We faced out toughest test yet this season but on the back of a good performance and win against Aldershot we were confident we could get a decent result against a strong West Meon side who were so far unbeaten in the league.
We set up the same way we did against Aldershot with a similar strategy and it proved to be effective as we restricted West Meon to just a few long range efforts and probably edged the possession in the first half.
Our own chances were also restricted to a few shots from distance and one or two good half chances, but we failed to show a ruthless streak in front goal and not for the first time. As half time approached the game seemed likely to be a stalemate at half time, but in the 40th minute we got caught out on the break by Meon’s impressive number 2, playing left wing, and his cross was met by the Meon player who had run from inside his own half un-marked and finished with a simple toe poke.
We didn’t deserve to be behind but a single lapse in concentration and some lazy tracking from our midfield gave Meon an undeserved lead. Even so at 1-0 we were far from out of it and I was confident we could get the lads in at half time and turn it around in the second half. Then, right on the stroke of half time a long ball pumped forward (more of a clearance than a pass) bounced in our penalty area and looked to be an easy catch for Ryan. As the Meon forward tried to close Ryan down he took his eye of the ball missed the catch letting the forward in to give West Meon an un-explainable 2-0 lead.
The disappointment at the score line was clear to see at half time, we had been the better side but failure to take our own chances and individual errors which have been an ever present problem this year had yet again left us with a mountain to climb.
That said we still believed we could resurrect something from the game in the final 45 minutes. However we started badly though and Meon were 3 -0 up early on through a very controversial goal. The Meon forward clearly handled the ball to put his team mate clean through and he beat Ryan with a cool finish as the ref waved played on. I don’t think even the West Meon players could believe the goal was allowed to stand but that made our task even more difficult. Our luck didn’t seem to change when Beardo gave away a penalty 5 minutes later, only for Meon’s so far excellent number 2 to blast it high and wide.
After a shaky 10 minutes we made changes bringing on PJ for Bruce and changing our formation. The change had an immediate impact and we again started to control the play better and win the majority of possession. Our luck changed too when Smit hit a looping cross in to the box that was missed by everyone and found its way in to bring us back to 3-1. We pushed for more and got one when PJ cut inside the centre back with a clever flick and drilled a low shot in to the bottom corner from 20 yards out to bring us back to 3-2. We pushed again and were dominating the game now, both Coxy and Phelps came on and the fresh legs helped as we searched for an equaliser. Meon were struggling to hold on to the ball and we came close to an equaliser we deserved when Bertie hit the post from the edge of the box only to see his shot bounce out for a goal kick.
When the final whistle went, the relief on West Meon’s faces was clear to see, they didn’t deserve the points and knew it. But with luck on their side and our now regular weekly mistake costing us again they took the points and that is probably why they are top and we aren’t.
Team: Edwards, Venables (Cox), Neale, McCormack (Jacobs (1)), Beard, J.Smith(1) (Phelps-Jones), R.Taylor, G.Smith, Pennington, Hall, York
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