Like Agincourt exactly 600 years ago to the day, Boundary Estate were a few men down as they made their debut in the Preliminary Round of the Dickie Davies Cup.
Unlike at Agincourt, Boundary Estate couldn't hold on to a 1-0 lead against the Division 3 league leaders, Boston Celtics, eventually losing 5-1.
The cup - described by the Hackney and Leyton Sunday League as their most prestigious cup - is named after the late Dickie Davies, a former registration secretary of the league.
The Dickie Davies Cup dates back to 1981 and is the league's equivalent to the FA Cup.
Despite having a 12-strong squad on the Friday before this match up, only nine Boundary players arrived in the changing rooms on the morning of this cup tie.
It meant Boundary, who last made a cup final in March 2011, played the unorthodox 4-3-1 formation.
Despite the two man disadvantage, Boundary started the game rather well, with Nick Harvey playing superbly both on the left of midfield and alone (very alone) up front.
Whilst Boston Celtics had much of the ball, they were thwarted throughout the opening 20 minutes at every turn from a committed defence led by the irreplaceable Dan Bowmar.
Things got even better for Boundary on 25 minutes when great work down the left wing meant Harvey found himself through on goal. The midfielder has spent much of the season so far claiming he can do a job up front, and so it proved as he calmly slotted home. The giantkilling was on.
But Boston Celtics are top of Division 3 - and the goal only inspired them to work harder.
The home side were, however, a tad fortunate to find themselves level after 35 minutes. A through ball pierced the Boundary defence and landed at the feet of a Celtics striker who had surely wandered into a deep offside position. But the referee allowed the goal to stand, to the disbelief of stand in centre back, Lewis Clayton, who berated the official in his usual way.
Boundary were still feeling confident, especially with the thought of a tenth man arriving at any time, but the confidence was shattered minutes before the half time break.
The slightly podgy but skilful Celtics striker found himself with just Bowmar and Boundary 'keeper, Tom Bennett in between him and the lead.
A sumptuous piece of skill took the ball past Bowmar and he calmly slotted home.
All Boundary players worked their socks off in the second half, but it wasn't to be as Celtics marked their superiority with three more goals to make it 5-1 in the end.
Club Secretary Stefan Swift said: "The commitment and effort shown by our nine men against a team who are top of the division above was absolutely incredible. I am extremely proud of every single one of them.
"Every single Boston Celtics player I shook hands with at the final whistle was full of admiration. At least three of them suggested that - had we fielded 11 players - we would have given them one hell of a game."
"berated the official in his usual way"! The cheek of it
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