Grove Park Rangers – November 2025

From this month onwards, we’ll have two blogs covering both the first and and second XIs for Grove Park Rangers

Guest blog by Pete, Grove Park Rangers manager

Another month, another whirlwind set of games in the record books for GPR I. Through it, new partnerships are starting to bear fruit, players are beginning to rise to the occasion, and my hair continues to fall out at record pace as I adjust to the level of competition this season.

Entirely owing to excessive emotional investment, combined with the closeness of the league this season (which is very rare), every game this month has felt like being plopped in a pressure cooker.

I say this because, except for one game, every match this season has been decided by a single goal – or penalties. It’s nerve shredding! But it’s also made this season already feel like a classic. One to look back on when all that is left are memories of the beautiful game and the hamstrings we used to have.

Our first of two back-to-back fixtures against TW Rangers was a big win on penalties, in which we could have easily lost our nerve. Both sides went hell for leather and either team could have won.

In the end, some superb penalties and a fantastic save from Josh meant we advanced to the second round of the Cup – the same one we reached the semi-finals in last year – having knocked out a serious contender.

Unfortunately, the second fixture didn’t go our way. Despite some quality football and a brilliant assist that Marcus latched onto to open the scoring, early in the second half, it was TW who would take three critical points in the league.

There were plenty of controversies throughout, the ref struggling to keep a lid on proceedings. With minutes left, a chance ball into our box wasn’t dealt with, and a penalty was given against us. We protested that a shove in the back was a foul, but the ref was having none of it.

Josh, who’d saved a penalty in the first half, couldn’t keep out the second. Minutes later, they scored again. There’s plenty more I could say about the game, but I’d rather the lads proved themselves in the season decider, whenever that may be.

It’s hard not to struggle with coming back out after defeats like that, but with league leading Club Assyria Reserves up next, this was no time to mope. And what a game it was.

The Salads opened the game as the much stronger team, and dominated the opening half an hour. And then, suddenly, we found ourselves two goals down through some poor errors and head loss.

Fortunately, we rallied ourselves, and a sinbin for the away team gave us the momentum we needed. Marcus grabbed one after a scrappy corner, before Jeff levelled the game with the final kick of the first half.

The second game was a chess match, and the game looked to be creeping towards a frustrating draw for both teams. But, shortly before the end, Josh put Jeff in behind, who rounded the keeper and killed the game. A richly deserved 3-2 win after a superb comeback.

There’s no let up for us in what will be a long season, but if we can keep the quality going, the results will come. I’ve even lost a sense of humour in the process, as things are ramping up. Long gone are the days when losing by only two or three goals felt like a decent result.

Come on you Salads.

Guest blog by Aaron, GPR II Manager

First up this month, West Drayton reserves in the Sunday FA Cup. Having played against this team in pre season, we knew it wouldn’t be an easy tie.

We have made a habit of having a debutant in the side and this was the case for the fourth straight game as Mahraan and Ianis donned the black and blue for the first time. West Drayton started quickly and got an early goal, putting us under immense pressure throughout the first half, and we struggled to get any sort of attack going.

30 minutes in Jack collided with the post and took a whack on the chin. He could no longer continue so striker Justino went between the sticks and his heroic performance helped us to make it into half-time with the scoreline at 1-0. The pressure on our defence became too much in the second half and we were undone on a couple more occasions. Final score 4-0.

Winning the FA Cup is overrated anyway!

After a disappointing defeat in the previous game, The Salads then hosted Old Southall in the

Roger Perry Cup, determined to put in a better performance and ultimately, achieve a better result.

Robert made his first appearance of the season and Bill came into the side for his club debut. It was a resilient performance, including Juan, back in the side having missed last week, throwing himself in front of a goal bound shot and heading away.

The game included a superb performance from Dave, who was a menace for the full 90 minutes and notched himself a brace.

The home side continued got themselves a goal to make it 2-1, however we didn’t need to be nervy for long as John made the most of his opportunity off the bench, scoring a terrific volley to round off the scoreline. Final score 1-3.

The final game of the month saw us take on Hillingdon Stags in the league (again!) We started the game slow and it wasn’t long before the away side split us open with a smart through ball, the striker finished well and we found ourselves 1-0 down after 10 minutes of play.

The Salads didn’t let that deter them as we grew into the game and had some nice combinations down the left side with Adam Palacki & Henry, our efforts frustratingly didn’t lead to any clear cut chances and against the run of play Stags added another later in the half.

At half time, Cal came into midfield, which gave us a boost and Dave’s presence up front seemed like it was going to be a game changer. The away side dropped back to defend their lead as we grew in confidence and it was great to see the team enjoying their football as a result.

We created more chances but it wasn’t going to be our day. The Stags keeper made a great save to keep out Ross’ signature half volley and another opportunity was headed off the line.

After a (failed) tactical roll of the dice to a back 3, the Stags caught us out on the counter as we continued to push for a goal. The game ended 4-0. Credit to our opponents who got the better of us for the second time this season.

This month we have faced some really tough opponents. We are 6 games into the season and have won half of our games, if that was offered to us before a ball was kicked we probably would have snatched your hand off. The beginning of this season was always about building a team that can compete. We feel we are close to achieving that, so now comes the time to find consistency and push on. UTS!

You can find out more about Grove Park Rangers and catch up with their old blogs on their website: groveparkrangers.co.uk