Finally, a win against the old enemy. A lovely morning, a big flat pitch, a demanding game and a fine result – does it get any better ? Well yes - a smaller pitch and a less demanding second half would be most people’s vote.

The manager’s team talk got it wrong again. He said that Lensbury started slowly but finished strong. They took the kick off and put together 17 passes before we even touched the ball. The next ten minutes were no better - but slowly we got a bit of possession and in fact created the better chances until they scored a fine goal. The Lensbury forward met a sharp cross, just inside the penalty area , with a flying kick at chest height, giving Ian no chance. The four Meadhurst defenders standing near by are to be congratulated on not spoiling a moment of beauty by doing dull, troglodyte things like marking their men.

Curiously, without doing anything special, we equalised. Jack managed to get a corner kick into the 6 yard box (it’s a long way at Imber Court) and Lensbury, for no obvious reason, failed to mark Dave Ferguson who looked very classy as he leapt and headed in. Not marking forwards certainly adds interest to a game.

During the rest of the half further chances fell to Dave and Ted who shot wide and high (Gary’s efforts were also wide but might not pass scrutiny as shots) while Lensbury had a number of long range efforts but didn’t really trouble Ian. Just before half time a high ball into the box was won by Cuzzy and looped to Dave (again unmarked) who nodded it over the rather short Lensbury keeper. At 2-1 the team should have been confident at half time but we had been made to work hard and losing Roy (Dad’s birthday party) and Julian (injured) was a worry. For some reason the sight of John Lovegrove and Martin Atkins coming on as replacements wasn’t as comforting as it usually is.

A tactical error at the start of the second half – we scored again. A ball out of defense to Ted who found Don out wide right and Don, correctly ignoring Jack’s run to the near post, found Dave unmarked at the far post. A hat trick of headers for Dave! This produced Lensbury’s best spell with several chances, two goals, numerous passes from us to them and a few cross words between Meadhurst team mates. Dick gave away a penalty for the second goal – as late a tackle as we’ve seen all season but in truth we hardly got out of our half for 20 minutes and could have conceded more.

At 3-3 it could have gone either way but Meadhurst for once proved stronger and a break by Dave and Don produced a foul on Dave in the box and Ted converted the penalty with a really laid back stroll to the spot and pass into the goal.

Memorable moments: Ian Roberts faultless handing of crosses and corners, Dick failing to even look like scoring again, a fair and competent Lensbury referee, our lack of defensive organisation when Lensbury pushed their full backs forward (a topic of a future team talk).

Meadhurst 4-4-2

Roberts, Riddiford (Atkins), Cousins, Brockwell, Frost, Harnor (Lovegrove), Seaforth, Baah (1 pen), Ferguson (3), Partington (White), Dixon

Lensbury 4-4-2

The surprising thing was that we played at all given the nasty weather during the week. The wife had list of jobs as long as your arm lined up for Sunday morning – but joy of joys the game was on. At least it was joy for most of us. Gill (work) and Chris (sick) called off on the day, the manager was late and Ted only made it just in time for a delayed kick off prompting Seaforth to recruit the services of Mark Beech. I suppose Gary thought that (a) Mark has been a veteran look alike since he was 15 (b) he might help (c) the oppo were quite useful and we needed some help (d) we needed to find a referee. Three out of four is not bad I suppose (correct answers include a, c and d for those not at the game).

We tried a 3-4-3 formation, which has the virtue of making the defenders concentrate and giving the forwards some support without waiting for the midfield to turn up. The early exchanges followed this pattern with Meadhust under a bit of pressure but breaking dangerously and, rather against the run of play, scoring a very good goal. Some crisp passing finished with a low cross from the left across the face of the goal for Dean to knock in at the far post.

More pressure from Teddington but a corner to Meadhurst produced the next goal. Jack passing short to Dick who surprised everyone with a shot on target. The keeper had it covered until a brave but misguided defender deflected it into the net. After the game there were 11 votes for calling it an own goal and 1 in favour of awarding it to Dick. The tie breaking vote from the manager gave the goal to Dick Brockwell on the grounds that having, at last, scored this season it might stop him taking so many silly shots from the halfway line in future. Quite likely all of us are wrong.

