REF GETS A COMPLIMENT!

The 5s were up against Old Meadonians 6s who had beaten Borough 4-2 in their last pre-season friendly just two weeks before. On that occasion, Borough were not at the races and were well beaten by Meads, who were on top in midfield, and clinical in front of goal.

This time out, the 5s were determined to assert themselves from the first whistle, with Captain Tom Gannon opting to match Meads up in midfield with a 4-5-1 formation. In defence, Jack Tecwyn returned to the side having been unavailable for the morale-boosting 8-3 victory over Old Wokingians in the first game of the season, with David Agostini moving into a holding midfield role. The only other changes saw Andy Strachan return between the sticks, and Leo da Silva start on the left wing to replace last weekend’s Man of the Match, Joe Charsley.

Boro kicked off with the wind swirling behind them, and made their intentions clear from the outset; passing the ball around well and looking to get the ball out wide early, or into the feet of striker, Seamus Brennan. The midfield hassled and harried and didn’t allow the opposing midfield any time to settle on the ball, and the defence were physically imposing both in the air and on the ground.

Borough looked dangerous every time they went forward, with Brennan and winger George Neame worrying the Meads defence on several occasions. After 25 minutes, Brennan found some space on the left-hand side and played a glorious low ball across the edge of the box to the on-rushing Neame, who had managed to get goal-side of the Meads full-back. With only the keeper to beat, Neame had his ankles clipped by the defender and went to ground. The referee immediately pointed to the spot and Brennan stepped up to dispatch the penalty into the bottom left corner to open the scoring - which the Chairman managed to capture on video.

At this point, it was nothing less than Borough deserved, and they continued to come forward, with both full-back Dom Szablowski and Brennan coming close to adding a second in quick succession after a strong run from Agostini.

Against the wind, Meads struggled to get out of their own half. Their preference in the previous meeting had been to go short from goal-kicks, but Brennan, da Silva and Neame continually cut off this option, putting pressure on their defence and forcing them to go long, which was comfortably dealt with by the Boro defence.

The last few minutes of the first half went by without much to note, with the exception of a first-time 30-yard volley from Agostini going out for a throw-in.

At half-time, Meads made several changes, notably removing their lone-striker who had been anonymous in the first half, thanks to some robust defending from Tecwyn and central defensive partner, Jack Cooper.

Meads came out searching for an equaliser and looked to get the ball into the feet of their new front-two, but it was Borough who made the breakthrough; a Brennan corner fell to full-back Duncan Mackenzie who floated in a speculative cross that was flicked on at the near post by Tecwyn and nodded goalwards by Vice-Captain, Mark Hinkins who had got in between two Meads' defenders in the six-yard box. It looked a comfortable save for the ‘keeper, but he struggled to deal with it and could only palm the ball into the bottom corner. There were whisperings from some Borough players that this should have been credited to the ‘keeper as an own-goal, but the Division 5 South Goal Adjudication Committee awarded the goal to Hinkins, who was delighted, having selected himself as Captain for his Boro Fantasy League team.

From that moment on, Boro increasingly asserted their dominance on the game. The central midfield trio of Hinkins, Agostini and Gannon were first to every first and second ball, and wingers Neame and Leo da Silva looked dangerous every time they went forward. After a period of sustained pressure and a few squandered chances, da Silva robbed the Meads' full back on the half-way line and played the ball through to Brennan who slotted the ball past the ‘keeper to make it 3-0.

Borough went in search of a fourth, with Brennan having a goal disallowed after a foul in the build-up and Gannon narrowly putting the ball over the bar from the edge of the area, after neat work from substitutes Rozycki and Zaki da Silva. They got their wish a few minutes later, some intricate build-up play around the edge of the area led to the ball reaching Brennan 12 yards out, who unselfishly played in Neame to smash the ball past the keeper and get the goal he richly deserved, capping a wonderful team performance.

Before the end of the game, there was just enough time for Borough to have a stonewall penalty-appeal turned down for handball, and for both Neame and Agostini to go down in the last few minutes with injuries – neither looking too serious.

Man-of-the-Match could have gone to a number of players, Strachan was commanding in goal, the defence and midfield were on top all-game, and Brennan was imperious up-front. But after a closely fought contest, it was awarded to the excellent George Neame, who bagged a goal and an assist and gave the Meads left-back a torrid time all game.

Additional mention to the referee, who controlled the game extremely well and barely put a foot wrong.