The 4s got a reality check by an Old Danes side that deserves to be far higher in the echolons of the league system on Saturday when they were convincingly beaten 6-1 by an Old Danes side managed by former Meads man Stuart Minors.
As with the magical 2nd team he assembled when at Meads, he seems to have attempted, and succeeded, on doing something very similar with Old Danes. Bringing in 6/7 players in the close season, Old Danes were a class outfit, all of them capable of playing central midfield, which made our life extremely hard in the scorching sun.
With some players stuck in traffic and people arriving in drips and drabs, the good preparation of previous weeks was chucked out of the window with Meads assembling moments before KO. Meads decided to go for the compact defensive approach, especially with only 11 players, there was certainly nothing to be gained from chasing shadows. Allowing Danes possession in their own half and trying to stop the flow higher up the pitch Old Danes immediately had control of possession but to be honest didn't have that many openings. There first goal was to come after about 20 minutes from a corner that was flicked on and tapped in from close range. Their second was dubious to say the least; with the ref standing in the centre of the pitch 35 yards out from goal, she was hardly in a position to call the ball as over the line but she did anyway after an inswinging corner hit Ash under the bar. Im not sure if anyone on the pitch could categorically say either way yet the referee gave the goal after protestations from the manager on the side, wait, sorry, I meant to say her dad.
The half went and were 2-0 down, still no sign of our 2 players stuck in traffic. As it happened, I thought we could be proud of what we had done in the first half, one has to remember this same team put 16 past a team of 11 the week before. Old Danes had had chances but none were that glaring and with Sam playing his heart out and Eric, who was drunk yet performed with amazing aptitude until his stomach got the better of him and he was forced to relocate to somewhere less busy on the pitch.
We started the 2nd half perfectly, with debutant James taking the ball off the centre back and playing in Matt, whose shot was saved onto the post, yet James was on hand to finish to bring the game back to 2-1.
Old Danes immediately hit back and that hit Meads hard; with tiring legs and Old Danes playing the ball about with convinction and a fluidity that made it seemingly impossible to mark any one man, Old Danes then scored 3 quick goals to put the game beyond doubt.
There is no doubting Old Danes ability and the fact they will undoubtedly win the league comfortably, but that is not to say we were happy with the result. With better preparation before the game and a more careful approach when in possession of the ball and the scoreline could have been a lot different. Meads actually had some good chances in the 2nd half and would be disapponited to come away with only the 1 goal but with the away leg out of the way, I am supremely confident that by the time they come to Riverside Lands, we will give a far better accounts of ourselves.
This was by no means a game to get disheartened about, we move on with confidence and belief going into the next couple of weeks of cup fixtures, we remain a strong team with a great chance of achieving something this season.
MOM went to Sam who kept going for 90 minutes and repelled many attacks with his intelligent defending. Bring on the cups...
