3s vs Winchmore Hill – 24.10.15

Saturday 24^th October

Merton FC v Winchmore Hill

9  –  2

Against an under strength opposition, Merton dispatched a deserved result efficiently to claim another 3 points at home.

Please excuse a full match report, ,short of me writing something to resemble a ‘Lord Of The Rings’ trilogy, I will keep the following simple and concise.

For the first time this season Merton FC boasted a full complement of playing staff for the Saturday fixture. A luxury rarely available, and something which the opposition would have been grateful for.

A battling and commendable display by the Winchmore Hill players was a credit to the league, and certainly Merton Fc will look forward to matching the opposition with full strength sides for the following return fixture in North London this season.

Merton, following the previous two weeks’ slow starts, started on top for this game from the outset. Early strikes from Donno and mustard early on set the tone for the rest of the game. A great solo effort by Donno, and a blistering volley from Mustard made it 2-0 to Merton early on.

An overlapping move from RB to RM which involved Tony and Reece, finishing with a through ball to the inside of the box from Tony, for Reece to calmly slot past the keeper to his inside post made it 3-0.

A speculative effort form the opposition from 25 yards out then zipped off the wet surface and under the Merton keepers’ body to give the opposition a goal before half time. Shortly afterwards a speculative clearance from the opposition back line was not dealt with by the Merton central defence which then resulted in another goal for the opposition.

To finish off the half a long drive, on target and zipping off the wet surface was not held by the opposition keeper, and poked in to the back of the net by an on-rushing Yomi.

Half time 4-2.

Merton could see the Winchmore Hill players were using the same tactic for their chances, which were limited, but clearly effective.

At the start of the second half, the Merton forwards pushed higher up the pitch to press the ball deeper in to the opposition half. Spreading the ball across the pitch, and developing wing play was the key to seeing this game out.

Merton had great success using the wing back and attacking midfielders and successive goals were to follow from the home side as the second half developed.

An early strike from Donno started the rout, another assist from Darcy who provided 4 assists in total throughout this game.

Neal adopted a holding roll in front of the back four to allow his midfield partner Darcy to develop and spread the ball out wide. A cut back to the edge of the box by Darcy then was struck in to the top right hand corner of the net by Tony to make the score 6-2 with 75 minutes gone.

Two strikes from Chris followed- assisted by Darcy, and a lofted through-ball by Tony from the edge of the box which was slotted underneath the keeper made it 8-2 with a few minutes left

I final flick on from the wing to the edge of the box by Nick was fantastically controlled, and curled in to the top right hand corner of the goal by Denys almost as the final whistle went to round off an emphatic day in front of goal for the Merton team.

Goals and assists  from all over the team today – 7 different goal scorers and 5 players assisting – putting an emphasis on the effectiveness of Merton’s team play and decision making from game to game so far this season.

Positives to take from this game, and surely the chances missed the previous week were vindicated in this match. Hard work all round.

MOTM: Merton 11*

DOTM: Arturs (sorry son-the first goal conceded got you in here!)

Squad:

GK – Arturs

RB – Tony P (Goal scorer @ 75mins + 2 assists)

CB – Mike Stone

CB –  Joel

LB – Mustard (Goal scorer @ 15mins)

RM – Reece (Goal scorer @ 40mins)

CM – Darcy (+ 4 assists)

CM – Neal

LM – Donno (Goal scorer @ 10mins + 65mins + 1 assist)

ST – Yomi (Goal scorer @ 80mins)

ST – Denys (Goal scorer @ 90mins)

Subs:

CB – Lofty

ST – Chris (Goal scorer @ 60mins + 85mins + 1 assist)

LM – Nick (+ 1 assist)