Meads make it Academic

Amateur Football Alliance Senior Cup - Old Meadonians 7 University College London Academical Old Boys 1

If the spectators at Dulwich on Saturday expected to see an evenly contested game they were in for a disappointment as Old Meadonians humbled U.C.L.A. Old Boys to crash their way to the final of the A.F.A. Senior Cup with a display of power football which left what was considered a strong Accies side in tatters.

The Accies had no answer to the pace, penetration and bewildering positional play of Meads’ strikers Colin Hawkins and Ed Glover, who ran them ragged despite having to work hard to keep the shirts on their backs. An untiring and tigerish midfield kept up a constant supply of good ball to the eager strikers and an impenetrable rear guard gave short shrift to any attacks the graduates mounted.

The opening exchanges gave no hint of the maelstrom to come when on ten minutes Glover brushed aside three defenders to open his account. A mere thirteen minutes later he was celebrating a hat-trick of spectacular goals two of which were laid on by Hawkins, who, for good measure, helped himself to number four with a fierce cross shot just before the interval.

At half-time coaches Paul Rumley and Rory Vermeulen stressed the danger of thinking it was all over, with the effect that Kevin Quinn had nodded a fifth minutes later. There followed a brief respite for Accies as they were allowed to play with the ball for ten minutes and to receive a small crumb of consolatory comfort. Hawkins’ and Glover’s response was once more to open their legs and taunt Accies taut defence on both flanks just for the hell of it. Meads then put on their subs for a final turn of the screw. First Steve Bowring fired in from close range and finally Hawkins volleyed in from twenty yards. Meads now have to face three testing league encounters before the final at the Civil Service ground on April 3rd.

Team: Sayers, Salanson, Williamson, Jordan, Mcguinness, (Cope), Costello, Bond, (Kearney), Quinn, Rhone, Hawkins, Glover, (Bowring).

March 9, 2004