Old Meads' Quest To Stay Top Of The Table

Amateur Football Combination Premier Division: Old Thorntonians 0, Old Meadonians 5


Pocketing another three points Old Meadonians moved on in their quest to stay atop the table until the end of the season with a dominating performance reminiscent of their palmy noughties.

We never did get to see whether lowly Old Thorntonians could play or not as Meads, visitors to Thorns’ Kingston Vale hideout, squeezed the life out of them in a powerful display of total football. The visitors’ philosophy, of defending where the ball is, meant that on the sparse occasions when the hosts had possession they were rarely allowed time to gather their wits and make a pass capable of ruffling the visitors’ feathers.

Meads’ first, after fifteen minutes, came from a sweeping cross field pass from left to right by John Shea which set Nick Wilson free to outpace his marker to the goal line whence he clinically bisected the gap between the keeper and defensive line for Ed Glover to sweep the ball in at the far post. The visitors’ second came when Simon Richardson headed down a Jack Costello free kick and John Shea volleyed in from ten yards.

Half time instructions from manager Luke Graham saw Meads maintain their strangle hold to plunder three more, the first on the hour being a disaster for the home keeper. He lost his footing when about to clear the ball and sprayed it to the edge of the area where Simon Richardson made light work of finding the empty net with a firm half-volley with the ball misbehaving in the blustery wind. Sub Craig Jones banged the final nails into the hosts‘ coffin ten minutes later and with five minutes to go, the first by finding the near corner after he’d worked his way across the face of the area from right to left and Meads’ fifth after latching onto a ball lifted over a square defence and rounding the keeper. To confirm this win as a concerted effort the Mom award went to the whole team.

Squad: Robinson, Costello, Gerrish, Chapman, Cain, Wilson, Gowers, Mace, Shea, Glover, Bright, Richardson, C. Jones, Britner.

February 10, 2016