After 2 losses on the bounce, the 4s were looking to bounce back with a home victory against Old Salvos, and they duly delivered with a fairly comfortable 2-0 victory over a modest Salvos team. On a nice sunny day down at Riverside Lands, the 4s were left to wait for an hour after Salvos turned up at the boathouse at 2:15 for a 2pm KO. We eventually kicked off at 2:40 with Meads knowing that a fast start was a must.
Luke Latimer had come in to central midfield alongside Owen and Kev and immediately settled in to his stride, playing some nice passes and holding his position nicely. He was to be central to the first goal; Rasheed was released down the right after a nice pass from Owen, he cut the ball back to Luke whose shot cum pass was diverted home by George. 1-0.
Although Salvos had quite a lot of the ball, they were hardly troubling the brotherly duo of Andy and Jon, who were imperious at the back. Andy was covering any balls round the back, whilst Jon was commanding as ever in the air. With the pitch bobbling about, it was not the day to be too cute with the ball and Meads were working the ball well in midfield, before releasing the wingers of Rich and Rash, who were causing their full backs problems.
Meads generally had control of the midfield and this gave them a platform to spring attacks; George was holding the ball up well and linking up with Rash and Rich and the midfield trio of Owen, Kev and Luke were dictating the tempo in the middle of the park. Jake was near enough a bystander in the first half this was indicative of the control that the defence had over their opposition.
The 2nd half was much of the same as Salvos failed to really trouble Jake, apart from one shot from fairly close range that went over the bar. George made a lovely turn on the edge of the box and found himself alone with the keeper but his shot was saved with the keepers feet. The second goal was to come soon enough though when a ball from back to front by Andy was audaciously flicked on by George and Rash latched on to the through ball. As the keeper came out, Rash coolly lobbed the bouncing ball over his head and into the empty net. 2-0.
There was still time for George to do his customary sh*t miss of the game when he was given the ball on the edge of the six yard box with the empty net at his mercy, but he was leaning back more than the tower of Pisa and his side footed effort sailed harmlessly over the bar. Kev nearly got his first goal of the season when the ball was laid into his path on the edge of the box and he danced past a couple of challenges, but his left footed shot went past the post.
The game finished 2-0, with Meads unlucky not to add to that tally. Credit must go to the defence for securing our first clean sheet of the season, it has been a long time earning. MOM went to Luke for a composed performance in central midfield on his debut for the 4s. With the points deduction and the games being replayed, the 4s now need to pick up plenty more points if what would have been a runners up spot, is not to turn into relegation. With the squad slowly filtering back, that should not be a problem.
