Report

So with defeat last week, Chew needed a win today to keep their season alive, in the league at least. Meadow were the opposition, a team Chew hate and really wanted to do the double over. It was the same team as last week except Dan came into centre mid with Sav starting on the wing, replacing Fran who was serving a 1 match suspension due to a police incident the week before.

There was a strange atmosphere in the Chew camp which lead to a sloppy start. We were giving the ball away too easily and Meadow took the lead after 15 minutes when a break down the left lead to Dawson sleeping at the back post as he failed to pick up the Meadow striker, who poked the ball home from 6 yards out.

But Chew equalised on the stroke of half time, and what a goal it was. Dawson bought the ball forward and tried to pick out Sav on the left wing. The ball was intercepted by the Meadow defender but rebounded to Nicky B who skinned his man on the edge of the area before unleashing an unstoppable left foot shot which went in across the keeper and in off the post. A strong contender for goal of the season.

So Chew went in at half time 1-1 but the team were still flat, and when Meadow took the lead soon after half time Chew had all but given up. The left winger wasn’t picked up and he struck the ball home as he wasn’t picked up on the edge of the area after the ball rebounded out to him. They soon made it 3 as a break down the right lead to a volley from the number 9 to make the score 3-1.

Chew did have a goal ruled out minutes before the end for what looked like a very dodgy offside decision. A Deco shot was spilled by the keeper and the onrushing Gary reacted first to poke the ball home, but the linesman stuck his flag up and the ref had no choice except not to award the goal.

To add insult to injury, Meadow scored a 4th with the last kick of the game as Pickford wisely dodged the onrushing striker but sadly this caused him to spill the ball and the Meadow sub tucked the ball home.

So a terrible day at the office for Chew. We didn’t look up for it at all and we were punished for that. The positives were Danny and Stan looking good and passing the ball well in centre midfield, a fit again Deco, Nicky B’s continued good form and an excellent 1st half from Lee. We need to pick ourselves up and beat Meadow in the cup on Saturday to make sure we still have something to fight for at the business end of the season.