Newsletter w/c 8.11.21

Fixtures for Saturday 13th Nov 21

Selection

Match Reports

Old Meadonians 4 – 5 Old Tenisonians

In a match which stood as a preview to their league battle, Old Meadonians versus Tenisonians in the cup had it all.

With some of the finest football on display that Meads have played this year they established a lead early on with Fishman finding himself with a rare opportunity in acres of space on the wing. Xav made no mistake as Fish put a peach of a ball into the box for a tap in. Not long after that after continuous pressure from Meads, Jody got his debut goal for the club after cleverly pouncing on a weak backpass to the Tenisonians Keeper. At 2-0 Meads were strutting their stuff, and after a beautiful interchange between Jermaine, Ed and Xav the Tenisonians keeper pulled off a fine stop to give Meads a corner. His save was in vain however as Harry picked out a great run from Ed who nodded home Meads 3rd. 

At 3-0 after 30 minutes the game looked like it may get out of hand as Xav was played through on goal yet was unlucky to see his shot ricochet off the post. This turned out to be the last chance for Meads during their dominant spell. Tenisonians began to turn up the pressure and began to reap the rewards as their striker won a questionable penalty, and he made no mistake to dispatch it. 

At 3-1 the game could’ve gone either way, and Meads simply needed to hold on til half time to recuperate, however after a defensive mixup Tenisonians found themselves with a free header in the six yard box and made it 3-2 just before half-time. 

After a stern halftime team talk Meads established the priority of not conceding within the first 15 minutes of the half as they knew Tenisonians would be well up for it. The words of advice were short lived as quick buildup play set their winger through on goal to equalise. As has been throughout the season Meads found themselves struggling in the air again as a long-throw found its way into the box and despite claims of a foul on Tim the goal stood, with Meads trailing 4-3 after throwing away a 3 goal lead. 

After conceding the 4 goals Meads seemed to switch on all of a sudden when chasing an equaliser, winning a penalty via a handball in the box. With a few faces shying away from taking responsibility Joe Jones stepped up and despite claiming it was a strike into the bottom corner the keeper guessed right and pulled off a great save (not sure he would have saved it if it’s was in the corner). 

Despite Meads heads going down thinking today just wasn’t their day, a through ball from Chris to Xav, who took an excellent second touch, drew the score level at 4-4. As Meads pushed for the winner the game became more end to end, and in the final few minutes of the game Tenisonians found a bit of luck as Meads could only watch in despair as the ball trickled into the back of the net. 

On a day of disappointment the only thing that brought joy was a clip of  Fishman being tackled by the air. 

Meads 4 Tenisonians 5

Report by Chris Bonnar

OMFC II 2 – 2 Sinjuns

Saturday saw Meads team of the month come up against a Sinjuns side who have only suffered one defeat in all competitions this season. With both teams in good form, the game was set up to be a closely contested fixture.

The first 10 minutes of the match was mostly dominated by Sinjuns, but the slightly rejigged Meads back 3 organised themselves well and picked up on Sinjiun’s attacking patterns, eventually snuffing out most of their threats. This allowed Meads to begin building attacks of their own, with some good link up play down the flanks involving the front 3 and the wide men. However, both teams cancelled each other out and the first half ended goalless.

The second half was just as evenly contested but a bit more exciting for the many, many neutrals watching. Both teams threatened each other’s goals, but it was Meads who got the breakthrough with a nice bit of play down the left flank, ending in a cut back to Jack B who smashed home. Sinjuns fought back and got an equaliser with a left footed shot across the keeper from just inside the box. Meads responded well and took the lead again after a floated cross from Alex N was comfortably headed in by Nick W at the back post. It looked as though Meads would see out the win as they were defending and countering well but with 5 minutes to go, a cut back cross from Sinjuns met Ben J at an awkward height and a dodgy clearance off his thigh saw the ball fly past his own keeper and into the Meads net, gifting Sinjuns a point and rightly earning himself WIG.

The game ended 2-2 with Andy F narrowly, but deservingly, grabbing MOM after some great individual performances all round. A good start to the month for Meads 2’s as they look to push on to top spot and have another successful month.

Report by Ben Jermain

OMFC 3’s 6-1 I honestly don’t know

Clemo’s cup specialists go marching on at riverside. After reversing the fixture to riverside, the first challenge of the day begun at Clappy J – which end of the station to get on at to negate the long haul down the Barnes Bridge platform. A test half the team passed, and half failed. The exception being Marlon who was once again, very late. Any chance?

