Old Meadonians, out of all three cups this season, ground out a welcome three points at Riverside Lands on Saturday, beating Parkside 3-2.

Key factors in Meads' victory were the tireless covering of Lawrie Pointer at the back, selfless work from utility man Ed Glover at right wingback and, above all, the way striker Alex Jones spearheaded the attack.

Feeding off the cunning of Colin Hawkins alongside him, Jones produced a classic centre forward's performance - scoring twice and grazing the wrong side of the post on three more occasions.

Parkfield made sure that their hosts didn’t have it all their way and probably shaded possession throughout to have periods of sustained if ultimately contained pressure.

However, they were mostly snuffed out up front and otherwise did themselves a disservice in front of goal.

Despite this, just when Meads looked to have put distance between themselves and pursuit, the visitors refused to go away, clawing their way back into contention twice.

Meads’ first came on the half hour when, under pressure from Jones, a defender headed in Jack Costello’s accurate free-kick.

Meads then held the ascendancy till half time with Hawkins dipping one just over from just outside the area and Andy Thompson having one header saved and another skimming the bar.

Meads second was the pick of the three ten minutes after the break.

Dwayne Rhone crossed from the left and Glover, in one of his few incursions into enemy territory, put Jones in with a well directed header.

At this point Meads just missed the chance to go three up when the usually lethal Costello had his shot charged down and the resulting pinball episode was eventually stifled by the keeper.

Instead, the visitors retaliated with a snap shot from the edge of the box into the corner. Superiority was instantly re-established when Hawkins deep cross found Jones lurking at the far post and making no mistake.

There was still time for Parkfield to put a twist in the tale with their second with ten minutes to go but Meads held on. Alex Jones was named man of the match.

Team: Castle, Palmer, Pointer, Thompson, Glover, Gerrish, Costello, N. Jones, Rhone, (Graham), Hawkins, (D. Smith), A. Jones.