OLD MEADONIANS FC CIRCULAR 8th October 2014 Fixtures For Saturday 11th October Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th SUNDAY Vets Opposition Venue / Referee Competition Kick Off Old Hamptonians HOME - James Amadori, Assistant 1: Sarah Day, Assistant 2: Michael Kenna League 3.00pm Economicals II LSE Sports Ground, Windsor Avenue, New Malden, KT3 League 2.00pm Old Hamptonians II Rectory Farm, Dean Road, Hampton, Middlesex, TW12 1AQ League 3.00pm Alleyn OB IV [SAL] Edward Alleyn Club, rear of 83-85 Burbage Road, Herne Hill, SE24 9HD AFA Minor 3.00pm Old Hamptonians III HOME - Lorenzo Ottanelli League 3.00pm Old St Marys II HOME - Dwayne Oderinde League 2.30pm Glyn Old Boys IV Priest Hill Playing Fields, Reigate Road (A240), Ewell, Surrey, KT17 3DT League 3.00pm Glyn Old Boys V HOME - Arshia Hashemi League 2.30pm Old Pauline IV HOME - Salvatore Colavito League 3.00pm Old Wisonians Old Wilsonians Sports Club, Hayes Hill, BROMLEY, BR2 7HN Jack Perry Cup 10.45am 1sts Garry Robinson Lawrie Pointer Matt O Sullivan Alistair McCombe Ryan Bright Dave Brennan Will Gerrish Jon Shea Misha Mantel Ed Glover Craig Jones Alex Jones Tom Meridith Freddie Champion 6ths 2nds Joe Beharie Adam Goode Dean Stacey Dave Miller Jack Holmes Damian Reading Adam Boynton Matt Allen Nick Wilson Aaron Glover Nick Jones Jordan Mace John Bull Tom Gadsby 7ths 3rds Tim Castle Dave Ryan Jermaine Queensborough Roni Sidhu Ash Hamidi Joe Willis Tommy Champion Tim Dorsett Dwayne Beckford Jose Neto Olivier Deniau Luke Latimer 8ths 4ths Rourke Minors Jon Best Andrea Oliviera Jack McCarthy Eoin Toher Jake Gowers Rupert Cope Marvin West Tinashe Sithole Dean Simon Harrison Davies Rowe Barry Mcguinness Sanni Ahmed 9ths 5ths Sasha Goryunov Neville St John Mark Stone Will Knox Philip Dussard Tim Gates Adam Belghiti Kevin Coyne Mekel Hackett Nicky Rankin Joey Watts Adam Hooper Lee Greenhalgh Amir Hussain Vets Andy Morhill Carl Burdett Lewis Taylor Simon Parker Tom Husbands Alex Thamby Mark Richardson Brad Eaygood Aaron Abrahams Anthony francis Graeme Macsween Jayson Beckford Usif Bangura Dougie Edwards Jamal Joseph Paul Taylor Joshua Kearney Max Kearney Liam Irish Ross Ellison Marlon Wright Kevin Martin Josh Sanchez Paul Whelan Dave Yorath Danny Knight Simon Yielding Niall Kearney David Terry Gareth Hurley Gary Richards Roger Busby Michael Bonsu Paul Smith Dave Williams Oner Ozturk William Hopkinson Alfie Duckett Harj Sidhu Derek Barnett Nathan Nicholson Julian Gribble Billy Philphott Dave Randall Paul Augatis Dan Smith Simon Gordon Scott Brown George Toft George Woodhall Simon Greening Peter Mielewczyk Max Eggl Ben Weekes Steve Kearney Dino Antoniades Neil Hanman Roy Mcloughlin Steve Dodd Joe Porter Charles Moreles Jon Walcott Peter Lovell Dwayne Rhone Colin Hawkins Dean Stacy Lenny Wapshott PLEASE contact the Team Secretary ROB WILLIAMS on omfcteamsec@gmail.com or 07941 134 503 to advise if you’re available and not selected. Managers/Captains 1st Team Rory Vermeulen Paddy Rumley 07979 858 595 07956 377 469 2nd Team Luke Graham 07707 288 174 3rd Team Tim Castle 07455 003 245 4th Team Barry McGuinness 07751 071 537 5th Team Phil Dussard 07920 779 374 6th Team Lewis Taylor 07921 809 349 7th Team Rob Williams 07941 134 503 8th Team Dave Terry 07817 884 739 9th Team Simon Gordon Nathan Nicholson 07989 342 224 07791 530 214 Sat Vets Sun Vets Steve Kearney Roy McLoughlin 07973 835 203 07778 551 168 Results 04/10/2014 Results 1s win 6-1, 2s win 1-0 , 3s Lost 3-1, 4s 2-2 but won 7-6 on PENS, Baz tapping home the winner 5s win 2-1, 6s No game, 7s win 10-0, 8s No game, 9s win 4-0, VETS No game 85th Anniversary Celebration Party – Saturday 18th October Dukes Meadows Golf Club, Dan Mason Drive, London, W4 2SH Reception : 7:00pm Dinner : 8:00pm Bar extension until 2:00am Dress Code : Smart Casual Tour Next year’s tour destination is Copenhagen. Contact Barry McGuinness, tour organiser, for more details. Club Training Club training continues to take place every Wednesday under the floodlit area at Riverside Lands starting at 7:00 pm. Club Website Take a look at the club’s revamped website http://www.omfc.co.uk. We are also on Twitter and once the season gets going, Instagram. Look up @oldmeadsfc on twitter….. #MEADS Match Reports Please send match reports, photos or anything else for submission in the newsletter to oldmeadonians@gmail.com. We are introducing the coveted ‘Report of the Month’ award once more, so let’s get your creative juices flowing. 