine day the attendance would probably have been trebled.

Taking the slippery state of the ground into consideration, we saw some really good football. There were one or two minor accidents, Bucci and Boston being two of the victims, but these were not due to unfair tactics. It was a remarkably clean game, well handled by Mr. C.J. Dean.

Golders Green had the team which has served them so well over the last few weeks; Ilford had a rearranged side owing to poor results in recent games.

Taking the game throughout we are inclined to give the palm to Golders Green, remembering chiefly the amount of pressure they exercised in the first half-an-hour. It was in the first half, however, that Ilford got their goal. The equaliser did not come until twenty minutes from the end, and it must be admiited that until this goal Golders Green were by no means so convincing as they had been in the opening half.

Honours went to the defences. Once again Godding, Richardson and Boston proved a strong trio, and if Boston made one or two slips, due largely to the ground, we are inclined to think he had the stronger wing to face.

The Golders Green halves were strong both in attack and defence, and we are not minimising the worth of Bucci and White in emphasising the value of Broadis, who was always a source of trouble to Dellow, Ilford's crack centre-forward. Dellow, in fact, was very disappointing. He missed a number of gilt-edged chances, and remembering this, we are disposed to think more kindly of his vis-s-vis, F.P. Evans, who also failed to take chances. However, Evans did get a goal which meant so much, and his performance was of a much higher standard than it has been in one or two recent games.

Drinkwater was the star forward: there was no one on the Ilford side to equal him. Particularly in the first half he delighted the big band of Golders Green supporters. In saying this we must not forget the well-judged passes given to him by other forwards. Drinkwater has never been so generously treated, and on his part he has seldom beaten his opponents so cleverly and centred so accurately.

The Ilford backs were worried terribly, but Hayes defended magnificently, and it was due largely to his work coupled with an inability to snap up chances that prevented Tietjen from being beaten.

The fact that Ilford did not take a corner until twenty minutes had elapsed shows the way in which play ran. Godding had practically nothing to do until that stage. Ilford's goal came as a surprise. From a melee round the goal - one of several during the match - Craymer, at centre-half, hit the bar, and Sollitt scored from the rebound.

At this stage Bucci was injured, but after attention was able to return, though he did not take up his original position of left-half for some time.

Golders Green tried hard to equalise before half-time, some good shots being sent in, but they failed to beat Tietjen.

In view of the improvement in Ilford's play that had taken place after they scored, one did not regard Golders Green's chances as very hopeful, but we had a surprise.

It did not, however, come until some quarter-of-an-hour until the end. Then F.P. Evans took a pass down the centre from Bucci, and eluding Huggins, obtained an equalising goal.

Both sides went well out for the winning goal, but the defences held out, and a replay became necessary.

At one period of the game it was doubtful if full time could be played, and from the Press box, not in the best of positions, it was almost impossible to distinguish the players. Happily, however, the light got better instead of worse.