Football Result: Albanian 1 Old Meadonians 1

Meads share the points with current league leaders

Amateur Football Combination Premier Divisionn

It was fitting that, just a week after tipping Old Meadonians off the cairn atop the table on goal difference with a storming six-nil defeat of strugglers Parkfield, Albanian should host Meads in a test as to who might be the stronger in the run-in.

After Saturday’s 1-1 shoot-out, although they are still short of power up front, Meads are still on the leaders’ shoulder but with a valuable game in hand and with their defence in commanding form, on this showing, at any rate, they had nothing to fear from anything the hosts could throw at them.

A dream start saw Meads almost on the score sheet in the first minute when Misha Mantel stole the ball in mid-field and put Ed Glover away on the right. He fed Craig Jones for a one on one with the keeper who, although sent the wrong way, saved the day with a trailing arm for the ball to be bundled away to safety. This paved the way for a fifteen minute power play before the hosts got anywhere near the ball; nonetheless there was still no score till an hour had gone when against the run of play Albanian drew first blood. A quick throw in yielded the chance of a snap shot from the edge of the box and a massive deflection took the ball out of keeper Gary Robinson’s reach.

This was the signal for the visitors to react like a nest of sorely provoked hornets and swarm all over their surprised hosts. What passed for a power play in the first half now paled into insignificance as, for the remainder of the match, Meads battered Albanian. Now managers Paul Rumley and Rory Vermeulen were all but redundant as the whole team ignited to self-motivate. Craig Jones almost immediately hit the bar with a flying volley but the ball wouldn’t go in until there was five minutes to go when Peter Eguae crossed deep from the left and John Shea side footed the ball as it was going over the goal-line beyond the far post.

Team: Robinson, Palmer, McCombe, Pointer, A Swann, (Quinn), Eguae, Costello, Mantell, (Shea),

M. Swann, Glover, (N. Jones), C. Jones.

January 31, 2012