1st Team Old Meadonians’ Press Release 7.10.14 Amateur Football Combination Premier Division Old Meadonians 6 Enfield Old Grammarians 1 Visitors from outer space investigating the state of London’s grass roots football could not have chosen a better venue to put their analytical powers to the test than Riverside Lands last Saturday. However, if they had checked the pre-match tables they might have been misled into thinking that the contest between hosts, Old Meadonians, at present sitting on top by virtue of a superior goal difference and second placed Enfield Old Grammarians, both having won their trio of opening games, was to be a hard fought clash of Titans. The clue to anticipating the result was in the comparison of the two teams’ goal differences: at the start of this game ‘built from the back’ Meads had a healthy goals-for tally of fourteen coupled with a meagre one against, while, although Enfield had a scored an excellent thirteen, they had leaked a telling eight the other end. Once more Craig Jones was in the vanguard but it could hardly be termed a ‘Sharpe Forlorn Hope’ as he and Ryan Bright jointly set up a ferocious feeding frenzy during a five goal first half in which Meads chewed up the limp pretenders to the throne, spitting them out in little pieces and finally these two unstoppables kept each other up to the mark with matching hat-tricks. From the opening whistle Meads dominated the midfield pinging the ball around the pitch to ensnare bewildered Enfield who didn’t which way to turn. It was Bright who sowed the seeds of the rout on ten minutes, cutting in from the left to curl his low right footer round the desperately diving keeper into the far corner. His goal was capped within five minutes as Craig Jones stormed in from the right and, just when we all thought he would close in for the kill, at the edge of the area he unleashed a fierce big dipper into the far top causing Manager Rory Vermeulen to aver that we wouldn’t see a better gaol anywhere and Craig’s relatives to wonder when the A.FA. was going to cast off the cataracts from its eyes. The odd occasion when the visitors got the ball in the middle of he park Meads’ pack of wolves in mid-field fell on them with relish to separate them from the ball and relieve them of any duty to go any further. To this defensive blanket was added the tackling back of Craig Jones and Bright and Ed Glover who, when he wasn’t lazering great gashes in the Enfield defence, was also tackling back with ferocity. Before half time Craig Jones had added two and Ryan Bright one to complete Meads’ nap hand and in a lower key second half Ryan Bright played catch-up and the visitors were consoled. Craig Jones and Ryan Bright were named joint MoM and Jones had to wear with pride The Wig, for allegedly touching an alleged Dave Brenan bound goal from an alleged off-side position, allegedly!. Squad: Robinson, Pointer, McCombe, O’shea, Mantel , Bright Chapman, Gerrish, Brennan, Glover, C. Jones, O’Sullivan, A. Jones, Meredith. 2nd’s Old Meadonians 2nd Team vs Wood Green Old Boys - WON 1-0 AFA Middlesex/Essex Cup Scorer Nick Wilson Assist: Matt Allen A rainy day gave way to the start of what would be a hard fought first cup game for Meads 2s. The new manager made his first appearance of the season after being away on a scouting mission in New York for the opening game 2 weeks prior. As the boys arrived, Tom Timmins naturally in shorts despite the rain, the first discussion of the day began over which of his 4 pairs of boots Damo would choose today. Aaron Glover decided it was so cold that he would need gloves (surely an early wig shout), but to make matters worse he then donned a pair of bright orange ankle boots (gaaaaaaaaay - in that funny chinese mans accent). The game got underway and Meads 2s were enjoying some good possession however a few heavy touches meant they couldn't quite get up to the oppositions final third. The intensity of the game began rising after one half of the Keys and Gray duo was left rather confused after what can only be described as Messi-esque skill from the slowest opposition player on the pitch. Nutmegs anyone? 