Meads Stay Top

<p>This week marked the 13th anniversary of Roy Evans stepping down from his position of joint manager with Gerard Houllier

<p>at Liverpool.

<p>Houllier's passion for all things red and his success in overseeing France's World Cup triumph as technical director did

<p>nothing but bode well for the future.

<p>But as the new season got underway, uncertainty over who the players would answer to began to affect performances on

<p>the pitch and with the campaign less than four months old Evans made the decision to step down.

<p>This is the 2nd time at Meads that i have had the pleasure of dual managers, two years ago in the 5ths Gareth Hurley and

<p>MJ were the dynamic duo. Gareth leading the team on the pitch (taking all the penalties, free kicks etc) and MJ watching

<p>and analysing the teams performance from the sidelines before providing key tactical tweaks and inspirational advice such

<p>as &ldquo;Play better&rdquo;.

<p>This season Meads 7ths have followed the LFC joint management plan of a foreign looking, Gallic named (Lionel Scurville)

<p>sharing the trials and tribulations of management with a more locally&acirc;&euro;&Acirc;�monikered gent (Rob Williams)

<p>Can this duo transform the team that escaped relegation last term only on the final day of the season into one that is

<p>challenging at the top of the league and battling for cups? Surpirisingly the evidence so far is yes!

<p>This week we came back from the setback of an early goal to beat the previously undefeated Old Thorntonians 2&acirc;&euro;&Acirc;�1 in a

<p>scrappy and niggly match that will probably have done nothing for our spirit of football mark but i suppose that is the price

<p>to pay for regularly turning over the oppo.

<p>The 7th&rsquo;s started very slowly as due to many late arrivals causing disruption to the starting eleven. I know some of you that

<p>have played in the same team as me will find this hard to believe but i was running slightly late and arrived at the pitch two

<p>minutes before kick off fully expecting to start from the bench. A quick head count though proved i was the 11th man to

<p>arrive at the pitch for the 7ths (beating the French half of our management duo by 10 minutes) so it was straight into

<p>action.

<p>The referee had apparently advised all the players beforehand that any holding at all will be punished and about 4 minutes

<p>in he was true to his word as he penalised Jack for having his arms around a Thorntonians attacker. Penalty!

<p>Our Irish joint manager had a 100% save rate on penalties he had faced this season but this was not to continue as he

<p>managed to make the 2nd worst attempt at saving a penalty that the match would see. Rob decided to jump over the

<p>poorly struck penalty and into a massive muddy puddle so there we were, one nil down, our keeper soaked wet through

<p>and looking for a foothold in the match.

<p>Thorntonians stayed on top for the remainder of the 1st half but crucially failed to add to their lead despite plenty of clear

<p>cut chances, Mead remaining strangely underwhelming and creating little worthy of note in front of goal. Jack did somehow

<p>manage to hit a back post volley away from goal on the 6 yard line but that was about all we had to offer.

<p>The first half was noteworthy for Le Boss making a surprising two minute cameo in central midfield when Ben had to change

<p>his boots, the most surprising thing about it was he wouldn't come off when Ben was ready to return! Sauntering through

<p>midfield in the white boots of a teenager, smashing left foot volleys from 35 yards and generally confusing us all.

<p>At halftime Bobby DePotatoe put his foot down and re&acirc;&euro;&Acirc;�jigged the team to great effect with Meads 7ths streaming forward

<p>at every opportunity. The first goal was a wonderful strike from Dave, controlling a difficult ball from Ringo before hitting a

<p>controlled right footed strike across the goalkeeper into the far corner. At this point Meads were rampant and Thorntonians

<p>tried to kick their way back into the game. Free kick after free kick was won in the attacking half and the pressure soon told

<p>when from an inswinging Danny Piper delivery one of the oppo&rsquo;s defender was penalised for holding Jack. The referee was

<p>quite harsh awarding the penalties for both teams but he was consistent throughout the game so we can't ask for anything

<p>more at this level.

<p>Following Omars aberration from the penalty spot the week before we were looking around thinking who can step up when

<p>Ben advised us that he was the nominated vice penalty taker for the team and duly stepped up. The best thing i can say

<p>about Bens penalty is that it hit the target but the oppositions keeper should have thrown his hat on it, luckily he had been

<p>watching our goalkeepers effort for the 1st half penalty and decided he had to lower the bar even further by simply

<p>collapsing basically and the ball dribbled past him.

<p>To be honest we then held on pretty comfortably to win apart from one moment when Mr Whelan took a complete air shot

<p>to a through ball and the centre forward was clean through on our keeper. Rob redeemed himself with a great stop with his

<p>foot and the ball bounced away to safety. Luckily MJ had made his way over to our pitch by this point so he could tell Mr

<p>Whelan exactly how he had missed his clearance and how he should do it next time.

<p>So a great win and onwards to Essex this week for the first round of the cup, we were the beaten finalist last year and the

<p>novelty of playing with linesmen was quite good so we want another strong showing again this year.