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Meadhurst Vets vs
Old Richmond Lock Sunday 11th
September 2005 Home Won 5-2 (HT 2-1) Everyone seemed to be looking forward to the first game of the season. Many players turned up on time – perhaps it was the lure of the new kit (classic yellow and green) or perhaps it was the realisation that Dick was running the subs and the tactics and that the last to arrive might be put in goal. Which is what happened to Neill. A small worry was averted when ORL also turned up in yellow shirts but had a change of kit.Dick surprised everyone by
chosing a 4-4-2 formation and Meadhurst shocked the opposition by scoring in the
first minute. Actually ORL didn’t realise how shocking it was – Rob Sage was
the scorer. Meadhurst took about 40 minutes to recover themselves, sadly ORL
didn’t and had the better of the first half as Meadhurst lacking match fitness
failed to close down a skillful ORL midfield. Fortunately ORL’s forwards
aren’t as quick as they used to be and ORL couldn’t capitalise. Meadhurst
continued to make chances going forward and a rather comical sequence of play in
the ORL penalty area ended with Don White slotting home at the second attempt on
42 minutes. Jack was ref and had decided that everyone needed the exercise and
was playing a full 45 minutes. Shame really as once again Meadhurst gave ORL too
much space in midfield and the ORL left winger hit a an unstopable shot into the
roof of the Meadhurst net bang on 45 minutes. Things could have got a lot
worse after half time as John Lovegrove and Jack came on in midfield – an
interesting tactical plan when the first choice midfield was struggling. Well
the Meadhurst midfield did at least stay close to and goal side of their
opponents but as the play was largely on the edge of the Meadhurst penalty area
there was not much choice. Nipper and Brian Smith were more than a little
isolated up front and when ORL equalised after a series of dangerous corners it
looked like the usual pattern of losing to ORL on first game of the season would
be repeated. Not so – persistence from Brian enabled Nipper to score almost
immediately and another break away gave Brian the 4th. ORL was also stuggling
for fitness at this point and gave Dogga a free header from a Carl Driscol
corner to make it five and finish the game. ORL were a decent side and
while 5-2 rather flattered Meadhurst there was some promising football played
and given a game or two the team can expect to enjoy another season.
Match report 2004/5 Meadhurst Vets 2 Old Richmond Lock 4 Home time we have suffered a defeat in this fixture since my records began pre 98-99. A distinct lack of players didn't help with ORL generously lending us their secretary Roland (possibly their least mobile player) to make up 11. As usual in Jacks absence out went the diamond, xmas tree or any other foreign formation and we settled into a 4-4-2. In front of Colin was the previously untested defence of Atkins, Cozens, Butson and Sub (Roland) with a midfield of Lucas, Brockwell? Petch and Foster, up front Winch and debutant Smith who made a solid if not victorious start to his Meadhurst career. The game started reasonably well with both sides making use of the near perfect pitch and conditions, but it was not long before indecision crept into the Meadhurst defence coupled with excellent passing from the visitors that allowed ORL in to score a couple of soft goals. A third before halftime made for a verbal volley from acting manager Dick Brockwell and a desire to perform better in the second half. A good run from Brian Smith finished with a penalty awarded to Meadhurst which last years PPOY Dene Winch despatched in his usual style (will it won't it). When Dicky struck with a long range left footed effort it appeared ORL's dominance may be on the wane. Not so, a fourth from another mix up followed by a host of missed chances and superb saves from Colin Rendall as well as an injury to Dene made sure Meadhurst were the team more relieved to hear the final whistle. Everybody contributed with Martin, Brian and Fozzy worthy of a special mention but hopefully next week against NPL will bring a full squad and a return to winning ways. Match Report 2002/3
A 3- 1 win for Meadhurst with goals from Ferguson
(2) and Brockwell
Pitch in terrible condition ..... a bit like the
team really.
We are seriously considering becoming a touring
side.
