Hosts' Defence Worthy Of Shakespearian Description

Amateur Football Alliance Senior Cup - Kew Association 1 Old Meadonians 2

In one of the last A.F.A. indexes to be issued Kew Association languished some eighty places below Old Meadonians and, although Meads’ all conquering squad is now playing for the vets, as holders of this trophy they are still worth tilting at and hosts Kew were up for it.

The odds on an upset were considerably shortened by the slightly eccentric approach of the referee who, although otherwise competent, inadvertently levelled out the metaphoric playing field by sometimes playing advantage for up to as much as ten seconds, which might give the ball time to travel some way, and then hauling play back some fifty yards with Meads often the sufferers from this ploy.

In fact the hosts were immediately under the cosh. They weren’t to know that both Peter Eguae and more tellingly Meads’ striker, Leon Smith are both capable of eleven seconds for the dash. This, coupled with a general disadvantage in speed of thought, found Kew wanting half a yard in midfield and in danger of being overrun. It would have been no injustice if Meads had been four up in twenty minutes. Credit must go to Kew whose last ditch defending deserved a full Shakespearian description as bodies were flung in the path of shots and balls tantalisingly slid wide.

The visitors’ total could have been eight by half time but it has to be said that Kew might have had three from concerted breaks they made from time to time and came closest to scoring as the ball ricocheted from one post onto the other and into Shannon Toyne’s arms without crossing the line.

The pattern for the second half was to be the same except that it began to look less likely that Meads would score. Thus, when the hosts rubbed salt in by heading themselves into the lead twenty minutes on, things looked bleak for visitors although there was no slackening of pressure. On the half hour a trailing hand was deemed to have intervened in Kew’s area and Smith levelled things.

Now Meads were able to inject more pace by putting on Ed Glover and five minutes later he was on hand to take advantage of a mazy run by Smith for a tap in. There was still time for Smith to have a good shout for another penalty turned down as once more he caused panic in the Kew defence. Naturally he was made the MoM for his non-stop aggression.

Team: Toyne, Graham, Pointer, Pilcher, Palmer, Lloyd, Gerrish, Lovell, (Glover), Thompson, Eguae, Smith.

November 13, 2008