Actonians 3-1 Merton

It was a rather cloudy dreary day for Merton as they travelled to Acton for a cup game against a side a league below with a solitary win all season. Merton started the game with a 5-3-2 system utilising two wing backs and three central defenders in a more attacking system than normal. As the game kicked off Merton came under immediate pressure and had conceded within a few minutes of kick off after a long ball from the centre of midfield out to the right wing by Actonians where a low ball was fizzed into the centre and converted into the Merton net. The first half continued in the same way with a lot of pressure being withstood by Merton until an unfortunate miskick by Neal who had been solid at centre back sliced into the top corner of the net leaving Dan scrambling. Despite a few efforts Merton were unable to make any headway with Glenn testing the keeper and Frankie scooping a couple of chances wide of the goal. After half time Merton came out with a revised 4-4-2 formation reverting to a standard left and right back, the change assisted in allowing Merton to consolidate in the middle of the park and begin to create more chances at the right end of the field. Against the run of play Actonians scored again leaving Merton trailing 3-0 with around 25 minutes of the game left to play, despite a number of chances it was only with 10 minutes of the game left where after a good ball across the box Merton converted leaving the boys looking to recover 2 goals with time against us. Unfortunately despite an active last 10 minutes Merton were unable to recover and get back into the game meaning an exit in the cup after a stalwart performance in the preceding rounds and what could be described as a harsh result on the day.

Posted in Match Reports 3s

Merton 4s vs. Old Salesians 2s
ISEH Senior Novets Cup, Second Round
Saturday 19th November 2016
by Edward Plaistow

After our convincing win in the first round away to Winchmore Hill, this fixture was meant to send us on our travels again only for the opposition request a switch in venue due to unavailability of a pitch.

With a few regulars unavailable through injury (John Gridley), work (Ryan Burchell), getting called up (Mike Todt) and choosing a cricket social over football! (Will Harrison) we welcome a few new faces into the fold. Sonny brought along a couple of mates in Michael Vogt and Aaron Loftus who both made their Merton debuts and will now hopefully join the club, Steve Burchell game us some experience at the back and Akram Choudhury was also part of the squad for what would turn out to be his Merton debut too.

Not for the first time this season, Kieran seemed to vanish off the face of the earth as nobody could get hold of his. Had it not been for Malcolm Kandulu who drove to Banstead and knocked on his door to revive him from his alcohol induced coma, we would have been without our regular keeper. As he didn’t arrive in time for KO we had to settle for Chris Outred deputising between the sticks.

In all honestly we struggled to get a foothold in the game as the visitors seemed to be pinging the ball around with ease. With our midfield a little to open for my liking, and a few others for that matter, it wasn’t long before Old Salesians took the lead. Not long after conceding the first did we find ourselves two behind…..then three in the blink of an eye. Following the third going in, Kieran replaced Chris in goal so he could take his place in his usual left wing position with Carl making way.

We seemed to compose ourselves a little before going into the break but were unable to find a consolation. We did however manage to pick up a yellow card. Joe Plumridge the culprit.

The team talk was a sombre one. It was clear we was missing the presence of our captain at the back and Will in the middle of the pack.

The second half started the same as the first in the sense that we conceded an early goal. Joe got dismissed harshly for a second yellow which was not deserved. We did manage to fit the back of the net via a penalty. Aaron played a long cross field ball to Michael on the left who took it down with ease, while taking the ball into the box the right back went to ground attempting to connect with the ball however failed in the process taking Michael down. Dom stepped up and converted into the bottom left.

From the restart the visitors went on the attached again and scored their sixth. Little too late but we the last twenty minutes were actually carved out chances, good ones at that, but Sonny and Dom couldn’t find the back of the next.

Next week we travel to Acton for a tough test against Actonians Association. With seven defeats in eight league games it is a must win. With regulars back we will be going into the game with a positive mentality.

Let’s put this one behind us and concentrate on our league campaign. Come on the 4s!!!!   

