On a windy day down at Riverside Lands, Meads 4s cruised into the quarter finals of the LOB cup with a comfortable 4-1 victory against Fulham Compton OBs. The game was dominated from start to finish by Meads, even after they contrived to make things hard on themselves by conceding the first goal. Their goal proved to be a catalyst for more incision in the final 3rd and after a near immediate reply the game was never in doubt with 3 goals being added in the 2nd half.
The week had seen an unprecendented reshuffle with 3 regulars of the season, Andy, Ash and Eric all dropping out, adding to an already extended injury list, the team needed an injection of personnel. Meads new boys Dave Brennan and Damien Mccabe both came down from the 3s and Dan Bowyer was reunited with some of his old team mates from years gone by having been out for a couple of weeks. Owen also made another cameo for the season and got himself on the scoresheet.
Meads started like they have done in every game recently-with confidence. With Dave Brennan and Dave Ryan linking up well down the left and the midfield trio having the space to orchestrate attacks, Meads looked ominous early on. Despite near total control of the game the final ball was not quite working and as the half wore on, you felt an inevitably about conceding a sloppy goal on the break. This was to happen about 15 minutes before the break when Fulham managed to break with their striker rounding Jake and putting the ball into the empty net, despite the best efforts of Sam to block the shot.
Meads had chances before conceding with Jon's close range header being saved by the keeper and some shots from numerous people going wide of the target. The equaliser was a very well worked team goal. Coming just minutes after conceding, a ball in between centre back and full back from Owen put George through, he cleverly allowed the ball to roll on, rounding the keeper without taking a touch before squaring it for Dave Brennan to score on his debut for the 4s with a nicely taken back heel.
With Rasheed and Dan also causing problems down the right hand side, Fulham were getting dominated in all areas of the pitch and as half time came there was a calmness and confidence that we were going to go on and win the game despite being level. The second half produced more of the same with a near total domination of the ball from. Fulham continued to struggle in possession, often hitting it long against the wind, which left Jon able to mop up all long balls as he thwarted any aerial threat. With Kev pulling the strings as the 'sitter', Meads were finally to get the lead their domination deserved when Owen was put through by Dave R. Owen finished nicely to make it 2-1. Moments later Owen was put through again but this time he shot at the keeper and the score remained 2-1.
The game continued in the same fashion with Meads domination. This led to a couple of slips in concentration that gave some unnecessary dodgy moments but on the whole the back line had been untroubled and played with authority all game.
The goal that sealed the game was a well taken goal by George. He was played through and he struck the ball early with his unfavoured left, firing the ball high past the keeper, 3-1 and the game was done and dusted. There was still time for a scramble around the goal finishing with Dave B firing the ball against George's knee and ricocheting past the keeper. 4-1 and a more realistic scoreline.
An all round good display from the team, we spoke before the game about building attacks and we did just that, being patient and composed in possession. If the final ball was better in the early stages the scoreline could have been even more favourable. There were good performances all over the park but MOM went to debutant Dave B, who took up an unfamiliar role on the left wing but his intelligence on the ball meant he slotted in with ease into a new team. Another good win, especially given the amount of new faces in the team this week. Thats 5 wins on the bounce for the 4s, going into the new year with both cups remaining a distinct possibility.
