Amateur Football Combination Premier Division

Football result - Old Meadonians 0 Old Hamptonians 1

Old Meadonians put a brake on what was threatening to become a ‘Cresta Run’ of losses by keeping rampant, unbeaten Old Hamptonians down to one goal in a hard fought feisty and sometimes edgy league match at Riverside Lands on Saturday.

In fact, in a game of few chances, the allocation was probably no more than four to each team, two of Hamptonians representative players were instrumental in preventing a more equitable division of the spoils, striker, Chris Heritage, breaking up a Meads’ attack in the right mid-field to run through and score from twenty yards on the quarter and keeper, James Holdsworth, pulling off a superb save to push Ed Glover’s thunderous ten yard header onto the bar on the stroke of half time.

Post-match, coach Paul Rumley’s called this clash a fantastic game of football, not classic, but with two sides who are great rivals, were totally committed and adjoining each other in the table each knowing full well the occasion’s importance.

Half time instructions were to attack relentlessly which Meads did, battering away, but came up against a tight defence which gave them just two notable chances. The first went to centre back Ali McCombe on the hour when Jack Costello’s corneer was headed back across goal but McCombe mistimed his volley. Fifteen minutes later Meads’ striker Craig Jones thought he’d bundled the ball over the line only for a Hampton boot to hook it clear. Rumley’s final words were that he could not have asked for more and following the Christmas break the horizon would be clearer.

Squad: Robinson, Shea, O’Sullivan, McCombe, Quinn, Costello, Chapman, Gerrish, Mace, Glover, C. Jones, Allen, Meredith, Gowers.

December 11, 2013