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After a disappointing start against Grampa's 8 my Hampster, Meanwood needed a good result to kick start their season. Meanwood had hammered an impressive 30 goals past Real Oriental last season. Would they be able to do the same again or would a greatly improved Oriental gain revenge?
Meanwood started with its usual five players. The same old routine- Ayden Fertug in net with Woody, Bissitt and Mckieth staying back and finally Gafa retained his place up front as the lone ranger (striker). Real Oriental fielded a vastly improved squad with their two major signings both present. Rumours were rife that Real Oriental's tactics were to barge and hack their way to victory and that's exactly what they set out to do. Meanwood kick started the match and seemed to look over confident and gifted Real Oriental the first chance of the match after some sloppy defending. Fortunately, Ayden Fertug was at hand to make an early save. Gafa and Bissitt linked up well and almost gave their team the lead when after a good passing routine between the two lead to Gafa squeezing a shot through Real Oriental's defence. However, the shot trickled wide. Real Oriental were trying to outmuscle Meanwood and this angered Richard Bissitt who proceeded to barge back and send an Oriental striker flying into the barrier. Even so, Meanwood still seemed lack-lustre and were struggling to play to their tempo. This was capitalised on when Real Oriental gained a surprise lead when a long diwstance shot caught Ayden Fertug off guard and went straight down the middle and into the back of the net. This gave Real Oriental a massive boost and spurred them on to take the game to Meanwood.  However, Meanwood almost levelled when Gafa stormed down the right wing and forced a save from the keeper. Meanwood were beginning to get frustrated and it's defence were beginning to come out of position and this proved costly when a Real Oriental player broke free and slotted home to make the score a miserable 2-0. To make matters worse, Meanwood's players were beginning to be put under some real physical pressure after some unfair hacking. Bruised and battered, Meanwood saw a glimmer of light when Woody broke forward and powered a shot home that was deflected into the back of the net. However, Meanwood seemed fatigued and uninterested in the match and were yet again punished when Real Oriental's striker squeezed a shot past the near post and added to their total to make the score a disastrous 3-1. Meanwood were really struggling to get going and were beginning to get frustrated and argue amongst themselves with Mckieth hurling criticism at his defensive partners. Meanwhile, Gafa tried to rally the troops and almost came close to pulling one back but his effort was too close to the keeper. As the final whistle sounded across the pitch, Meanwood trenched to their bags for some water and had little to say to each other about their dismal performance and seemed demotivated.
Real Oriental kicked off the second half knowing that they were on the verge of securing their first victory of the season. From the off Real Oriental launched into an attack and after some sloppy defending managed to get a shot on goal. However, Ayden Fertug pulled off a good save and gave some stern words towards his defence for leaving him open. Meanwood's defence got the message and proceeded to be slightly tighter.  The first ten minutes of the second half were extremely boring with both sides formations cancelling each other out. Real Oriental had shut up for shop and Meanwood needed to penetrate them. Fortunately for Meanwood, Gafa had morphed into psycho mode and used all his energy to fight his way past Real Oriental's defence. Gafa powered a shot towards goal but he spectacularly failed as the shot was hit straight at the keeper. However, Gafa wasn't to be deterred and tried again with an other effort that was narrowly wide. Gafa tried to motivate his men and pleaded with them to get going and woke them up. Gafa then put Mckieth through with just a defender to beat. However, Mckieth didn't need to beat the defender as he fired an early shot past everyone and into the back of the net to give Meanwood a slim chance of getting something out of it. Bissitt then drove an effort towards goal but it was just over. Meanwood were knocking on the door but it was refusing to open. With just minutes remaining, Gafa then went on a mazy run and sent a shot towards the bottom left hand corner of the net. However, it was just wide. "If at first you don't succeed try, try again" was Gafa's motto as he went on an even bigger run and frightened Real Oriental with his pace. Gafa aimed for the bottom left hand corner once again and smashed his shot in off the post to level the scores for Meanwood with less than 20 seconds remaining. Surprisingly, there was still time for Meanwood to launch one last attack in an effort to grab victory as Gafa latched on to a Richard Bissitt rebounded shot. However, Gafa's shot agonisingly hit the post as the final whistle went. Gafa deserved to score based on his sheer determination. However, Meanwood didn't deserve to win, as it would have been classed as daylight robbery.
Man Of The Match- Gafa Sometimes the referees can get it wrong and for once Gafa deserved to be man of the match. Gafa was, with the exception of Mckieth, Meanwood's most solid performer in the first half. He really does love Meanwood and he was distraught at his team's failure to take the game to Real Oriental. During the last ten minutes, Gafa became keener than Roy and tried to run the show and he capped off one of his better performances as of late with a stunning last minute equaliser. A top effort, let's hope he keeps it up- he probably wont so cherish this night. Conclusion Meanwood had some of their confidence taken away when they lost to Grampa's 8 my Hampster and it unfortunately showed today as Meanwood produced one of their worst performances. The team struggled to link up and lacked the confidence to attack their opposition. Meanwood never really got going at all and it wasn't their night. However, some praise must go to Real Oriental as they showed their experience by using their knowledge to hack Meanwood out of the game. Meanwood must recover quickly if they are to succeed this season. |