‘All the foundations are in place’ – ex-Paulsgrove and Infinity boss Wayne Grant on his new managerial challenge at Meon Milton

In his first competitive game since replacing Bic Singh as boss, Meon thumped Eversley & California Reserves 5-0 at Cockleshell Gardens in a delayed third round tie.

There were five different scorers as Meon set up another home tie in the last 16, against Hartley Wintney U23s.

Frank Large headed Meon in front before Dan Edwards, Ben Jones - a screamer into the top corner - Conor Mansfield and Joe Boggild got in on the scoring act.

Grant, along with his assistant Lee Jones, was thankful to have received a pre-game scouting report on Eversley from Alton manager Kev Adair.

‘We changed a few things around after seeing that, we went three at the back to try and outwork them in the middle of the park,’ he explained.

‘We made them look very ordinary. I’m sure there will be bumps along the way but it was a good start.’

Grant revealed that Meon were in contact with him as soon as he parted company with Hampshire Premier League Division 1 rivals Infinity at the end of October.

Prior to that, he had spent the two pandemic-affected seasons - 2019/20 and 2020/21 - in charge of HPL top flight club Paulsgrove.

‘They (Meon) approached us relentlessly for a few weeks,’ Grant told The News. ‘I just wanted a bit of time out. It wasn’t a case of ‘oh yes, I’ll definitely do it’.

‘After a few weeks we met the chairman and the committee and they sold it to us, it was a no brainer really.

‘They had done a bit of digging on me and Lee and after we’d kept them waiting four or five weeks it wasn’t a case of them interviewing me, they were just selling it to me and I was interviewing them!

‘It’s a good set-up, it’s a project for us - all the foundations are in place, it just needs overseeing. It just needs a structure put in place.

‘The youth set-up is absolutely huge, there’s 30-odd teams. We’ll be looking to bridge the gap between the u16s and the men - there’s nothing at the moment but next season we will have two under-18 teams.

‘It’s a proper run club. I didn’t know any of their players, but I knew the youth set-up was good.’

With Infinity looking champions-elect under another former Paulsgrove boss in Rich Bessey, Meon are one of a number of teams still in with a chance of claiming the second automatic HPL second tier promotion place.

They are seven points adrift of second-placed Hook at the moment, with two games in hand and with 14 of their 24 league fixtures left to play.

‘’It (promotion) is not out of the question,’ said Grant. ‘Realistically next season will be the time to push on. It’s not a free hit (this season) as such, but it will take for them to get used to us and us to get used to them.

‘We do want to get promoted as soon as possible, and bridging the gap between the youth and the men is a massive thing we have to get done. That’s the first goal, to bridge the gap between the 16s and the men.’

Longer term, Meon are hopeful of obtaining planning permission to erect floodlights at Cockleshell Gardens.

‘I’m confident it will happen,’ said Grant. ‘It would be a shame if they (the council) said it couldn’t.

‘We want to progress and the more success we have on the pitch, the more clout we’d have off it.’