The makeshift 2s came off second best to a very well organised Old Meadonians 3s team. We knew we had our work cut out for us when we realised the opposition were sitting pretty at the top of their league, an intimidating 7 divisions above us. The match kicked off half an hour late after the official referee failed to materialise, but the Meads subs stepped-up to the plate (and did a fine job) to get the game underway.

After playing some promising football in pockets, Tiffs soon found themselves 2-0 down. Meads continued to apply the pressure and, at the third time of asking, were rewarded with a penalty to make it 3-0 at the half hour mark. Tiffs didn’t give up hope and Colin Avery calmly finished Rupert Embleton-Smith’s cross to make it 3-1. Meads weren’t done yet and increased their lead to 3 goals again to make it 4-1 at half time.

The second half was more of the same as Meads controlled the game from the back, as well midfield and probably up front too. Tiffs ran out of gas and conceded another 4 goals to finish the match 8-1. This was despite a spirited debut from Adam who bravely filled the huge void left at centre back by a surprised Avery.

After a relentless shower and a quick cheese and ham (and the mythical egg) sandwich, the diminished squad teamed up with the 3s to sample the Putney pubs. After listening intently to a fascinating report from an incident-packed 3s match, both squads agreed that there is room for improvement. There’s always next season for the cup too!