The atmosphere was sobering on the minibus as we journeyed to Fareham for the Meoncross clash. In the pre-season match, Alton did not fire against an adequate Meoncross team. Although missing our influential skipper Tom through injury, the tea had the potential to make a good game of it.

Playing on Astroturf for the first time seemed daunting to Alton as they took to the field. However, to their credit they created a couple of good chances in the opening minutes, with stand-in captain Oliver rallying the troops well. The team knew that if they left their guard down a good team would capitalize on this, which alas Meoncross did, and scored twice before the break.

Changes were made to bring more enthusiasm into the team, which proved wise, as Jim, representing the school for the first time in Football, played his heart out and listended carefully to instructions. Alton's heads began to drop when Meoncross scored in quick successions. Max replaced Henry in goal, and Matthew swapped with Joe. Alton began to regain shape and composure. Josh and Francesca had clear chances to score but failed to do so. Max was beaten by mean deflection and other difficult shot. Throughout the topsy-turvy second half, Jim (winning the best and fairest award) remained strong and brave until the final whistle, which resulted in Alton losing six-nil.

Meoncross, when pressured, did not look like a side that had won by that score-line. Sadly Alton needs to work on consistency of effort and doing the basics well. We all came away with lessons to learn and are probably the better for it.