Well another weeks has sped past and the Mead had a second midweek without a game to rest weary legs and do some training. Hopefully everyone is recoverd from the monumental effort the 11 men in green (ok Sam was in grey) put in last Saturday afternoon when I made the short trip through that blasted tunnel to East Thurrock's ground where Gray's play home games. We had Tozer suspended and Danny Penny injured, and the Gaffer stuck young Corey Walters-Wright alongside James Donovan at the back and for me they both had outstanding games. We fought for everything and did not allow Gray's to get going, yes they had some half chances and Sam pulled off a good save from a free-kick which was bent in to goal from out wide. The storm that was to come was not evident then, but it erupted just before half time, when their full back sold his keeper short, Theo blocked the clearance, with his hands from the Gray's appeals and the ball rebounded past the keeper and Theo had a tap in. The reaction to the referee at half time was pretty fierce, and ok I hold my hands up and state I have criticised refs at times, it does get frustrating, but my argument would be how was Thoe supposed to get his arms out of the way of a ball kicked straight at him from a few yards. Anyway, the ref and linesman seemed to take a while to come out at the start of the 2nd half, and the Gray's crowd were on his back from the off. I have to state how their No.6 stayed on after getting booked in the first half for a set to with David Noel, and then deliberating committing two hand balls early in the 2nd half which the ref gave fouls for but was not brave enough to issues the 2nd yellow. The game was not one way traffic but the feeling was if the ref got a chance to give Gray's a penalty he would, and that duly arrived mid way through the half when it was awarded for a hand ball in the Mead box. The crowd's anger only grew when the penalty was fired wide and it looked like the Mead were going to hold on for a 1-0 win. Then came the dramatic final few minutes, and first I will get something else off my chest, it seems everyone now blocks goalkeepers at corner and refs do nothing about it, and this happened again when Gray's equliaed as to me Sam was blocked off as their player headed home. Relief for them, or so they thought, but the Mead caught them out and sent Bradley Killick free to go past their keeper who clearly tripped him, penalty and red card, which sent the crowd off again. Much credit to Ashley Proberts who kept calm and fired the penalty home past the stand-in keeper. So the Mead recorded one of thier biggest wins against a team who were at much higher level not that long ago. It was a great battling team performance, and although we are not scoring alot of goals we are mean at the back with one of best defensive records in the league. We are currently sitting in a good position with games in hand on teams above and hopefully we can keep what is becoming a very good run going.
The weather has of course turned in the last couple of days and as I type the rain is rattling off the lightwell roof here in Parliament Street. Not been too cold but the rain overnight and today and that which is forecast might cause issues. Keith McMahon has been talking to the Kentish Football site and we face a tough FA Trophy game tomorrow against an Arlesey Town side who have been struggling in the league but going great in the Cups, and last weekend they reached the 1st round of the FA Cup and the Gaffer mentioned he hopes they will have one eye on that. And Keith was on a spying mission again this week when he travelled to watch Maldon & Tiptree who are due to visit Bayliss Avenue next week in the league, and they have been struggling this season and were beaten by Gray's the other night, which keeps Gray's top of our league.
Site has this week been updated with Youth Teams repots, results and fixtures, from the information I have seen the 1st tea, Reserves and several youth team are having good season so far, so I hope they can all keep that up.
Up the Mead :-)