FINAL SCORE:
Merton 4s 1 – 6 Old Salesians
SCORERS: Dom Plumridge (pen)
MOTM:
Nobody

STARTING LINE-UP: Chris Outred (GK), Chris Dodd, Joe Plumridge, Steve Burchell, Edward Plaistow, Aaron Loftus, Danny Gridley, Carl Kewley, Michael Vogt, Sonny Kennedy, Dom Plumridge

SUBS: Kieran Lee (GK), Akram Choudhury

Posted in Match Reports 4s

Merton fc 2 – 7 Epsom and Ewell

Our final festival group match on yet another sunny Sunday morning at the hood. Merton fc v Epsom and Ewell, both unbeaten with the victor taking the honours of winning our group.

Epsom kicked off and started like a rocket scoring the opener within a couple of minutes, we kept our heads and with some great pressure soon equalised. The match turned into a great battle and as the 3rd quarter ended the teams came off 2-2 and a draw at that point looked the likely and fair result. Fantastic game.

However the match was taking its toll on our boys, a number of crunching tackles, a couple of minor injuries and general tiredness forced us to make a number of changes going into the final 12 minutes which proved to big an ask on the day against such a good team.

We have played and beaten some very good teams this season, Epsom and Ewell are amongst the best we have played and in our weakened state they took there chances and smashed 5 goals past us in that last quarter to beat us 7-2.

A tough end to an otherwise fantastic match but plenty of positives to come out of the game including our new signing Tommie in his first start for us scoring both goals with a really determined display and Kalyan once again winning man of the match for a cracking  performance in defence.

Next week we are away to spelthorne in the new league we have been placed in, another new experience for us (have to get the map book out!) Onwards and upwards U9s.

Gary

Posted in Under 9s Reports

Merton 8 – 3 Alleyn Old Boys

 

Striding out onto the spacious 1s pitch for what will probably be the only time, the Merton 7s were ready to face Alleyns Old Boys. News had filtered to us that that Alleyns had only manged to get 9 players down to face the mighty 7s, as such the 7s were feeling confident about the prospect of getting a first league win of the season.
Starting out in a classic 4-4-2, Merton took a few minutes to adjust to the understandably strange 4-3-1 (or was it 3-4-1!) of Alleyns. Getting the ball out to the wings where Merton could stretch the 9 man Alleyns seemed to be the go to move. One early move saw Glory collect the ball and play it across to Dobson who slid it into the feet of Malcolm; he kept his composure and fired home low past the keeper. 1-0 Merton.

Buoyed by this early goal Merton began to the press the opposition, knowing their options were limited.  After some further pressure, Glory collected the ball on the left wing, spinning past the right back, he quickly ran across the back-line before firing past the keeper low into the corner a brilliant solo effort, Merton had doubled their lead! Two quickly became three when Dobson collected a simple ball through the middle, beating the keeper at the second attempt. Merton were 3 up and making their numerical advantage count.
At this point Merton were nonchalantly passing the ball about, sensing an easy afternoon. However a simple ball over the top, leading the injured Lenners to shout for the ball only to get into a mix up with the centre back and striker for Alleyns. The striker profiting from this mix up to slot home. 3-1.

Merton were then again caught cold when the Alleyns big number 9 picked up the ball in between the midfield and defence running at the defences before curling the ball into the goal from outside the box with a wonder strike. 3-2. Things were now a lot more tense and soon after, another Alleyns player had turned up leading to them now boasting 10 players, surely they couldn’t let this one slip! The game becoming a lot more even before the referee blew for half-time.
A couple of changes were made to freshen up the side with Nathan and Jon replacing Tom and Dobson. Merton looked to have restarted with a renewed composure to their game, spreading the ball about and waiting for the opportunities to present themselves rather than trying force the issue. Their patience soon paid off, Glory made himself another great goal following a jinking run to restore the home side’s two goal cushion.

Again Merton managed to lose their composure and shape, finding themselves wide open to the counter on a few occasions. Alleyns capitalised after the right winger found a great cross after a run down the wing which was nodded in by the oncoming striker. 4-3 and the game was back on.