Tony Huxley is not a lucky man. His debut game was cancelled and this week, despite a spirited effort over the 90 minutes, he had the misfortune to head the ball into the Meadhurst net to make it 2-1. Again the dressing room vote had it 12 – 0 as an own goal (probably looking for the free beer) but the tie breaking vote from the manager rules it behind the line before Tony made contact.

Dave Ferguson made it 3-1 shortly before half time which ought to have made the second half a stroll. However Roy’s been nursing an injury and asked to do his stint as ref. Changing to a more defensive 4-4-2 plugged some of the gaps that seem to appear when Roy’s not on the park but also took the edge off our attacking moves. Dave made it 4-1 when the ball fell to him on the edge of the box from a scrappy clearance but Teddington had the better of the second half chances and should have scored a couple of goals. The Teddington goal finally came from an error by Jack (possibly thinking of his rash offer to buy beer if we win by three clear goals) allowing Teddington to break and score. Meadhurst tightened up their game after this and reached the final whistle without further alarms.

Teddington were a bit bemused afterwards. Their midfield more than held its own and their forwards were pretty useful – requiring Mike Dixon to produce another good display. Unfortunately their defence was less good and the tactic of playing three upfront (and one of them being Dave Ferguson) meant that while they probably had more of the ball and at least as many good chances but we scored more goals.

Memorable moments include: Gary and Mark fighting over whose bum was going to occupy the centre circle; Martin complaining that he had a muscle in his leg (similar to the Chris Parratt bone in the foot problem I guess) and Neil McKinnell resurfacing as a second half spectator.

Meadhurst 3-4-3

Roberts, Brockwell(1), Dixon, Huxley, Partington (Atkins), Seaforth, Beech, Frost, Lewis, Winch (1) (Baah), Ferguson (2)

Teddington 4-4-2

As predicted crediting Brockwell with a dodgy goal last week didn’t cure his desire to send the football high and wide of the opponents goal from curious positions. Gary brightened up this otherwise dismal spectacle by offering to pay for the ball that Dick lodged in the tree behind the goal provided Spelthorne promised to leave there until next season. We shall see.

A shortage of regular midfield players meant starting with Lewis and White in a four man midfield which left Gary and Jack with quite a lot to do - and indeed Meadhurst never really imposed themselves on the game despite the eventual score line.

Spelthorne scored first from a defensive error but individually and collectively we had no doubts that we could retrieve the situation. It took a little while for Spelthorne to concede this point but despite some useful Spelthorne breaks Meadhust had more first half possession and pressure. This was rewarded with Dean coolly capitalising on a poor goal kick and Dave Ferguson scoring with a peach of a curling shot into the top right hand corner of the net from the edge of the box.

Despite the 2-1 score line at half time the manager was unhappy with the passing. It’s a big pitch at Spelthorne and we were making poor use of it. Sadly the team talk failed and the second half can only described as scrappy. Spelthorne had the better possession in the second half but looked increasingly less likely to score as Meadhust brought men back into defence. The game was sealed when Spelthorne failed to clear a Meadhurst corner (Dean’s jaw blocking the clearance) and Dave scored from close in.

You had to feel sorry for Spelthorne when Dave ran away from a tied defence to add Meadhurst’s fourth and his hat-trick. They had marked Dave very well all game, preventing him from turning with the ball and forcing back into our half on most occasions. But Dave had turned up to play, and his all round game (not just the goals) was excellent. A foray by Dick Brockwell gave Meadurst the fifth goal and the comprehensive victory they deserved without ever threatening to produce the flowing football the team is capable of.

The manager didn’t endear himself to the team by refusing to credit Huxley with an own goal last week. I’ve no idea what come over me and from now on I promise to curb this nasty tendency to kindness and sympathy.

