We start our look back on this day in 1933, as Leyton went up against Walthamstow Avenue. It would be the third time the teams would meet in just eight days. The two sides drew 1-1 in the first game, but avenue ran away 5-1 winners at Green Pond Road a couple of days later, though Leyton were missing several key players, so were expected to put up a better fight in the final.
Leyton needed a replay to get past Clapton in the semi-finals to secure their place to play the Avenue at Ilford, hoping to make it a seventh Essex Senior Cup title.
However, it wasn’t to be, as Leyton went down 2-0 in the final. If it was any consolation, it was described as one of the best finals in memory.
Avenue went on to win the Athenian League too, while Leyton would finish fifth. There was also defeat for Leyton in the final of the London Charity Cup (2-0 to Kingstonian) and the Fishermen’s Widdows and Orphans Cup (4-1 to Lowestoft and Kirkley).
A couple of years later, Leyton reached the final of the Essex Senior Cup again. But with five Athenian League games, the Senior Cup Final and a South Essex Charity Cup game still to play, Leyton decided it a good idea to go on an Easter tour of the Channel Islands. On Easter Monday, Jersey were defeated 1-0, but the effect of the tour for Leyton was debatable. They returned home and lost 4-0 to Walthamstow Avenue in the South Essex Charity Cup on Wednesday, but beat Bromley 1-0 and Hayes 3-1 on Thursday and Saturday. Defeats to Redhill (4-0) and Wealdstone (2-1) cost Leyton the Athenian League title – Barking winning it by two points – but Harwich and Parkeston were beaten 1-0 in the final of the Essex Senior Cup.
Southall were the opponents three times on this date, from 1939 to 1946.
On Easter Monday 1957, Walton & Hersham were the visitors to the Hare & Hounds. Leyton won 2-0 thanks to goals from A Minall and R Brogan. In attendance were players and officials from the OSDO club from Holland. The programme notes read “At present, we have as our guests a party of players and officials from Holland. These good people represent the OSDO club, and were in action against our own “A” team here on Good Friday. We trust our Dutch friends are enjoying their stay in Leyton and will return to their native land with pleasant memories of their tour of Leyton. I am quite convinced that inter-club tours of this nature do much towards furthering the cause of international friendship”. Those principles seem alien today.
OSDO hit the headlines when Ruud Gullit turned out for their thirds in 2000. In 2003, they merged with NEA to become SV Ouderkerk and played in the 4th level of the Dutch pyramid, until their withdrawal in October of this season.
In 1999, Heybridge Swifts were beaten 2-0 as Leyton Pennant went on their way to win the Eastern Floodlit Cup. A year later though, things were a bit more bleak, Uxbridge winning 1-0 at Wadham Lodge, effectively relegating Pennant to Division Two of the Isthmian League.
By 2006, things were looking brighter though, and Hakan Hayrettin’s side were chasing a play-off place in the Eastern Division of the Southern League. With two games to go, Waltham Forest were still in with a chance. The only problem was, their March form was woeful. Wingate & Finchley were beaten 3-2 on the 1st, but this was followed by defeats to Arlesey Town (1-0), Wivenhoe Town (who would lose the play-off final to Stamford (2-0)) and Harlow Town (2-1). A win against Barking on the 22nd of April would give Forest renewed hope, but on the last day of the season, they would play out a dull 1-0 defeat to Corby Town, who were promoted as runners-up. Forest missed out on the play-offs by three points.
| Season | Opponents | Competition | H/A | F/A |
| 1892-93 | Leyton Excelsior | Leyton & District Alliance | Away | 2-0 |
| 1894-95 | Forest Swifts | ? | ? | 4-1 |
| 1895-96 | Lewisham St Marys | Friendly | Away | 2-0 |
| 1898-99 | Woolwich Arsenal | Friendly | Home | 3-1 |
| 1904-05 | Plymouth Argyle | Friendly | Away | 3-2 |
| 1910-11 | West Ham United | Southern League Division 1 | Home | 3-0 |
| 1932-33 | Walthamstow Avenue | Essex Senior Cup | Away | 1-2 |
| 1934-35 | Jersey | Channel Islands Tour | Away | 1-0 |
| 1936-37 | Enfield | Athenian League | Home | 1-3 |
| 1938-39 | Southall | Athenian League | Away | 0-1 |
| 1943-44 | Southall | Herts & Middlesex Combination | Home | 1-2 |
| 1945-46 | Southall | Athenian League | Home | 5-1 |
| 1949-50 | Wealdstone | Athenian League | Home | 0-1 |
| 1956-57 | Walton & Hersham | Athenian League | Home | 2-0 |
| 1970-71 | Wingate | Athenian League | Away | 0-2 |
| 1974-75 | Wembley | Athenian League | Home | 0-1 |
| 1977-78 | Metropolitan Police | Friendly | Home | 3-2 |
| 1985-86 | Oxford City | Isthmian League Division One | Home | 0-2 |
| 1988-89 | Dulwich Hamlet | Isthmian League Premier | Away | 0-3 |
| 1994-95 | Berkhamsted Town | Isthmian League Division One | Away | 3-1 |
| 1996-7 | Molesey | Isthmian League Division One | Home | 2-3 |
| 1998-9 | Heybridge Swifts | Eastern Floodlit Cup | Home | 2-0 |
| 1999-2000 | Uxbridge | Isthmian League Division One | Home | 0-1 |
| 2005-6 | Barking & East Ham United | Southern League Eastern | Home | 1-0 |
Sources:
- Dubbined Boots and Shin Pads – A History of Leyton FC (David Chapman)
- Leyton Pennant, Waltham Forest and Walthamstow FC statistics (Steve Howe)