Month: November 2016
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Todays Results;
1s won 4-0 in a good cup game against Old Blues, (Goals from Nick, Jonny, Rat and Chas (pic) 2s drew 1-1 with Kew ass 2s late goals and we missed a pen (pic) 3s lost 3-1 at Actonians, 4s lost 6-1 old Sals res. 5s lost 5-0 in the Cup to Poly 5s. 6s drew 3-3 with Old Blues 4s and 7s opened their account against Alleyn O Bs 8-3. Well done boys. I left Kew with our 1s and 2s still enjoying the social side.
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NAME: Matthew Haswell
TEAM: 6s
POSITION: Midfield
BIRTH DATE: 12/11/1980
BIRTH PLACE: Tooting
PREVIOUS CLUBS: Stoneleigh FC
Tell us who you are outside of the club. What do you do, how would you describe yourself?
Outside of the club I am a Deputy Mortuary Manager at St Georges Hospital. I have 2 sons who also enjoy the game of football who I hope will join the youth section when they are old enough. I am also the club’s website editor. I would say that I have a good sense of humour and a laid back kind of person who enjoys life.
How did you end up at Merton FC?
I started dating the Ex-President, Terry Baker’s daughter and one of the conditions was that I joined Merton FC. I have now been at club since 2001.
What was your best moment in your MFC career till now?
Winning the Intermediate Divison 3 league in 2004-2005 with Darren Pearce’s mighty 2s. Had a great team back then and great bar banter with them.
If you could play for a professional team, which would be it and why?
Would have to say Chelsea FC, childhood team who when on form, can play some good football.
Do you have any pre-match rituals or superstitions?
I like to play in a short sleeve top, so try to make sure I grab one before anyone else.
Lastly, share us your goals/expectations for the season.
For my knees to allow me to continue playing, they are prone to injury/flare ups due to an ACL and meniscus injury playing at Old Parkonians in 2008. Although, it’s not looking to good but resisting to hang the boots up just yet.
RAPID FIRE:
Player of the season (at Merton, or in professional football): So far at Merton I would say Siraj the 1s keeper. Professional I would say Eden Hazard, think he is back to his best.
Childhood Team: Chelsea FC
Favourite team in the UK: Chelsea FC
Favourite team outside the UK: Real Madrid
Childhood Hero: Kurt Cobain/Johnny Depp
Favourite Food: Sunday Roast
Favourite Drink: Gin and Tonic
Favourite Band: Oasis/Foo Fighters
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TEAM: Merton FC U13s
NICKNAME: Kenzo
POSITION: Left Back or CDM (captain)
PREVIOUS CLUBS: Wimbledon Little League
Tell us who you are outside of the club. What do you do, how would you describe yourself?
I like going out with my friends, riding my bike, and I like playing PS4.
Had no choice really because my dad started a team but I’m glad he did, I love playing for Merton and I love the club. After little league matches on Saturday I used to hang around for a while and watch the Merton adults play.
There’s two really: winning the league and coming runners-up in the cup in 2013/14 season with the U11s. And more recently, beating Worplesdon Rangers 4-3 after being 3-0 down after 15 minutes! It was my birthday when we played that match which made it extra special.
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Merton welcomed leaders HSBC to the Hood and had to settle for a point in a tight, hard fought encounter.
Lining up 433 once again, Merton started brightly with Ryan Gresty in particular breaking up play in the middle and initiating more than one counter attack. Ryan had almost played in both Dan (skied effort) and Tom (tackled) inside the first 10 minutes, clearly smarting at not being mentioned 8 times in last weeks match report. A man on a mission and a man in motion but unfortunately this (st elmo’s) fire led Ryan into a bone crunching tackle on the edge of the opposition box and a trip to hospital (via touchline, bar, and an earlsfield night club for initial tests – no break thankfully).
With Ryan off, Dave Scott came into central midfield as Merton continued to look for an opener in a tight game. A succession of set pieces failed to yield a clear chance; Browner’s panic-inducing nod-back from beyond the far post almost but not quite yielding a chance.
Then a good move down the left involving the excellent Alex Welch, Andy, Lofty and Rayner (with Ryan shouting approvingly from the sidelines) saw Lofty put a tempting cross in. Dan read the flight, ghosted between the two centre backs, jumped, met it with his forehead as the cross just cleared the head of the covering defender…and headed over. 2 DOTD votes ensued.