20 minutes in, Meads front 3 were starting to look slick on the ball. Ed McKenna had the beating of their right back; Matt Allen couldn't get enough of the ball on the other side of the pitch; Nick Wilson running tirelessly up top looking deadly as always. The first substitution came 30 minutes in as Tom Timmins hamstring started to play up again, and on came Aaron Glover whose first contribution was to send Damo on a 50 yard foot chase with the oppo's defence. Not Damo's preferred style of play. Matt Allen really began to trouble the defence in the last 10 and came very close to scoring after a speedy run down the flank ended up with the ball fizzing off the post. Half-time 0-0. Meads defenders were looking solid. Ryan Kohn, Adam Goode, Dean Stacey and even MoM runner up Dave Miller were winning everything in the air and on the ground. Zero shots on goal for the opposite. After a solid team talk, the Gaffa decided to revert back to the old 4-4-2 which Meads managers love. Just as everyone was about to run back onto the pitch Ed McKenna pulled the Gaffa aside which everybody assumed was for a tactical chat, only for the Gaffa to be informed that Ed needed to shoot off in 20 minutes (wig anyone?). Meads started the second half guns blazing: Aaron often dropping deep to link up play with Adam Boynton who was then distributing wide to Matt or Ed. Meads were really beginning to threaten down the flanks. Matt Allen twice coming close but dragging both shots just wide. Next substitution came as McKenna needed to rush off, on was Jack Holmes. Attack after attack came but meads just lacked that extra bit of poise in front of goal. A cross from Matt Allen had Nick, Aaron and Jack all lining up a tap in but miraculously Nick managed to miss the target from less that 2 yards…. was this going to be "one of those games"… 5 minutes later the breakthrough finally came after Nick Wilson battled his way through the penalty box to smash a goal top right corner - a massive sigh of relief on the touchline. It could have been 2 after Jack Holmes sent his first ever right-footed cross through to Aaron, but those orange boots couldn't find the back of the net after a scuffed shot was cleared of the line. 15 minutes to go and the dirty play began. Ryan Kohn came in hard attempting to clear a ball on the touchline, only for the opposition winger to go in foot over the ball. Man down. Man down so much so that he needed to steal Stanners's crutches to make it back to the club house. Theres a story you will never hear the end of. On came The Great Tom Gadsby to make his 2nd team debut. The meads defence still all over 6ft2. The final 10 minutes had the whole team on edge… well… whole team except Joe Beharie who must have fallen asleep in goal after having nothing to do all game, only to then pass a ball straight to their centre forward. Fortunately our centre backs were quick to react. Disaster and heart attacks avoided. Meads 2s through to the next round. Can they repeat the success of two cup finals last year? 3rd’s Lost 3-1 Old Meadonians 1 Sedcopians 3 04/10/14 As I took my place on the bench with fellow struggler Luke Latimer, my Saville tracksuit drenched through to the core due to the 7 hour rainfall, I thought to myself, I fuckin hate football! As the game started, that feeling grew as we struggled to get the ball down and play our usual style of football, hence resulting in a slow start and giving Sedcopians the edge in the opening 10 minutes. To be honest, me and Luke were concentrating more on avoiding pneumonia then watching the game but Luke only had one umbrella so I was forced to