From here on in the goals flowed for Merton, in all honesty with 11 goals in this game I can’t remember them all and the order may well be wrong! For the fifth, Josh spotted the run of Glory and found him just inside the box, Glory’s cross-come-shot bobbled around the box and landed at the feet of Malcolm who doubled his tally for the game. The chance were coming thick and fast now with the 10 men of Alleyns back to 9 after an injury to one of their players, Adam managed to miss a golden opportunity with the goal at his mercy and Glory and Malcom both got their Hat-Tricks. Jack rounded things off with a lovely side footed finished low into the bottom left as the game was drawing to a close. 8-3 was the final score and there were 3 points were on the board for the fledgling 7s. Full respect must go to Alleyns for giving it a right go in difficult circumstances, but as the saying goes, you can only beat what’s in front of you and Merton managed that.

Starting XI: Lenners (GK), Josh K-H, Dan A (C), Tom, Martin, Adam, Jack, Dobson, Glory, Malcom, Tom

Subs: Nathan and Jon

Man Of The Match: A tough one but it’s a tie between Glory and Malcolm who both scored a hat-full of goals.

Dick Of The Day: No one deserves to be dick of the day after such a good performance.

Posted in Match Reports 7s

Another match report written by the gaffer can only mean one thing! More of that later!!

Anyway, with selection being a headache this week it meant the mighty Merton sixes went into this home game with the 13 hardy soles!  Well I say 13, prior to game John was sent to the stands by the ref for wearing his “light” half plaster cast, when John explained that Montero was allowed to wear one and tried to argue that he could elbow someone and cause the same damage the whole team sighed and knew that was the end of that argument! 

So this left us with 12 and with all the confusion going on and sending the sevens players to the right pitch a lack of warm up and team talk went un-noticed!

On to the game then, Merton have started to build a friendly rivalry with Old Blues.  We are two teams evenly matched and over the years we have had many a great game against them and they are a great bunch of lads!

Merton started slowly and the lack of warm up was beginning to show.  Everyone’s touch was letting them down and passing was pretty much non-existent!  Old Blues were looking threatening and putting in dangerous crosses which we struggled to clear.

About 20 mins in, Old Blues finally took the lead with a bit of mix up between keeper and defender ending up with Michael punching the ball 5 feet to an attacker who put the ball in the empty net.  Merton were struggling and some last ditch tackles from Chris and the skipper prevented further damage.

After the skipper barked instructions very angrily, Merton seemed to wake up and finally got a foot hold in the game.  Paul missed a glorious chance from some great work by Pete and everyone thought maybe this wasn’t going to be our day.

Another couple of close long range shots from Chris (getting closer and one day will hit the target!) meant that Merton kept up the pressure. 

Approx 30 mins in Merton equalised.  After some great work by Callum then Trey to square the ball to Ty, he calmly shinned it in to the bottom corner (only joking it was a great curling finish!!). 

Old Blues then rallied and had some more great chances but was denied in particular by a superb save from Michael, unfortunately he dislocated his thumb in the process and was in pain but held out to half time.

Merton went into half time 1-1 and we could count ourselves very lucky as we knew we weren’t playing up to our normal greatness.  During half time the gaffer desperately tried to sneak on Swanny but realised he wasn’t on the team sheet, so that was ruled out, but with Chris injuring his dodgy hamstring, he volunteered to put on the gloves for the second half.

The second half started slowly but Merton were the better team and started to create some great chances with Paul, Pete and Trey all coming close.

Merton’s defence looked a bit more solid and withheld the physical play of Old Blues.  That was until a counter attack caught Merton out down our right and after their skipper put in a dangerous cross in the corridor of uncertainty, the gaffer tried to desperately to divert it from danger, but manged to divert in onto the far post and with the ball creeping along the line their striker smashed it in.  It wasn’t an OG at all!! (ok, maybe it was!).

Merton then went on the attack and managed to create yet more chances and this definitely had the feeling of one them days.  George went off injured as he couldn’t see properly and then with our only substitute coming on (our original GK) at right back, the gaffer was met with discontent from the crowd (Matt) as that wasn’t his position (if I hear that phrase again I will shoot someone!), but Michael didn’t complain and got on with it!