Once the football got underway playing in front of a record crowd of 2 (welcome Will senior and Lauren) a scrappy game ensued. A blowing wind, a bobbling pitch, and a referee refusing to enforce any sort of handballs to contend with, it was the oppo who took the lead through a good finish at the far post. De ja vu with us being unable to take our chances and getting hit by a sucker punch. To our credit we responded well, a long back pass to Rorke to get the heart rate going, a ball out to Brendan fresh from being runover on the way to the game (yes you read that correctly), a Cruyff turn and ball inside to Clemo who played a 50-yard diagonal that Kody controlled on his back and buried well. The equaliser calmed everyone down- apart from Jack; Whose very first moment in a Meads kit was being given a talking to by the ref from the subs bench for complaining about yet another handball not being given. Ironically though, the no hand ball policy benefitted us just on the stroke of half time with Kody/Brendan having a game of volleyball in a goal mouth scramble before Brendan managed to bundle it over the line. 2-1 halftime.

Taking the lead seemed to give us fresh impetus and we started to win the midfield battle and looking solid at the back. With things going a little too smoothly a reshuffle in defence was needed after the snipers got Liam on the overlap, pulling up lame with a groin strain after being put in space by Marlon. That aside there were no more dramas, Jack now able to make an impact on the pitch and not off it looked dangerous playing off the last man, but it was Clemo who got the third at the back post with another handball over the line bringing his tally to the season down to -1. Jack got his name on the sheet with a lovely header from a Will free kick, Sam finished nicely in the box to make it five, and Will rounded it off from the spot to finish things off and get that insta content. The reason for the insta content is subject to an embargo, but if you know, you know. All in all, a good day at the office and the Wildcats into the next round.

Other highlights include Rorke absolutely plucking a cross out the air reminding us he can catch, that or he has a new brand of glue on his gloves. Rob also with the biggest bit of burglary stealing the ball of their centre midfielder with a hook tackle fifa 2000 would be proud of.

Squad – Clemo, Aidan, Rorke, Brendan, Liam, Jack Sanders, Rob, Sam, Will, Shae, Not right back Jack, Kody, Marlon

MOTM – Will Chadwick
WIG – Jack Howell

Report by James Clemens

Royal Sun Alliance 1s 5 – 1 OMFC 4s

The Falcons are away in South East London with an early kick-off.Weather conditions are good, pitch conditions also good.Availabilities across the squad have been quite challenging throughout the week, along with GK Ali Basma being unavailable.Luckily, Stephan Spiekman put his hand up to play GK that day. Hats off Steph! Great team spirit.Fortunately, CF Jose Da Cruz makes a last minute surprise appearance into the starting XI an hour before KO..!

The Falcons start the game with only one sub.Unfortunately, LB Arthur Simpson gets injured early and leaves the pitch for good.Yacub Sezgin, who usually plays LW, does the team a huge favor and plays the whole game as LB. Hats off Yacub! Another great display of team spirit here..!CB Steve Villard is back on the pitch after a 6-week break due to an ankle injury. Steve did not plan on playing more than 45 minutes, however due to no sub, the Falcons’ captain does not have a choice but to crack on for the full 90 minutes.

Overall, a great team effort from the Falcons who end up losing 5-1. Thanks to Jose Da Cruz for saving the Meads’ honour by scoring the only goal of the squad that day.

Squad: Steve Villard, James Wallace, Dom Stables, Arthur Simpson, Anthony Sexton, Andriy Tabas, Stephan Spiekman, Casey McGuinness, Dwaine Quashie, Yacub Sezgin, Sean Gallagher, Jose Da Cruz

Report by Steve Villard

Meads 5s vs Southgate Olympic 3s

Score: 3-1 Win (Goals: 2* Bridle, 1* Younis)
MOTM: Will Baylis for pocketing their huge and arrogant CM all game. 
WIG: Rob for being offside despite only having 1 leg

The warm up consisted of the usual 15 minute spraying around long passes and the feeble attempts to justify 3am
Friday nights out. 

We had a sloppy start, perhaps our players were intimidated by half the opposition team looking like they were either still dressed up from Halloween or born in the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Despite our start, we went 1-0 early doors to settle the nerves of our mix and match teamsheet. Some clean link up play between new RB Hasan, Milad and Nathan fashioned space for a beautiful curling cross from Nathan. In came Chris Bridle, elbows swinging mercilessly, to put an arching header past their keeper which put us firmly in the driving seat. 20 minutes in, old man Rob hobbles off with a quad injury making the team question “was this man really in the navy?” He made way for Ryan to come on at CM and for Pete to drop into CB. 

