Like a fine wine, AFC Hop's veteran striker Justin Kernick is hopeful he and his team will get better and better with age.

And after 15 years with the club, he also hopes sooner rather than later Hop will finally break their trophy hoodoo.

Hop have been playing in Saturday league football for 15 years and Kernick has been there for every one of them.

But one monkey Hop have never managed to fling from their backs is never winning a trophy - or even come second in the league, despite winning promotion eight times and reaching one cup final.

It was only thanks to the dreadful weather that we discovered Hop's story.

Heavy overnight downpours meant that virtually every game on the fixture list last Saturday was rained off.

And after a frantic search around Southampton for a game that had survived the elements, we eventually found Hop's Drew Smith League Senior Division 1 game against second-in-the- table Capital at Cutbush Lane.

Once the Park Scratchings team got there, we were nearly sent back home empty-handed when the referee taking charge of a game on the neighboring pitch called that one off!

After a slight delay to clear excess water - and not to mention piles of dog waste from the pitch - Hop's game did go ahead and they deservedly took the points after a 2-1 win against a weakened Capital.

For Adrian Kajumba's full Park Scratchings report, don't miss today's Daily Echo