Callum was causing all sorts of problems against a tiring Old Blues and kept driving at the defence, eventually his talent prevailed and he skipped past a few challenges and smashed the ball in the net – 2-2!

Merton with the wind in their sails, went for a winner and again created numerous good chances!  However, we fell behind again to a brilliant header from a great Old Blues corner.  We were left reeling and wondered what we had to do to beat Old Blues!

Anyway, with time ticking away Merton went to a 4-3-3 to try and snatch a draw.  Now as mentioned at the top of this brilliantly written article, there is a reason Mr Skipper/Captain/Organiser and general dogs body chose to write this match report.  In the dying moments of the game the skipper ventured forward for a corner, with a first poor ball in by Ty, he made amends by drawing out the defenders to put a whipping ball in for the skipper who scooped low, like he was picking up dropped kebab meat after a night out and powerfully worked them neck muscles to glance a header into the bottom corner – it was superb header and the best so far of his 3 – yes 3 goals (strikers take note!) this season!

Moments later the full-time whistle went and Merton fault to the end for a hard-earned draw.

Now man of the match, it wasn’t the best week for Merton, but like the Arsenal managed to get a draw when playing bad!  There was no doubt about the best player on the pitch though and that was Callum, so well played!

Dick of the Day was a harder choice, it could have gone to a number of players – Paul for missing numerous good chances (he was ill though, so definitely get lets off!).  John for plastercast gate.  Dan P for kicking the ball miles out of play at every opportunity (can’t give it to him though for playing out of position!).  But this week I am giving this to a forgotten face who used to be play in the centre of midfield for Merton – Matt, this is for having a go at the gaffer for a substitution he had no choice to make as we had nobody else.  It was truly out of order and maybe the frustration of those knees not healing is getting to him – we miss you Matt!!

Let’s get another win next week!

Line up:  Michael, Ram, Dan P, Locke, George, Paul, Ty, Chris, Callum, Trey, Pete

Subs: Dylan

Posted in Match Reports 6s

Old Blues 0 – 4 Merton FC

Saturday saw the Merton 1s travel to Kew for a cup tie against Old Blues. Normal order was resumed as Jonny, Sam and Chaz all turned up late. 

The game got underway on a well kept pitch in good conditions and Merton instantly looked the more comfortable team. A lofted cross from Jonny resulted in a textbook header into the bottom corner by Nick ‘the engine’ van Wensveen for his first goal of the season. The team looked well balanced, playing out from the back with Rat and the newfound, ball playing, left back Browner. A well worked move led to the ball being laid back to Sam who managed to strike the ball not only over the bar, but over the club house too. 

Rat continued to look menacing down the right, linking up well with man of the match James and when the ball sat up to be volleyed on the edge of the area his eyes lit up but the result was the same; over the clubhouse once more. 

As it became apparent that Merton were the stronger team, standards began to slip and mid-way into the first half passes were going astray and players began getting on each other’s backs. The half time team talk highlighted this (Chaz teaching Clappers to play 10 yard passes) as well as an unintentional, but scathing reflection of Browners illustrious career at Merton FC (‘he is not a ball player – you lads may have only played a few games with him but I’ve played with him for over 5 years’). 

The second half began with Old Blues nearly nicking a goal; the strong centre forward’s quick-fire shot deflecting off Chaz’s shin and hitting the post. 

Merton began to take control again and after missing a good chance in the first half, Jonny latched onto a through ball to coolly chip it over the goalkeeper for 2-0. Another shocking 30 yard strike from Sam shortly followed, this time sailing 5 yards over the cross bar. Merton continued to create chances with James looking menacing on the right wing, turning their fullback and looking confident on the ball. When he found himself in 10 yards of space, Woody chose to shoot rather than squaring it across which resulted in a tame effort, collected by the goalkeeper. A surging run from Rat down the right led to the third goal. After an exchange on the edge of the area, the ball bounced off a defender and into the path of a sliding Rat who guided it into the far corner for a rare, but well earned Merton goal.