watch some of the play. Here's the bits that I remember. I don't know what happened exactly for Sedcopians opening goal? I was transfixed on their free-kick in a dangerous area just outside our box. I quickly turned away when their taker seemed to pass the ball back to Tim, how sporting I thought. I turned back to the action to see us re-starting the game from the centre spot!!! What the fuck happened!? I am allowed to swear in this report right? Due to the finger pointing and 'banter' towards Tim in the changing room after the game, I can only assume that he fucked up! I heard it hit a bobble? We woke up after their opener and came back into the game. A bit of composure on the ball from Tommy Culture and Meads were passing the ball again. We were on top for the first time in the game. A couple of 50 yard shots from Joe Hollywood confirmed this. Our equalizer came from our Brazilian export Ollie(second name). It reminded me of that goal Ryan Giggs scored against Fulham at the cottage a few years back, cutting across the ball on the full volley. I can't remember who crossed it in but it was a good move and a lovely finish. The second half is a blur! I can't recall any action at all as I was practicing my keep ups. 76 was my best score! I wasn't really trying either! With 20 minutes to go, I got the signal from the boss 'Dave, get ready' here we go I thought, 20 minutes left with score at 1-1. Time to make an impact! I came on, Meads lost 1-3! I hope you enjoyed my work? I tried to drag it out as my memory is foggy so apologies if it's a tad short. Ollie Da Silva was deservedly named man of the match and Jermaine's arms were even bigger than they were the previous week! Poor performance in truth after a strong start in our first two games. Onwards and upwards for the season. See you boys on Saturday! MEADS! 4ths Won 2-2 (7-6 Pens) Old Meads 4th 2-2 (won 7-6 pens) Somerville A dramatic end to a very entertaining match saw the 4's scrap through the 1st round of the LOB Minor Cup with 'Gaffa' Bazza Mcguinness striking home the winning penalty in the fading light of Riverside. Anyone who had watched the 1st hour of the this game would never have believed we would have turned out the winners after been thoroughly outplayed with their wide players causing constant havoc but they spurned several good opportunities in the 1st half an hour we went ahead with our 1st shot on target with a very well taken goal by Mike. The lead only lasted a few minutes when a lofted cross evaded a slightly static back 3 and their forward lobbed a header over on the onrushing Rourke. 1-1. The match continued in the same way after halftime with them hitting the post and generally our goal leading a charmed life. Then it all changed the Boss who had dished out a bit of a bollocking at the interval came on to breathe old life into his flagging troops. Suddenly we started to pass to our team mates and looked a bit more cohesive as a team. F/T 1-1. Extra time After an even first period the 2nd half didn't start to well with their forward netting at the far post after Eoin deflected a cross into his path. We then at last started to get on top and after Marvin and Rupert both went close we equalised when Marvin's free kick was fumbled into the net with about 2 mins to go. We could have won it after that with Marvin and Eoin going close before the final whistle. Pens - After the first 5 it was 3 each with Tinashe and Mr Best failing to find the onion bag. then the youngsters Jake, Harrison and Jack all scored to make it 6-6. Rourke then saved their next penalty starting a mass exodus towards Rourke only for the players to be told that we still had to score to win. Up stepped 'Legend' Bazza (well it was out of Bazza or Eoin, no offence Eoin) to send the keeper the wrong way and we were through. We probably won't play a better team this year and although too many players were nowhwere near their best we showed great spirit and a never say die attitude to win a game that looked beyond us for long periods. Having said that we have now played 3 first teams in