Merton 4s vs. City of London 3s
SAL Junior Division 4 South
Saturday 6th October 2018

Buoyed by weeks result against the 5s, the 4s were in league action again and hosted City of London at Joseph Hood.

 

With numbers low throughout, due to holiday and injury, we were required to call on the services of Scott Brown from the 5s and Andrew Stears from the 6s to make up the numbers. Following a couple of training sessions, Thomas Murphy was ready match fit and took a spot on the bench while another debutant, Andrew Minkevich slotted into the middle of the park.

 

The starting line-up consisted of Kieran Lee in goal. From right to left, Dan Gridley, Scott Brown, Joe Plumridge and Edward Plaistow (yours truly) made up the defence. The midfield three consisted of Callum Fisher, Andrew and Roman Bilivskyi with Dom Plumridge, Denys Zhurbiy and Nick Englefield up top leading the line.

 

The first half started as expected, Merton dominating play however when the chances came, composure was non-existent and the chances wasted. One of these chances led to a kick from the keepers hand, not anticipating the distance it would travel, it evaded the back line and with Kieran a little late to come off his line, it allowed their main man in green to capitalise and give the visitors the lead. Learning from this, we ensured that the defence dropped deeper for the remainder of the game.

 

Fortunately conceding first provided the kick up the arse that was needed. Passed were a little more precise with receivers approaching the pass rather than waiting for the ball to approach them. This allows triangles to be plays which opened up the opposing defence on numerous occasions.

 

It wasn’t long under out dominance was rewarded when Denys bagged his first of the day, Roman made it two 5 minutes later. A moment of magic from young Callum then provided us with a two goal cushion. A cheeky ‘Cruyff Turn’ allowed his the space to unleash an unstoppable right footed effort which found the top bins! 3-1 at the break.

 

The second half seemed to go by in a flash! All I know is that were able to add to our tally convincingly. Andrew Minkevich made it four, Denys converted twice more to complete his hat trick and Andrew Stears, on for Denys just about scored from a penalty having been taken down.      

 

The final whistle went with the score 7-1.

 

Next week we travel to Old Wilsonians hoping to continue our unbeaten streak in the league.

   

FINAL SCORE: Merton 4s 7 – 1 City f London 3s
SCORER(S): Denys Zhurbiy (3), Roman Bilivskyi, Andrew Minkevich, Callum Fisher and Andrew Stears (pen)
MOTM:
Callum Fisher – Another solid performance capped off with a goal of the season contender.

DOTD: Kieran Lee – Harsh to be awarded it however the mix-up for the goal conceded was all it came down to. Solid performance after that.

STARTING LINE-UP: Kieran Lee (GK), Dan Gridley, Scott Brown (Thomas Murphy), Joe Plumridge, Edward Plaistow (Capt.), Roman Bilivskyi, Andrew Minkevich, Callum Fisher, Nick Englefield (Andrew Stears), Denys Zhurbiy, Dom Plumridge 

Posted in Match Reports 4s