We then started to get into the game and play some proper football. Although Adams he ref was pulling offside calls out of nowehere, we had a 2nd breakthrough to shatter Southgate moral. Adam was hacked down after embarrassing 3 of their players, resulting in a stone wall pen. Despite some handbags over who was taking the pen, Chris Bridle asserted his dominance over Nathan and grabbed the ball. Bridle took the pen, and smashed it into the far left. That is the only thing far left about Bridle, as the geeza is a Brentford season ticket holder. Having already questionned Milad on his immigration status during the warm up, we know who Pritti Patel’s foreign policy advisor is. 

Milad made way for Younis at half time and we apploed the pressure straight away again. Simon in goal was clearing up any loose balls, with the CBs finally getting some time to play passes through the lines. With Bridle leaving to make the Brentford game, Rob comes back on at striker. Almost immediately he made an impact winning headers. However, he did some how get flagged for offside which he blames on his blistering pace on one leg, earning him WIG. Will pocketed their 6ft7 creature in midfield, and gave him some good old fashioned Brexit slide tackles to shut down his awful chat dirrcted at 16 year old Younis. Claiming “I don’t care how young he is, hes got to learn!” Well, Younis decided to dribble past half the team and slot calmly into the bottom corner and consequently shut the big fella up to make it 3-0.

We saw out the rest of the game until the final kick, which can only be described as a defence masterclass from the back 5, leaving the final score at 3:1.

Report by Will Baylis-Allen

BRE3 vs OMFC6

The venues location isn’t great, coupled with the fact that Brentford, Chelsea and the Rugby were on, made things much more difficult, needless to say the gaffer and at least 5 players rocked up late.

Preparations were far from fantastic but knowing Brent didn’t have an inflated ball, a pump or a referee made us feel like an organise outfit.

To be fair the 17 year old lad they had roped into reffing wasn’t half bad, until he stopped giving us any decisions deep into the second half.

Cries of injustice just seemed to spur Brent on and inevitably a route one ball from their keeper went straight to their striker who fired it in the net.

It’s fair to say that we imploded and were rightly riled up from that point onwards, but instead of focusing on getting an equaliser we resorted to playing shit football and became embroiled in the ugly side of the game.

Another defensive lapse of concentration enabled Brent to score a second, I don’t think it’s fair to make excuses, we had our chances but we didn’t put them away and were made to pay.

Final Score:  BRE3  2 – 0 OMFC6

MOM: Alex

DOD: Paul

Report by Dave Acland

7s Match report
Meads 2 – 4 Woking/The Wind

That beautiful Saturday football feeling waiting for the ref to show, a bumpy pitch that can redirect any pass and Yusuf tucking into a 5 course 5 mins before the game is about to start, home sweet home games.

Meads started well with the wind behind them, 2 fans from Warwickshire on the sidelines helping. That’s how far our loyal supporters travel to see beautiful 2 touch football and out for a throw…

It wasn’t long before Charldinho stunned all 2 fans in the crowd with a power freekick from 30yds out, taking a slight deflection and in. Not even Bill Gates saw that one coming, the keeper had no chance!

A few slide tackles later and some other play not worth mentioning really, we were in again with a quick 1-2 between dilloninho and Benaldinho through to Meads Grealish, with a composed right foot finish, defenders gazing at his shiny elevated set of curtains in awe of the goal and searching for an answer to their mistakes…the answer is L’Oréal, …because you’re… you get the rest…

It turns out, the goal was such class we were all stuck playing instant replay in our heads giving it that Gary Neville goalgasm oooaaahhhoooooowwww likes the Torres goal (YouTube it) and meanwhile Woking put one in back of the Meads net within 1 minute of the kick off. Slight lapse in concentration, and 2-1 Meads at half time.

2nd half…. I could talk about it but, it would send you all to sleep. So instead I’ll talk about how crisp and fresh the pint was at the Pavilion after. Disappointed with the new sauce on the chicken wings though, the other sauce was a bit better and spicier… yeah so we lost 4-2 in the end but we did have chances in the 2nd half but Charldinho went off with a groin injury and the wind started being a bellend. The ref gets wig for being the ref and I’ve forgotten who got MoM because we lost.

Highlights were the two Meads goals, Charldinho telling the ref “You’re ruining my Saturday” and almost getting red carded, Dilloninho getting dick slapped in the face by the football point blank, sandwiching the Woking player and then the Woking player whining about what he thought was his “collar bone”, after Charldinho and another defender went Chuck Norris on him.