Memorable moments: Watching Dave’s shot for his first goal appear to be going wide but curl in at the last moment; the look of horror on Tony Huxley’s face when told he had to play in central midfield when Jack went off injured; Don White lasting 90 mins; Ian Robert’s excellent first half save.

Meadhurst 4-4-2

Roberts, Brockwell(1), Dixon, Cozens, Riddiford (Atkins), White, Seaforth, Frost (Lewis), Lewis (Huxley), Winch (1), Ferguson (3)

Spelthorne 4-4-2

Well the good thing is we played and all things considered it could have been worse.

Old Actonians are a big side and they love to push players forward against the opposing back four. This pulled the midfield (and especially Jack and Gary) back into the back row and left a hole in midfield for the Old Acts sweeper to fill and control the game. We defended diligently and Robin tried to drop with the sweeper to fill the midfield hole as we defended. Despite a lot of pressure Old Acts didn’t really look like scoring for the first 40 mins.

When we got forward we looked dangerous and indeed a weak clearance allowed Robin to open the scoring - curling the ball in out of the bright sunshine over a blinded keeper. A series of five Old Acts corners ended with Meadhurst breaking out of defence to score the second. An unlikely series of events when you think about it; we passed to each other several times ! Nobody ran offside ! Gary finally realised that Dave Ferguson wasn’t playing and passed to Jack (!) who took the ball around the advancing keeper and scored ! Unreal – at least Mrs Frost was pleased.

Of course the trick was to do this again, as Old Acts keep pushing players onto the defence, but sadly the we couldn’t put together the required 3 passes out of defence to expose the kamikaze Old Acts tactics. The pressure finally told when Old Acts got a pass into the feet of one of the big men on the edge of the box who used his size to turn the defender, shoot and score. 2-1 at half time.

The second half was spent defending in our third of the pitch, and despite our best intentions, failing to pass to each other often enough to get back into the game. Old Acts were bound to score but it was disappointing when it came. Their substitute picked the ball up and went pass 4 defenders without a tackle to the six yard line before the ball bobbled to their forward who shoot and scored of the inside of the post.

Curiously this led to best period of the second half as we hit the post (Huxley’s right foot – could have gone anywhere) and Dick and Dean narrowly missed from good positions.

In the end both teams seemed satisfied with the draw and settled down to watch Fulham-Man U over a pint.

Meadhurst 4-4-2

Roberts, Brockwell, Cozens, Dixon, Riddiford (Harnor), Partington (Huxley), Seaforth, Frost (1), Lewis (1), Winch (White), Lewis (Winch)

Teddington 3-1-0-6

Two games on the trot ! – the break from football really showed however. The pitch was still hard and frozen at the start of the game but that wasn’t the only reason we failed to put together more than 3 passes for the first 30 mins. The oppo had a similar layoff but despite having less of a scrappy first half hour still managed 3 good chances courtesy of good running and defensive uncertainty on a bouncy hard pitch.

Meadhurst finally figured out that the guys in green were the goodies and that passing to the nearest team-mate was more successful than passing to the one furthest way (really - how long have we been doing this?). This conceptual breakthrough led to 3 quick goals (Ted, Roy and Dave) and a 3-0 halftime score. The manager seized the opportunity to give the weaker players such as Seaforth an outing.

Full credit to Customs – they changed tactics and pushed men forward to get back into the game. Meadhurst (sportsmen all) co-operated and conceded a couple of scrappy goals one from a fine mistake by Dick on the edge of the penalty area and a comical slow motion own goal (Dick again). Ian denied them a top quality goal with a fine save and we were struggling.

At this point Jack lost patience and brought Martin Atkins back on – that didn’t work so we brought back Chris Parratt and Dave Ferguson, which did work. A team pushing men forward is very susceptible to Dave’s strong running up front and sure as eggs Dave got the ball in space, run to the by-line and crossed for Roy’s second goal. That was too much for Customs. Having no subs they couldn’t respond and the last 15 mins were a procession of Meadhurst goals as everyone (even Gary) scored. Gary scoring was too much for Dick who marched forward and scored with the last kick of the game. A brutal strike from an acute angle that made everyone wonder why he misses so badly when he has the whole goal to aim at.

