Challenging Weather Fails To Defeat Old Meads

Amateur Football Alliance Senior Cup - Old Meadonians 1 Lloyds Warren 0

After the two previous week’s attempts to play this A.F.A. Senior Cup game at Beckenham were washed out, Old Meadonians’ resilient Riverside Lands rose to the occasion to host visitors from the Southern Amateur League, Lloyds Warren, in the tail end of an Atlantic gale blowing diagonally across the field. In circumstances which made passing the ball more than twenty yards a lottery, both sides made a good fist of playing cohesive and competitive football but it has to be said that the referee found the going tougher than the players.

Meads got out of the blocks the quicker, with their front three, Simon Richardson, Nick Wilson and Ed Glover causing panic in the visitors’ defence but little in the way of viable chances and when they did the Warren keeper proved himself nigh on impervious as he did throughout. It was also a pleasure to see Nick Jones making his first start this season and pulling the strings to harness the pace up front and pump across tempting corners and free-kicks, one of which led to Aidan Chapman planting a firm header into the goalie’s midriff.

On the half hour Adam Goode fell foul of the pitch limping off with a twisted knee and making way for debutant Charlie Cain, fresh out of Brentford’s Academy, who belied his youth to play a ‘Cool Hand’ role at left back, not his preferred position. The visitors’ sole weapon of retaliation was pace and this allowed Meads’ keeper, Gary Robinson to time his move off the line to save at the feet of Warren’s flying striker on the stroke of the break.The half time talk from coach Ali McCombe, flying solo in the absence of Luke Graham on a scouting mission, was succinct, extolling the virtues of patience and composure. The second half was a repeat of the first, with the exception that Meads tightened their grip but still meeting armour plated resistance from the Warren keeper and his opposite number a complete spectator.

Towards extra time the introduction of Craig Jones invention near goal, caught the visitors tiring defence on the hop, only for his dazzling runs to be thwarted by the keeper and one where he danced round the goalie, only for the ball to be ballooned over the bar after a huge bobble.

Meads did find the net on eighty minutes following a half clearance from a corner but the referee mysteriously standing outside the area conjured up an offside. Justice was done five minutes into extra time when yet another whipped in free-kick from Nick Jones waas headed in by Simon Richardson who was named the MoM.

Squad: Robinson, Goode (Cain), Chapman, Gerrish, Britner, N. Jones, Gowers, Bright, E. Glover (C. Jones), Wilson, Richardson,

November 26, 2015