Great performance, great game, great result. After last weeks disappointment Meads 4's travelled to Hampton with a clear idea of what was needed if we were to finish the day still in the cup. With everyone at the ground in good time we were able to get our minds on the game and brace ourselves for a game that was undoubtedly going to be billed as 'revenge' by our opposition. They were the beaten finalists in our AFA cup victory last year.
We started the game with great intensity and tempo and were rewarded within 5 minutes. A corner was won and Ash wandered over to take it, what resutled was probably his worst delivery so far this season but his front post corner squirted through the keepers legs and rolled into the net. A great start, but Meads were not about to let their foot off the gas. Adam, replacing the absent Jake in goal, brings not only his keeping skills to the table but also his massive kicks. He already has one assist to his name this season and the same combination came to the fore once again when a huge kick out of hand saw Ronnie tussle with Hamptonians' centre back and keeper who couldn't hold the ball and Ronnie was able to roll the ball into the empty net from just inside the penalty area. 2-0 and coasting.
Chances were being created and squandered in equal measure as Hamptonians' static defence was being run ragged by runs from deep. Chances fell to Matt, Ronnie, Lister and others as Meads rampaged through the opening half hour. Matt saw his shot saved by the keeper, who shut the ball down well after a cross from the left. Ronnie finished off a great team move, but the finish wasn't what everyone was hoping for as he hit the ball over the bar and Lister pushed the ball a little bit wide and was forced to square the ball rather than shoot when in on goal.
Meads deservedly took a 3 goal lead when a corner was not properly cleared and Matt took a swipe with his left, his attempt fell luckily to Ronnie who finished nicely on the turn with his left foot. Hamptonians' had offered nothing in terms of attack but this was also down to our defence being solid as a rock. The 2nd half began understandably slowly and Hamptonians were looking to salvage something from the situation. It is always hard to remain fully motivated and committed when 3-0 up and this was somewhat the case during the 2nd half. Despite this we had 3 or 4 great opportunities to score. Twice the ball was squared poorly when a better pass would result in a tap in but none of this was to matter as Hamptonians only way of getting past our defence was via a penalty. Even then it was nearly saved by Adam but it squeezed under his arm and rolled in. Hamptonians did manage to rally and created a couple of good chances but they were both squandered.
There was still time for Kev to miss his best opportunity to match his scoring tally from last year when a nice move deep into stoppage time left Kev on the edge of the box. Despite needing oxygen to deal with the air pressure that high up the pitch Kev played a nice 1-2 and was left one on one with the keeper, surely he couldn't miss?? He could, in fact he made sure the keeper couldn't miss it when he rolled the ball slowly into the keepers hands from 12 yards.
The final whistle blew moments later and Meads had safely managed a very difficult tie in the 1st round of the cup. As I sit here, I suddenly realised why I recognised the referee from Saturday, he played for Old Hamptonians III's in goal last year! Luckily the game was not close enough for his natural bias to come into play.
A huge performance from Dave Ryan was rewarded with the MOM, he dealt excellently with a flying winger and his link up with Ash was superb, often ripping open the Hamptonians defence. He was unlucky not to score when one such move left him on goal but his outside of the foot effort was parried away for a corner.
If we can recreate the levels of intensity we showed in this game in the league we will be a hard team to beat and then we will be able to shake off our 'cup team' tag. We will not be able to test this next week as we face our first hurdle in our goal of retaining the AFA minor cup.