our first 3 games of the season and remain undefeated, the squad is starting to take shape and if we can all get a bit fitter and sharper we will give every team we play a good game. Lots to improve but a really great win against a very sporting Somerville team. Report - Bazza (who else) 5th’s Won 2-1 Old Salvatorians 1 - 2 Old Meadonians (N Rankin, S Gilbert) With Dusty away sunning himself in Wolverhampton, I was left to oversee a squad of 13 travel to Watford in the cup. What could possibly go wrong? I suppose someone could cry off with Saturday morning food poisoning (a strange curse of all Meads teams I've played in throughout the years), two others could get stuck in traffic and last season's player of the year could inform you he had a groin injury and didn't think he could play. All an hour before kick off. Still, on the bright side, at least the oppo were a nice bunch of lads.. With our two latecomers arriving just before kick off, we started with a strong team and dominated a limited Salvos team, quickly taking a 2-0 lead. The first a great run and finish from Nicky after he cut inside from the right wing and the second a good finish from Sam whilst holding off their last defender following an excellent team move. Unfortunately we then conceded in dubious fashion, with ref missing a push on Dougie and a blatant offside before the ball was bundled in. This meant we became a little edgy and lost our rhythm under a barrage of long balls from the oppo, but we held on to the lead at half time. Second half was much of the same and, to be honest, we should have extended our lead but were let down a little by our finishing and the referee missing four strong penalty appeals. When he finally did award one we contrived to miss it. Twice. In fact we've not hit the target with a pen in four attempts this season and will be conducting auditions for the role before the next game. Thankfully Sasha pulled off a brilliant double save in the dying seconds, preserving our lead and avoiding any chance of a penalty shoot out. The rest of the second half was unfortunately notable for a number of acts of idiocy by the oppo, who the ref had failed to control all game. Generally, if you let players get away with calling you a c*nt within the first 15 minutes, by the 90th matters will escalate and they'll be following up the verbals with kicks off the ball and embarrassing attempts to start a fight - which proved the case here. Overall, a decent performance against a team we should be beating comfortably with the ability we have - great football at times, particularly in the first 30 minutes and then good battling for the result after that. Nobody had a bad game - the back five defended well and the midfield and forwards gave the oppo problems all game. Nev wasn't bad at all for man who didn't think he was fit to play half an hour before kick off... but my MOM would be Nicky - not just for the goal and the threat he posed all game going forwards, but for tracking back as well when we didn't have the ball. If we can maintain the same level of football and hard work, keep positive when things aren't going our way and finish a few more chances we'll be set for a successful season. Team: S Goryunov, N St John, D Edwards, M Stone, W Knox, N Rankin, A Gilbert (A Belghiti), T Gates, M Hackett, J Watts (L Greenhalgh), S Gilbert 7th’s Won 10 (Ten) – Nil (Yes NIL!) A one sided match at riverside on Saturday, three nil at half time was slowly built upon until the last 20 minutes when we went goal crazy. This seemed to coincide with our strikers not being caught offside all the time which they put down to the opposition being too tired to push out past the penalty area. There is a lesson here though! I don’t think either team particularly enjoyed the game (although it gave a few of our players a chance to work on their rusty goal celebrations) but credit to the opposition for sticking at it until the end. Harder games await us but hopefully this will have boosted the forwards confidence going into our first away game of the season this weekend.