Amateur Football Alliance Senior Cup

Old Meadonians 7 Old Edmontonians 0

Twenty minutes into their second round match at Riverside Lands on Saturday, after quadruple winners of the Amateur Football Alliance Senior Cup, Old Meadonians, had battered away at lowly visitors, Old Edmontonians’ goal to no avail, there was a distinct air of gloom on the touchline which coach Paul Rumley’s repeated intonation from the dugout of, ‘It will come, it will come’ did little to dispel. At this point Meads won six back to back corners, all in-swung under the bar by Jack Holmes and each one either headed over the bar immediately by a defender or bundled off the line for yet another corner. Added to this Meads’ attack was so total that it bordered on the reckless, inviting counter-attacks which offered the visitors the chance to break and this was seized upon with alacrity, threatening to catch the hosts out with a speedy response. A suggestion of light at the end of the tunnel came next when a goal line defender fisted Ryan Bright’s goal-bound shot over the bar, to be red-carded, only for the visitors’ enigmatic keeper who throughout showed a mixture of incompetence, spilling almost every ball that came through to him, toe-punting goal kicks and then brilliance in making excellent reflex saves, to dip to his right to save Ed Glover’s spot kick. Almost immediately came Meads’ just reward and Rumley’s reward for faith: Glover got free on the left and made room to feed Jack Holmes outside him and Holmes’ low cross was met by Jack Costello who slapped the ball into the far corner with the outside of his right foot from ten yards. Bright got the second ten minutes later slotting from near the penalty spot and for Meads’ third just before the interval, Bright was put away on the right and from his cross Glover’s header was parried by the keeper for Glover to follow up and flick the ball into the roof of the net.
The second half consisted of nose to tail one-way traffic towards the visitor’s goal with the hosts making hay to harvest four more at even intervals. Meads’ fourth came on fifty minutes when Costello dummied a long ball down the right for Bright to cut in and when the keeper blocked his shot John Shea was on hand to post the ball from ten yards. By now visitors’ defence was in tatters, as demonstrated by Meads’ next. Glover found room on the left, closed rapidly committing the keeper to the near post and his cut back was deflected in by a defender. The sixth came from a Holmes free-kick on the right just outside the area: The keeper spilt the ball and Glover just beat sub, Kevin Quinn for the tap in. Number seven was another piece of ineptitude by the visiting keeper who gifted Glover with a goal kick for Costello to steer Glover’s feed into the far corner. Meads have one league game before the Xmas break but, from the restart on, the rabbits should be cleared from the field. Cup opponents will inevitably be no push over and it remains to be seen whether Meads’ campaign so far has sharpened their resolve or softened them up with a surfeit of pre-Christmas lush life. John Shea was named MoM.
Squad: Robinson, Mace, Goode, McCombe, O’Sullivan, Costello, Shea, Brennan, Holmes, Glover, Bright, Quinn, Gerrish.


December 11, 2014