Match Report 2002/3 Meadhurst Vets at home vs Old Richmond Lock; a 4-4 draw It all seemed to be going so well for so long. Pre match was promising - our favorite players and some new boys signing in for this game and/ or others and in fact we arrived in the dressing room with 15 players, a spectator (Huxley) and a ref. It would have been 16 but Gary was a no show. Sad, but otherwise things continued to go along nicely; Jack forgot to give a team talk (very popular); we started with 11 players in recognisable positions (even Fred) and Don lasted an entire half without pulling a muscle. Slightly more surprisingly Jack opened the scoring for Meadhurst (the last time Jack was, even briefly, leading scorer for the vets was about 10 years ago). This goal owed a lot to Dave Ferguson and even more to the opposition goalkeeper. The normal order of things was restored of course as Dave Ferguson mugged a defender to put Meadhurst 2-0 up at the half. The first half was strangely comfortable - Glen was hardly extended by some long-range shoots and by and large Meadhurst enjoyed themselves. Even Fozzie only blamed himself for four or five passages of play. The subs (including Keywood and Lucas) must have thought vets football an easy game watching from the sidelines in the first half but a more recognisable ORL came out for the second half and proceeded to give Meadhurst a torrid time. A couple of ORL subs and changes of position stretched Meadhurst especially down the Meadhurst right and fairly quickly ORL brought it back to 2-1. However Meadhurst had some good players on the pitch and continued to create chances (Keywood pinging in some dangerous balls to the far post and Partington and Lucas coming close). Finally the ref imagined that one of the ORL defenders had brought down Dave Ferguson (silly - it would have needed 3 of them at least). Still, not actually undeserved and Dave duly added his second from the spot to make it 3-1. Despite us reorganising to stop the penetration down the Meadurst right ORL still managed to spend too much time in our half and indeed in our penalty box. Eventually even Glenbo's heroics couldn't keep them out and they scored a couple of goals in quick succession. We were more than a little disorganised under pressure and I feel a pep talk coming on about; everyone doing their job rather than some one else's, keeping in their positions, passing early, passing to all their team mates (not just their favorites) and as the TV pundits love to say "keeping our shape". Meadhurst reorganised again and were stabilising things when a series of failed clearances saw ORL score to take the lead 3-4. ORL are a good side when they get going but giving them the game in this fashion was uncalled for and Meadhurst finally reasserted themselves. It wasn't obvious that we would equalise however until Andy picked out Dave Ferguson at the far post from 40 yards for Dave to level the scores. Everyone seemed to enjoy the game, no serious injuries and Meadhurst Club even managed to provide food and bar staff in sufficient quantities after the game. The season is up and running ....... Meadhurst 4-4-2 Glen Jones Ken Gibson (Andy Keywood), Richard Cozens, Dick Brockwell, Fred Riddiford (Mike Dixon) Roy Partington,Jack Frost (1) (Paul Lucas), Mike Petch, Ian Foster (Jack Frost) Don White (Dene Winch) Dave Ferguson (3) ORL 4-4-2
Last years match report Meadhurst Vets home vs Old Richmond Lock – a 2-0 winHmmm……. I think we were lucky. The game marked Tony Barber’s and Paul Doyle’s debut (ok I know Tony has played before but he shouldn’t have). A 2-0 win, with a clean sheet for Paul and a goal for Tony, "Vets – the next generation" seems on the face of it to be off to a good start. In fact the game followed last year’s pattern with ORL putting us under consistent pressure by virtue of their rather useful midfield. They will count themselves very unfortunate to come away with nothing. In the first half at least we defended fairly well. Going forward we were less convincing as the long summer lay showed itself with some mediocre passing and distinctly average fitness levels. Fortunately they had a stand in goalkeeper behind an otherwise effective back four and a bad mistake by him on a Meadhurst cross gave Tony Barber a simple nodded goal. After that it was back to defending. Our full backs did their best to brighten up things with Mike Dixon playing some entertaining hospital passes and Martin Atkins playing well at centre half and right back. A pity really since he was actually left back – fortunately Tony Barber was standing in for Roy and covered the hole. The rearrangements at half time had no net effect, Fred was every bit as amusing as Martin. He’s explanation as to why he let an ORL forward dribble round him along the goal line was a minor classic. As we tired we had trouble keeping the ball in the ORL half and this allowed their back four to penetrate our midfield - prompting a steam of helpful advice from Cuzzy. ORL meantime looked increasingly likely to score. With the game opening up we put Tony Barber up front to give the OLR defenders something new to think about and in a way this worked when they conceded an own goal as Don and Tony chased a long ball down the middle into the penalty area. A minute later ORL hit the post and the final whistle went – a passage of play which summed up their morning. Memorable moments: Roy’s brilliant refereeing, Don not going off injured, indeed no one went off injured which is a minor miracle for the first game of the season.
Meadhurst 4-4-2 Doyle, Dixon, Brockwell(1), Cozens, Atkins, (Riddiford), Harnor (Huxley), Barber(1), Frost, Seaforth, White, Baah + an og ORL 4-4-2 |
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