Men of the match are Roy who could have scored 6 and Ian who kept us in it at crucial moments with fine saves.

Memorable moments include: Roy not leaving at half time to collect his Dad, the team’s collective surprise when we finally put a few passes together and scored with a moment of quality from Ted, Gary’s frustration on the sideline before then, a top save from Ian in the second half, a pleasant time in the bar afterward with the players, oppo and the wives and kids.

Meadhurst 4-4-2

Roberts, Brockwell(1), Atkins (Sheriden), Riddiford (Atkins), Cozens, Partington (3), Frost, Harnor (Parratt), Parratt (Seaforth (1)), Baah (1) (Ferguson), Ferguson(2) (Winch (1))

Lewis - ref

Customs   4-4-2

This was an eagerly awaited return fixture with the only team to take a point off us so far this year. After a few tense moments in the car park as we waited for a decision on the whether the pitch was playable, we had a few more tense moments waiting for the oppo and Dave Ferguson to show up. Dave Ferguson, bless him, had shown a naïve confidence in the Meadhurst Club organisation by phoning the club to see if the game was on – stern warnings were issued to believe only Cuzzy on these matters.

Jack’s original game plan (5 in midfield) was in tatters with the unavailability of Harnor, Parratt and Sage leaving us without a full set of midfielders. So plan B – our favoured 3-4-3 when we have more forwards than we know what to do with. The forwards were read the riot act on the need to do useful things like defend when we don’t have the ball and try to look threatening when we do etc, etc, and wonder of wonders it worked.

In the last game our 4-4-2 formation coupled with a serious lack of passing ability keep us in our third of the pitch for most of the game. This time, from the outset, we were able to put pressure on their back four (and crucially their skilful playmakers) and could have taken the lead when Don headed a corner against the post.

Irritatingly they took the lead by exploiting the weakness of the 3-4-3 formation, breaking and crossing from the empty corner spot. Gary retrieved the situation brilliantly (not a word I often use) when he pressurised the last defender, won the ball and, unbalanced and leaning back, shot over the charging keeper into the net. The game ebbed and flowed with Old Acts increasingly bemused by the Meadhurst tactics and their consequent failure to control the game despite playing pretty well. Meadhurst finished the half narrowly ahead 3-2.

Bringing Dave Ferguson and Tony Huxley on for the second half should have tilted the game in our favour but they also had some good subs including a mobile right back which muted Dave’s impact and gave them new attacking options. Still the tactics worked as they pressed to exploit our gaps in defence and left themselves exposed to our three-man front line. Our 4^th and 5^th goals took some of the fight out of them – nice to see the oppo arguing with each other. Less attractive was the "hand bags at ten paces" set to with Robin and their combative playmaking midfielder. Cuzzy made it clear to all concerned that is in unacceptable in vet’s football. We substituted Robin and when, shortly after, Gary had to retire injured we looked a little short in midfield. They brought it back to 5-3 but didn’t have the goods to close the gap further. They lost shape as they pressed forward and Meadhurst finished comfortable winners.

Man of the match could have been Gary for his inspired goal but Roy has to get the award again. His two goals were a result of the huge amount of ground he covered but we liked most his ability to get forward and still cover the gap behind him induced by the 3-4-3 formation. Everyone played well and worked hard, which this formation both encourages and requires.

Memorable moments include: Having a proper ref (well done Cuzzy); convincing ourselves the pitch was playable when in a normal year we would have called the game off on Friday night; Don White’s look of horror when asked to play in central midfield as Gary went off injured and with Jack visibly running out of puff; Gary’s excellent solo goal.

Meadhurst 3-4-3

Roberts, Dixon, Brockwell(1), Cozens, Riddiford (Huxley), Partington (2), Frost, Seaforth(1), (Riddiford), Winch (Ferguson(1)), White (1), Lewis(1)(Winch) + an og