Camden United are second after coming from a goal down to beat LBS Lions

JUST seven points separate the top eight teams in the Premier Division of the Middlesex County Football League.

With some clubs also boasting games in hand over their rivals, it’s a title race for the ages that only promises to get even tighter.

Right in the mix, albeit currently sitting eighth in the table, is a Camden & Islington United side looking to banish past demons after missing out on glory in controversial fashion on the final day of last season.

Needing just a draw against SL Benfica, the club, fondly known as Candi United, ultimately lost 2-1 despite seeing a last-gasp equaliser from Ryan Pickles “wrongly” ruled out for offside.

What was meant to be a weekend of celebration instead ended with the Candi players having to congratulate Benfica for pipping them to the championship.

Spurred on by that disappointment, Candi have recovered from a slow start this season to win five league games in a row – including a statement 2-1 victory over Eagles Land Cricklewood, who went into Saturday’s game at Hackney Marshes top.

Karl Usher-Williams gave Candi the lead after adding the finishing touches to Jonny Ding’s inch-perfect cross. The Eagles equalised from the penalty spot, but Candi weren’t to be denied with Ding heading home a late winner following skilful work out wide from Rynelle Usher-Williams.

Jonny Ding headed home a late winner for Candi

Quizzed on whether the win over the early pace-setters had done the chasing pack a favour, Candi manager Nick Wigmore said: “We’ve done ourselves a favour. We want to win this league, and we will be fighting for it until the very end of the season.

“We got off to a slow start this season, as we often do. But now we’ve put ourselves in a good position, and hopefully we can kick on from here. We have exactly the same record as we did at this stage last season. And now we’re starting to find the consistency that we are known for. The players know how to win tight games, and our win over Cricklewood shows that we can beat anyone on our day.”

Candi’s triumph over Eagles Land Cricklewood allowed London Fennecs to take over at the summit. But it could all change again this weekend when London Fennecs host another of the title chasers, Camden United – not to be confused with Camden & Islington United.

Leon Louis’s Camden United side are second in the table after coming from behind to beat LBS Lions 4-1 on Saturday. Player of the match Mohammed Hassan stole the show, equalising before going on to record three assists after laying on goals for Thomasz Siemienczuk, Romario Godfrey-Brown and Rinor Plepolli.

Looking ahead to this weekend’s “six-pointer”, club co-founder Hafid Ali said: “The first thing that our players do after a game is check the results elsewhere, and last weekend a lot of results went in our favour.

“Now we obviously want to continue that momentum – we just need to keep doing what we’ve been doing.

“The game against London Fennecs on Saturday is a big six-pointer because if we win we’ll go top with a game in hand over our closest rivals. We beat them in pre-season, but this is the league and anything can happen.”