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 "Meanwood were shockingly bad, I've never seen Meanwood play so bad", "Meanwood are just a bunch of piss heads", "Gafa's lost his scoring touch and will never score again", "Woody is ruining his talents on booze", "Meanwood will never recover" etc etc etc. Words of criticism and panic had been echoing all around after Meanwood's worst ever performance against Inter Mi Nan last week. Real Oriental saw Meanwood as ripe for the taking as they sought to win their first match, especially considering that they had lost by a goal less than Meanwood against Inter Mi Nan. Would the real Meanwood return or would the real be put into Real Oriental?
Meanwood fielded their regular team with no substitutions as Jonesy was celebrating his birthday, thus the team was Fertug in net with Woody, Mckieth, Bissitt and Gafa playing out. Gafa had endured a difficult week, as he had received none stop criticism about his lack of goals, which resulted in his inbox being flooded with questions about why he hasn't been scoring. Meanwhile, the rest of the Meanwood team had kept their drinking down to a minimum as they all had less than three pints before the match, which meant that Meanwood looked in better physical condition. However, Meanwood had the unfortunate luck to face what Real Oriental considered their strongest ever line-up. Could this line-up cause a shock and beat Meanwood or would Meanwood silence the doubters and critics? Meanwood started the match brightly, controlled possession and went close early on with efforts from Mckieth, Bissitt and Gafa. Meanwhile, Real Oriental struggled to get past Woody who was a rock in defence.  However, Meanwood failed to score in the first five minutes with Real Oriental's keeper saving some powerful efforts. Meanwood felt frustrated but their frustration was soon to be vented into goals when Mckieth's shot rebounded to Bissitt who drilled the ball in from the edge of the penalty area. Seconds later, Meanwood then added a second when Gafa of all people fired a shot from the left hand side. Meanwood were now in full control and were playing like the team that were once fighting for a top two finish. Meanwood then added a third when Gafa calmly placed the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the net. This was the first time that Gafa had scored a brace in six weeks as the once prolific goalscorer had lost his way somewhat. Meanwood were passing to perfection and amazing Real Oriental with their array of trickery and movement. Real Oriental couldn't keep to the pace of the match and this proved costly when Mckieth wormed his way forward and smashed the ball into the back of the net. From then on, the match became a shooting gallery and within minutes Mckieth had scored a brace with some lovely finishing. Woody was unlucky in front of goal but his luck evened out when he broke forward and smashed the ball home to make the score 7-0. Real Oriental then sent shock waves throughout the Goals' community when they had a shot on goal. However, Ayden Fertug comfortably saved. Woody then added a second and sent the ball firmly beyond the goalkeeper. Who needs strikers when your defenders can score like Woody? Bissitt then reacted to an aggressive foul by a Real Oriental player and received a warning from the referee. Bissitt scared the Real Oriental player who was quick to apologise. As the half time whistle went, Meanwood had dominated the match with about 90% possession.
The second half saw Meanwood taking it easy as the lack of substitutions took its toll. This proved costly when some sloppy defending saw Real Oriental pull one back after their Chinese striker slotted home to make the score 8-1.  Bissitt then got a lethal touch on a Mckieth thunderbolt that wrong footed the keeper and sent the ball home. However, this joy was short lived as Meanwood sent too many players up field in search of more goals, got counter attacked and allowed Real Oriental to pull another goal back. Meanwood then had a penalty appeal turned down, however seconds later Real Oriental were seen wondering in the area again and Meanwood were awarded a penalty. All of Meanwood's players wanted to take it but it was decided that Ayden Fertug would take his first ever penalty. Ayden Fertug then stepped up and took the penalty while laughing…and placed the ball beyond the keeper to score his first goal for the club. It now seems as though everybody is chipping in when it comes to scoring, even Meanwood's superstar goalkeeper. Real Oriental were quick to take advantage of Meanwood's tired legs and after conceding they scored another goal when their Chinese striker raced down the wing and fired home to make the score 9-3. Real Oriental then conceded another penalty, although it was harsh. Richard Bissitt, Meanwood's regular penalty taker then stepped up to make it 10-3. Gafa then held the ball up in the corner and sent a pass towards Woody who remarkably hit it first time and smashed the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the net to leave the goalkeeper helpless and amazed. Mckieth then broke forward and ran round the entire Real Oriental team before nut-megging the keeper with his left foot from a difficult angle to make the score 12-3. Unfortunately likewise to Real Oriental minutes earlier, Meanwood were very unlucky to concede a penalty when Ayden Fertug was adjudged to have handled outside the area. Real Oriental then scored from the spot to make it 12-4. Meanwood will be really scratching their heads over how they conceded so many against the run of play. Gafa then decided to take on a few Real Oriental players despite his team's wishes and scored his hattrick. Immediately after centre, Gafa pounced on a Real Oriental mistake and scored in quick succession to take his tally to four. Was Gafa having a late goal surge in order to avoid receiving more abuse from his team mates? Unfortunately, Meanwood were then very unlucky to conceded when Real Oriental took advantage of a bad pass caused by the slippy weather and scored to make it 14-5. Fortunately, Mckieth still had a goal left inside him and he rounded off a superb performance by firing home to make the score 15-5. Likewise, Gafa still had a goal left inside of him and he broke forward and slotted home to make the score one that represented half the amount of goals Meanwood should have scored. As the full time whistle went, Meanwood had won the match 16-5 and given the kind of performance to silence critics after a difficult week.
Man Of The Match- Gafa  Despite the team's criticism, the referee gave Gafa the Man of the Match award. The referee obviously saw something that the rest of the team didn't. Tonight, Gafa found his scoring touch and was a pain in the backside for Real Oriental with his movement, dribbling and his ability to create chances. Gafa did his job and scored goals, he gambled and took shots that often missed. However, without shooting players don't score and Gafa's gambling started to pay off like it did earlier on in the season. The Meanwood team have changed their tune towards Gafa and have started criticising him for scoring against easy teams now…Gafa cannot win and if his team mates have any decency they'll back off and let him get on with his job once again. If they don't, this might prove detrimental towards the rest of the team. Gafa's "goal drought" looks well and truly over and about time as well. Other than Gafa, the whole team played well and all of them had claims to the Man of the Match award. Shame it was the person they least wanted to get it.
Conclusion A generally solid performance, which saw Meanwood rip their opponents apart going forward. However, some frailties were exposed in defence and Meanwood can't afford to commit too many men forward against Omar Superstars next week. However, if Meanwood manage to keep possession and create chances like they did today then they have every chance of causing an upset. Results have all but ended Meanwood's chances of third place as Inter Mi Nan didn't show against Grampa's 8 my Hampster and are rumoured to have left on a high after taking three points from Meanwood, which will benefit all those other teams battling for third. To make matters worse Paul Redfearn pulled off a shock and beat a weakened Omar Superstars team and are still five points ahead, further more Kelly's Heroes pulled off a shock and beat Roque Jnrs who were missing three of the their main five players. After receiving such bad luck on the results front Meanwood will be reeling. However, nothing is impossible…yet. |