The final Merton goal came from a nicely weighted corner, hung up at the back post where a back-peddling Chaz managed to direct a great header into the corner. In the closing moments Merton were awarded a free kick around 25 yards out. Both Nick and Woody stood over the ball but despite a torrid shooting display, Sam decided he would step up. Curling the ball 5 yards over the bar again, he quite rightly was labelled the DOD and will no doubt be stripped of set piece duties for future games.

A special mention to man of the match James who looked dangerous down the right all game and then went on and played for the 2’s after already playing 90 minutes.

03 02 01 08

Posted in Match Reports 1s

Merton FC 2 vs 0 Epsom & Ewell Colts.
Match report by Theo
On a cold miserable Sunday morning Merton fc played Epsom and ewel this was a grudge match seeing that we lost 3:1 against them at the beginning of the season We arrived at Joseph hood at 9:15 we went over to our pitch and started training the opposition arrived and they was watching us(with fear in there eyes)the game started Merton had kick off we pressed them and got a lot of shots off but there goalkeeper saved all of them.soon after that they had a couple of shots but milo had that covered then milo booted the ball up the pitch and Marcus saw the goalkeeper running out and put a lovely chip over the keeper he made it 1:0.they kicked off and we won the ball back and shortly marcus scored again to make it 2:0 a left foot in to the bottom corner.the whistle blew for half time we had a team talk. The second half began we continued with Steve instructions with our passing game knowing everyone was on form and fighting for each other as hard as they could with only 1 sub and a couple of players injured we still carried on the fight until the final whistle. All round a great performance and fight from the team. It was hard to choose a man of the match because the whole team fought well.

Match report from Theo (centre mid)

Posted in Under 13s Reports

Merton 1-7 wallington wanderers

Very bad day today, despite starting off the better side.
First day 10-15 minutes we played very well, on and off the ball. Moving the ball around and keeping the ball on the floor.
We created a few chances, but didn’t make the most of the good opportunities.
We gave away a sloppy free kick in our half and wallington took advantage and took a 1-0 lead. Less than 2 minutes later another free kick, another goal.
We then had a mad 10 minutes and ended up being 5-0 down.
We finally found our feet and settled down back into the game, grabbing a consolation goal through Jamie.
We played some good stuff at the beginning of the 2nd half, causing wallington some problems. We gave away a sloppy penalty, which they brought their keeper out especially to take it. Respect at its highest!
He missed the penalty, but the follow up was put away by an oncoming striker.
They stretched their lead to 7-1 towards the end.
Another penalty given away, but this time George saved the spot kick.
Apart from 10 minutes we didn’t do too badly.
Dissapointing day today, one that promoted questions.
Heads up .. let’s go again (again!)

Posted in Under 15s Reports

We arrived with 2 subs on a freezing cold wet windy pitch in Hamworth.

Team warmed up thoroughly and we stuck to our mission …. keep ball on ground and pass pass and pass.

6 minutes into first half ball was fed through to Cormac… who twisted righr and then and then again and finished with a curler into top left of net.

10 mins ball was again played through and Steven lept like a olympic jumper onto ball and slotted ball low into goal.

By this time i could not feel my hands…. was it trembling from match play plus totally frozen.

We kep attacking pass after pass came and their keeper certainly had warm hands as he saved shot after shot.

Half time my oppo manager and I bantered as I offered to buy his keeper for hot dogs and hot drinks.

Made some further changes and then 2 further goals came Steven road runner Gumble great shot bang into net.

Cormac Little Messi went on a run and his low gravity and twinkle toe feet executed another fine finish.

This team has lost 1 game in 8 and we are really developing….we now know best positions for boys and this brings depth and strength.

Great team effort…. just shows play ball on ground and pass you can win.

Thanks parents…. great support.

David
Co Manager.

Posted in Under 11s Reports

Todays Youth Results and the Hood was playable.
U9s lost 7-2 against Epsom an Ewell colts.
U11s beat Hanworth Sports Bees 4-0
U13s beat Epsom and Ewell Colts 2-0
U14s beat Rocks Lane 13-2 and
U15s lost 7-1 to Wallington Wanderers.
Well done boys.

Posted in Uncategorized