Tom was the next to have a chance, played in on the angle and striking a shot on the run from the edge of the area that the keeper beat away.
At the other end, a well organised Merton defence had restricted the visitors to only set pieces and the occasional scare on the counter, with Rayner doubling up as forward and wingback on occasion to deal with the dangerous oppo wide player and forward who were their main out ball.
0-0 at half time and Lofty urged us to push for the win, noting that this was unlikely to be a game with more than one goal. Ryan (just about still standing) agreed and urged Merton to get after them.
The second half was as tight and scrappy as the first. The best chance came early, and it fell to the visitors. Peter Brown missed a header for the first time in the game, and as the rest of the side gaped in disbelief, quick work from HSBC saw the ball squared for the oppo striker to sidefoot home from 10 yards. Sherbs, however, had other ideas and flung himself to his right, a strong hand keeping the ball out. The danger wasn’t over yet as the ball fell invitingly for HSBC, only for Cookie to bravely block the goal bound shot and then Browner to complete the clearance. A massive moment in the game.
At the other end, Merton were still probing away looking to get Tom in behind. Some nice interplay down the right between Alex King, Dave and Andy saw the ball squared for Tom to hit from the edge of the area, only for the shot to be blocked. Next, Dan screamed down the left wing and into the box, only for his cut back to be cleared.
DQ and Mike Stone came on to try and provide the moment of inspiration needed to win the game. Max in particular was convinced DQ would deliver, pronouncing it his time as Merton won a late series of free kicks. Alex King was also finding space down the right; initally to fire in a series of crosses that didn’t beat the first man, but then with increasing effect and culminating in a burst in the box and a dangerous centre that was hacked clear.
In the event, it was at the other end that the final piece of drama played out. A rare HSBC attack saw both Alex and then Cookie drawn out of position and beaten. As the attacker surged towards the box a recovering Cookie slid full length and made the tactical decision to end the attack taking man ball and half the pitch with him. HSBC were a little upset and demanded a red, but with covering players in the vicinity and the fact that Cookie tackled pitch man and ball in that order, a yellow was about right. Cookie took the booking very professionally and all seemed well until a HSBC player said something and Cookie crumbled, unleashing the west country rage and confronting said player.
Foreheads bumped. Oppo subs ran onto the pitch. Sherbs enquiry of “what do you think you’re doing?” (or similar) was met with a response that they thought someone was going to be punched. Maybe they were planning a dive in front of any punch like a secret service bodyguard, who knows.. It should also be pointed out that the hitherforeto unmentioned (in the second half) Ryan Gresty did not hobble on to the pitch to get involved. Professional.
In all event people were dragged away, it all calmed down and Cookie escaped a red. And then the free kick went wide. Escape complete.
Merton’s late rally failed to yield a clear chance and the game ended 0-0. Probably about fair in a tight game with few chances.
Motm: Alex Welch convincingly edged Alex King, with Alex Herbert also picking a vote.
Dotd: Cookie the west country monster.
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Merton 3 v 1 Esher colts orange
A sunday afternoon league match away to esher colts saw the under 9s scrap to an off par 3-1 win.
The match started bright enough with a lightning fast attack straight from the whistle. The first goal came soon enough 1-0 Merton and we looked likely to run away with a big win. But Esher dug in and found an equaliser and this gave them confidence. credit to our boys who saw through the sticky patch and midway through the second half started to dominate the game as we should of done throughout. As we got back into our stride 2 quick goals settled the game. A 4th goal from a throw down the line, the cross came over, bit of a goal mouth scamble and goallll!!!!!! the crowd went crazy and the ref said…..”ermmmm no goal i wasnt ready”. final score 3-1 Merton
Thats 6 wins out of 6 league games.
Table topping match this sunday at the hood, we play Esher and Ewell a very good team who beat us in pre season friendly. The winner wins our mini festival league.
Please come and support the under 9s this Sunday.
Gary
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Civil Service 4’s vs Merton 3’s
I begin this match report with the same upheaval and feeling of disbelief as our current Golden DOTD (Neil Davidson) must have felt when writing all those previous reports…
When a good, kind and generous act can get you the DOTD vote, you must start to question the validity of the votes, especially when other members have pulled out at the last minute, told the team the game is off 30min prior to meeting and stealing another members car keys for a week.
