OTFC came into the game against Old Meadonians on the back of a two-game winning streak. The dampeners were immediately put on the day by the discovery of two roadblocks, record amounts of goose todd and one toilet to be shared between a lot of people.

It didn’t get much better from there. The call before the game was for some shooting practice in the warmup. A new record of zero balls lost before the game as the familiar men in white opted to warm-up away from the local allotments. Zeqiri, Flynn and Kirk looked sharp as the game kicked-off. Immediately, Tiffs set up camp in the Meadonians third, this way they avoided the shallow graves that had clearly been dug the day before.

30 minutes in and Tiffs were still searching, the skipper had managed to use his head in a classic hexagonal manner to ensure the ball was safely delivered back to the Meads keeper from at least half a dozen of Palmer’s beautiful inswinging corners. Meads then struck as the Tiffs back four were caught discussing Dom Lundie’s latest idea for a tattoo. Two attempts at a clearance and the Meads attacker was left to tuck the ball past the keeper.

1-0 Meads. Half Time

The second half began in much the same vein. A wind-kissed corner from Meads produced a goalmouth scramble and the Purple Warriors were facing an uphill battle. 2-0 Meads and the Tiffs goalkeeper had seen enough. Deciding he had better places to be, he was replaced by current top scorer Palmer for the final half an hour. This served to motivate Tiffs with the midfield of Elwood, Eggar and Brillante joined by Khajenouri and Littlejohn, Tiffs looked to probe. Unfortunately, with Tiffs backs turned, Meads struck again to make it 3-0 with a simple back post tap-in.

On 70 minutes the game really opened-up. Flynn was played through and challenged for the ball in a 50-50 with the goalkeeper, coming away with it and poking home as the Meads goalie lay stricken. No whistle and the goal was given. Thankfully, the goalkeeper was OK but the 10 minute stop in play to get him checked over and substituted was all the referee needed to consult their imaginary VAR machine. After much consultation with the oppo, the referee successfully rewound the game and awarded a free kick to Meads. No whistle, no stop in play, no goal for The Good Guys.

The confusion from both sides clouded the next few minutes but Tiffs kept on the comeback trail. A corner from the left somehow found the heading-shy bonce of Lundie who looped it up and onto the crossbar for it to bounce back into play and be planted home by Khajenouri. 3-1 Meads. 75 minutes and it became 3-2 as Zeqiri and Flynn finally put their differences aside to combine for what should have been the equalizer.

The referee proclaimed there to be 5 minutes left at this point. With Tiffs piling on the pressure the final whistle went at 3.44pm. The eagle eyed amongst you will note that a 10 minute delay in a game might normally incur a few minutes of injury time. A disappointing afternoon and one that will lead to a few questions going forward.

 

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Jeremy Eggar

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