Shout out to Weatherman Nick, missing the weather reports. Last we heard he’s up
In Manchester trying to get closer to the Gulf Stream.

Report by Ben Lane

Old meads 8s 0-4 Old Dorkinians 7s

As the score-line would suggest it was a rather dominant display from the opposition throughout. Our best moments in the game came in the early exchanges with some good passing in the middle but a lack of clinical finishing upfront being our unraveling.

After a string of good saves our goalkeeper was finally beaten by a goal that should have been disallowed for tackling the keeper whilst he had hands on the ball. It was clear to see that heads dropped after conceding the first goal. Second half was far worse for the home team as heads dropped and tempers flared, communication dropped, this lead to 2 silly challenges inside our penalty area saw 2 penalties conceded in 10 minutes, which were both converted by their no7.

The last goal came courtesy of a corner, a header was fired straight over the head of our back post cover rounding out a 4-0 home thrashing. Much improvement is needed going forward if we are going to even get to the mid table as the team has just been thrashed by bottom of the league.

Report by Joe Powell

Old Meads Sat Vets 0 – 1 Claygate Royals

After last weeks win how would we fair, could we build on that win. In summary “no”.

Under pressure from the start with longer balls to the lively Claygate forwards. Defensively we battled hard and did well. In midfield & attack it was all rushed, low on quality moments and Claygate had the majority of the possession.

Too late to go back in time back but when we play again we will definitely press high to stop their main longer passing tactics. We gave them two much time on the ball.

Half time arrived rather quickly (at least 5 or 8 mins earlier we all feel) and the score 0-0. 

The second half involved many Claygate cynical fouls, it really worked well for them.

It stopped a lot of our more dangerous attacks. We wish the ref could have punished them a little more. We had improved though. Now 4-4-2 formation.

We had stopped the longer passing and we were looking equally likely to push for the 3 points. It did not happen. They grabbed a winner, offside for sure and no VAR available.

The MOM going to Mark B for a great penalty save where Claygate could have actually gone 2-0 up. His last 3 performances have been very good. 

League Cup this week. 

We need a good cup run.

Report by Steve Fox

30th Oct: Old Meads Sat Vets 3 v MMB 1  

(Fox 2, Notley 1)

Every team that has a bad streak needs to reach that game where they can cut it. That match was delayed but that day arrived and finally all the players who make up the squad were able to celebrate.

Our usual poor start, on the back foot and went 1-0 down. Flukey own goal off Joe Porter. So lucky for them.

Joe Potter has been superb since his return, definitely worth a mention.

We drew level through Alex Notely (the other team claimed the goal was offside).

A lovely pass from Noel I believe, Steven Fox (coming on with 15 mins to go in the 1st half) ran at the keeper squaring to Alex Notely to hit hard, middle of the net, boom.

Second half arrives and we just knew we could and must win this match. Two goals from Steven Fox secured his MOM performance during the 2nd half. Much better movement, pressing all over. Much more like it.

We also celebrated the return of 3 players who had a great performance in this triumph.

Nick came back after being injured, he did the dirty work in the midfield where he was commanding.

Joe P was a very hard wall to overcome by making an excellent centre duo with Jeff.

Phil Dussard returned to play as if he had played the entire preseason and all leagues games.

Overall much better lads. Need to repeat this regularly, let’s see if we can. 

Report by Steve Fox

Old Meadonians 11 – 0 Old Wimbledonians

MoM: Dave Brennan

Wig: Gavin Kenny

Despite the large score, the biggest talking point was me being given the wig by the self appointed Secret Committee/management. Despite numerous other contenders such as: 1) Craig trying to drill a ball under the wall which only just made it to the keeper; 2) Goode’s 0.73% pass completion; 3) Deano’s 6 free headers that didn’t even go close to the goal; 4) Granty asking for a lift to a home game, but even if away it was Wimbledon and 5) no doubt many more deserving than mine. Instead they awarded it to me following Goode’s only completed pass in the game, a wonderfully flighted ball to the back stick, where I bravely launched myself with a diving header only for the keeper to pull off a “worldie” save. Paddy himself even remarked it was Gordon Banks like. However, the management need to keep the peerage happy and those that have paid their dues to them can’t be upset, so as is standard these days the people with less are the ones to suffer, so here I am writing the report. I’m also safe, as the decision maker Paddy doesn’t have email, smart phone or the ability to read so unless this is read out to him I’m ok for future selections. 