Anyway, enough of that… let’s move on to the positives game itself…
So the Merton 3’s started the day looking forward to another away fixture. Not as pleasant as most, as a trip around the M25 was not required, but still a lengthy journey for all those Boars to reflect on the past performances and think of how to improve.
The rain was chucking it down all day, but that said, the pitches were in good condition. The team arrived and DJ Mustard was on the decks, spinning the interesting choices of request that’s had made it through to his playlist. A little chat in the changing rooms and we were all ready to go.
Perhaps the most memorable part of the first half was Dennis chasing the geese off the pitch prior to kick off. This tells you enough about the quality that was on display. In the first half, Merton took a while to find their feet, but eventually started knocking the ball around and looked good at times.
Civil Services gave Merton an early scare, when they were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box. The ball was whipped in and missed / ping ponged around a few Merton players, before hitting the unexpecting striker on the leg and trickling into the net. Appeals of a dubious offside were quickly raised, and the Ref seemed to agree.
Merton, with this streak of luck on their side, pushed forward. A few half chances fell to the Boars, but with no end product. Glen had a good chance where he broke from a Dennis ‘showboatesque’ back heel, raced down the line, round the keeper, but then seemed to forget where the goal was and hit it wide.
Glen had another chance, great interplay in the middle of the park saw the ball laid off to Glen, and with Darcy sprinting clear, all that was required was a little through ball… it never came.
Despite Merton’s pressure, a mesmerising run from Civils centre mid, he tricked his way past several players and hit a good shot into the bottom corner. 1-0 Civils.
Merton came into the Half time break 1-0 down, and with their heads slightly down as well.
A change of personnel brought on Alberto in the middle of the park for the ‘blowing’ Darcy. Minutes in, Vinnie seemed to tackle himself and was now crooked. On came Gubby for his 3’s on field debut.
During the next 30minutes, not much of note happened. Lots of missed placed passes and the occasional goose trying to set back down on the pitch. Welshy turned up on his bday to cheer the Boars on, which was a welcome treat and Darcy had a little slip on goose shit, whilst collecting the ball which earned him this report.
Merton switched formation to the tried and tested 3-5-2 and immediately saw the benefit. A free kick was whipped in, and debuter Gubby, leapt like a salmon, despite being tackled by his own team mate (Neil Davidson), and headed home a peach of a header! In ‘unbelievable Jeff’ scenes, Mr Davidson proceeded to run off claiming the goal on his own, whilst the rest of the team congratulated the true goal scorer Gubby.
Merton had the wind in their sails now, and sensed a win. Glen had a good chance, but the keeper made an amazing save and pushed it onto the upright corner of the bar.
With only minutes left, Merton were in full out attack. Unfortunately, this left us a little exposed at the back. A break away from Civils right winger saw him skip past several flat footed Merton players and pick out a cross, to which Joe seemed to partially clear, before being taken down by the attacker, who promptly got up and in slow motioned volleyed the ball into the back of the net. This time there was no fooling the ref that the goal should not count.
Final score 2:1
Not the best performance this season, not the worst… better luck next week…
Man of the Match: Joe Grew
DOTD: Darcy Yates
Scorers: Gubby / Neil Davidson? Still awaiting the result of the dubious goal scores official’s enquiry
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Met police 1-0 Merton FC
Disappointing game today where Merton just did not turn up and play the way they can and have shown recently.
Defensively, we were very strong and kept our shape well. We tried out a new backline and it seemingly worked. However, on the ball we were disappointing and wasted a lot of good possession by playing long ball and hoping for the best. At times we kept the ball well and passed the ball around, which carved out potential opportunities for us to score.
Midway through the first half, George pulled off a fantastic double save. This was a wake up call and Merton ended the half the stronger of the two teams.
We were largely untroubled, but also didn’t trouble very often going forward.
The second half was very scrappy and was nicked by the odd goal. A Miskick from goalkeeper and it ended in the back of our net.
We never really troubled and ended up in defeat without much battling.
Major positives were the new found backline, but more confidence on the ball needed.
Heads up and go again next week!
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A good set of results from the Youth section.
The U9s beat Esher Colts Orange 3-1.
The U11s beat Esher Colts Yellows 5-1.
The U13s beat CB Hounslow 11-2.
The U14s had a good cup win 6-4 against Haslemere Town.
The U15s lost 1-0 to Met Police Reds. Well done to the Hoodies as Steve calls them.
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Merton FC Stats End of Season
