Up next: Guildford Saints (A)

Up next for Teddington Athletic, on Sun 6 Oct, is a trip to Guildford Saints – founded in 1983 "with an ethos of providing the opportunity for players of all abilities to play football", according to their pleasingly-designed website GuildfordSaints.org.

The game is a 2.30pm kick-off - unusually late, but we've agreed to it, let's play football - at Surrey Sports Park, Richard Meyjes Road, Guildford - satnav GU2 7XX. It's a 35-minute drive from Teddington (let us know if you need lift-shares) and girls should meet there BEFORE 2pm please.

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The referee will be Chloe Hobson, on the pitch at the top of the hill to the right of the Surrey Sports Park building. Car parking is available and it is "usually advisable," says the helpful Saints contact, "to use the overflow car park half way up the hill." There's a Starbucks inside the Surrey Sports Park building, for those who crave caffeine and croissants. (Mine's a tea, milk but no sugar, thanks.)

We're taking three subs this week. Sinead and Emily are rested, with Millie T, Sophie and Phoebe returning, so the squad is:

Charlotte

Ella PM (birthday girl and captain)

Ella V

Saskia

Millie T

Millie Mac

Sadie

Amy

Sophie

Ruby

Phoebe

Ale

As for the opposition, Saints finished bottom of the league last year and haven't started too well this year either, with the PrawnSandwich website registering two home losses, 4-1 to Colne Valley and 8-0 to Caterham Pumas; furthermore, although it's not yet appeared on PrawnSandwich, the Surrey County Women & Girls League website has recorded a further 10-0 loss for Saints at Abbey Rangers last weekend.

It's regrettable that the League website registered that score, as the official guidance is to keep reported scores down to a maximum eight-goal margin - an ethos Teddington Athletic are only to happy to share. Especially at this level, football shouldn't be about results but enjoyment and improvement.

A fine example of that determination came in Teddington's opening game at Abbey Rangers. With the visitors having racked up half-a-dozen first-half goals, a worried delegation came over from the home team. "You don't want to stop when you get to eight, do you?" asked an Abbey parent/helper, slightly confused by the wording of the league suggestion. "Because we'd rather play on, for the experience."

Every league table has a top team and a bottom team, and your reporter has experienced both. Between the ages of 11 and 13 I was in a team that regularly conceded double figures, including on one memorable occasion losing 36-0. We didn't like the results, but we loved playing, and the opportunity to keep playing the game we adored. Youth football needs to nurture that spirit, especially in the girls' game, and Teddington will go into the game at Guildford full of respect for the opposition, as footballers always should.