HSFL Division 3 - Meppershall FC 4 - 3 Kimpton Rovers

Despite a hat-trick from captain marvel Alex Jode, Kimpton Rovers came away empty handed from their first ever visit to Meppershall.  In what was described as a “cracking game of football” by referee David Bailey as both sides gave their all as 2025 drew to a close, football wise. 

Rovers took the lead on twenty-one minutes when a Ryan Gray through ball saw Jode collect it, drive forward rounding the home keeper before rolling the ball into the empty net.  Nine minutes later the home side levelled from the penalty spot, the visiting keeper getting a hand to the strike but was unable to keep it out and that’s how things stood at the break, a fair reflection on the first forty-five minutes.

After the restart the game continued to flow from end to end and it was Meppershall who drew first blood on fifty-four, but thirteen minutes later it was all square once again when Jode struck superbly from out on the left, across the keeper and into the far side of the net, by far the best of his three strikes that counted as he  thought he had got Kimpton level shortly before his actual equaliser when he met a cross perfectly, side-on and on the volley just to see the effort ruled out for offside.

With just over a quarter of an hour remaining the home side regained the lead once more following some carelessness around the edge of the box and as the Rovers pushed to find a second leveller, they were hit on the counter attack for a Mepps’ fourth and the game seemed to be put beyond Kimptons’ reach with just nine minutes left on the clock.    The never say die spirit from the visitors couldn’t have been more evident as just two minutes later, Ahmed Many found himself one-on-one with the keeper but he snatched at his shot driving it straight at the stopper, thankfully Jode was following up and stroked the ball home to complete his trio.  Along with the disallowed effort the Rovers skipper could have easily bagged himself a double hat-trick with a powerful effort from outside the box just going the wrong side of the post while another effort earlier in the game was thwarted by a stunning one handed save from the home keeper.  It was no surprise that he picked up this week’s Meyer Office Solutions Player of the Match.

As the game drew to it’s conclusion Kimpton threw absolutely everything they had at it in search of one more equaliser coming close twice but it wasn’t to be and Meppershall secured the points and revenge for the six-nil result at the start of the season.