Old Meadonians won the Amateur Football Alliance Senior Cup for the fourth time in six years at the HSBC ground in Beckenham on Saturday.
Meads drew 2-2 with Nottborough - an amalgamation of graduates from Nottingham and Loughborough universities - but won 4-3 on penalties.
It brought a fitting end to the six-year managerial right of Paul Rumley and Rory Vermeulen, even though an eighth successive AFA league title now looks unlikely.
advertisement
The reasons for this were plainly on display. It was no coincidence that Meads fielded a quartet of players, Kevin Quinn, Dan Salanson, Barry McGuinness and Dwayne Rhone, a major part of the backbone of Meads' extended run of success over the past few seasons, three of whom had announced their retirement from first team football at the start of the season and who deserve praise for stepping up to the plate in the club's time of need.
These four have the unique and honourable record of playing in all four of Meads' Senior Cup Final appearances and are now proud owners of four AFA Senior Cup winning medals each, a very just reward.
Also, on average, the Amateur Football Combination team was giving away at least five years per player to the Southern Amateur League champions and at times looked as if they would be overrun.
Meads' once vaunted midfield, through which trying to move the ball could have been likened to dribbling a ping-pong ball through a swamp, was at times positively porous.
With the healthy breeze and slight slope, Nottsborough immediately began to work space on the flanks, mostly on their left, and were soon piling reinforcements into the holes they pulled in Meads' defence.
It was no surprise when after 15 minutes this route which, throughout the first period, continually provided openings, yielded a cross which was swept in at the far post.
In contrast Meads opted for power and pace neither of which can they now fuel fully.
Former top scorer Colin Hawkins, after prolonged absence due to long-term injury, is ring rusty, has lost some of his keen cutting edge and relies more on guile, the ability to hold the ball up and feed co-striker Leon Smith, where the real threat lies.
In consequence, early on, Meads had to be content with breakaways one of which almost led to an equaliser on the half hour as for once the Graduates' left flank was caught over-extended and Dwayne Rhone's pace put him in on a through ball.
He was forced to head for height to defeat Nottsborough's advancing keeper and the ball was scrambled off the line.
If Nottsborough were to put the game beyond doubt it had to be in the first half when they had the lion's share of possession but they failed to overcome Meads' last line of defence.
In the second period, with the wind, Meads naturally put the Graduates under greater pressure but found that in turn their defence could be admirably resistant.
Now Nottsborough were reduced to breakaways, Ed Glover had a fierce shot charged down and from one of Nottsborough's breaks Meads' keeper Shannon Toyne made a show-stopping reflex save from a point blank volley.
If the Graduates had scored at this point, one feels it would have wrapped things up but with just ten minutes to go the roller-coaster ride took a new twist: Leon Smith, who minutes earlier had hit the side-netting from a narrow angle after a mazy run along the right hand goal line, repeated the manoeuvre to thread the ball into the near corner.
The first period of extra time was a replica of the first half of the match with Nottsborough opting to take the slope, creating more space down the left and spurning chances at the far post.
When they justifiably went back into the lead on seven minutes, replaying their first goal, once more it looked all over, but, with five minutes to go, Pete Lovell saved Meads' bacon, heading in after a flurry of three efforts had been cleared off the line.
In the shoot-out both keepers made saves but one Nottsborough effort missed the target. Meads' management gave the man-of-the-match award to Allistaire McCombe.
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Print
Email this