So on to the game itself. The management were obviously in for a bad day from the start, Rory sobbing about having to tidy the changing rooms from 8:15 – not sure what he was doing as they were still filthy when we arrived, and Paddy wittering on about something back in the day being better. They carried this on by saying how it was going to be a tough game as the oppo were looking to turn semi-pro – why any vets team would look to turn semi-pro is beyond me, but clearly the management thought they knew better. They didn’t. Despite the managements many mistakes they did have some success, they further sidelined Kevin Quinn, Andy Thompson and Ali McCombe and brought in some fresh faces with actual ability. Leon ‘I dont get drunk’ Smith returned after a few years of playing semi-pro, Craig Jones joined to add a current 1s player to the ranks and Dave Brennan joined following him leaving to focus on internet dating, but as he’s found the first ‘one’ he can play football again. 

Within only a few minutes of the game starting it was clear the oppo were not semi-pro or anywhere near. In fact it seemed like maybe 2 had played football before, a few more had run before, a few had watched football and the rest had a football up their tops. Within 10 mins Leon, playing up top alongside Craig, had us 2 up, one with with his first touch back in a Meads shirt and another hacking one in whilst holding the defence off with ease. Jack added a 3rd about 15 mins in with a free kick curled round the wall that the keeper just watched in. At this point Ali G said to Rory “this could be a cricket score – aiiight “, showing how little the Scottish know of cricket as 123-1 in football means nothing, but he did get it right with there being plenty of goals to come. Soon after was one from him, from the right wing walking past a number of players before beating the keeper at the near post with aplomb. Jack, playing alongside Dave in central midfield, almost got his second with a fizzing strike only for the keeper to make the first of his 2 saves all game. The back 4 were bossing it defensively. I had the right winger in my pocket, well Granty did and the fella didn’t want to run so was easy. Deano and Lawrie had little and large up front, but that was all they had. One was big and the other small – neither any good, so Lawrie didn’t break sweat and Deano didn’t draw blood. Goode also didn’t get beaten once and calmly dealt with everything, he was obviously bored as he kept giving them the ball back rather than passing to us. At some point Craig managed to take one of the many chances he had (I lost count), let’s say he turned a player, used his pace and slotted it in, as that sounds about right. Granty was a threat down the left, beating them with his lack of pace and putting in numerous great balls that on another day could have meant we went in to half time 10 up instead of the 5 it was. 

The subs were made immediately at half time with Tim Gates replacing me at left back and Ali G off, with Jack moving to the wing, and Will on. Dave quickly spoke to Will about the triangles and squares, but the primary school tutoring was too much for Will as he just likes to kick. The management then tried some form of team talk. Paddy told Leon to stop having fun and stop show boating and Rory told the team to carry on. Inspiring words indeed. 

The second half was much the same just with the oppo getting tired and Meads coming back down from second gear to first. Craig got another goal from within the box, cooly taken. Jack got his second when looking to cross his floated ball was caught by the wind and lifted over the 4 foot keeper and in. It was clear to see Will’s head and body weren’t aligned. He was going into tackles later than normal, the player didn’t get kicked shows how late, but it was great to see him back out. The management discussed subbing him, but remembered Will was always used to being second best, as always compared to his much better brother Ginge. He did manage to get an assist though, drilling a shot wide, Deano couldn’t sort his feet out and it ricocheted in for a goal. Dave sealed his MoM reward with a lovely 25 yard positioned strike to the bottom left corner giving the keeper no chance. Craig completed his unremarkable hat-trick when their defender squared it perfectly to him for an easy finish. Bridle, on up front for Leon, for the first time in his career stated he had to hold his run as he had too much pace for them – after failing and getting called offside – which kind of sums up the game. Soon after he added the final goal when Ali G crossed and Bridle bundled home the ball and for once didn’t give away a free kick. 

Oh and Si Richardson played in goal!

Despite the ease it was a good day and some decent football played and great to have some more players back in the fold, but most importantly we progressed to the next round of the cup. It was also probably the last time in the boathouse for most of us. Whilst we won’t miss the leaking roof, freezing showers and general state, we will remember the many great memories we’ve all had there over the years. The next few years will be different but the Meads spirit will shine through. 

Goalscorers:

Craig Jones 3

Leon Smith 2

Jack Costello 2

Ali Gordon

Dean Stacey 

Dave Brennan

Chris Bridle

Report by Gav Kenny