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4s vs Civil Service 6s – 27.01.18
Civil Service 6s vs. Merton 4s
SAL Junior Division 4 South
Saturday 27th January 2018
Following last week’s impressive 6-3 away to West Wickham, this week we were on the road again to visit Civil Service. Like last week the playing surface had seen better days but the adverse weather conditions were to blame for that.
With potentially our strongest squad available and present and the 3-1 win from the home fixture, we were confident of going back to Joseph Hood with all three points. The only changes from last week saw John Gridley return to slot back in a RWB and Danny Gridley returning to replace Will Toms on the back free in order to allow him to fill in the gap left by Michael Vogt’s unavailability.
The confidence that was with us at the start of the game took a battering throughout the first period as we found ourselves 2-0 down going into the break. We just couldn’t get into the game with the host capitalising on our performance to take the lead from a corner that we were unable to clear. They were able to double their tally after half hour following a lack of communication at the back.
Frustration was clearly evident during the team talk. It was a matter of composing ourselves by taking more time on the ball that would get us back into the game.
Cue the restart and it seemed like it was a new Merton side that had taken to the pitch. Crisp passing and winning every ball. It wasn’t long until we were able to half the deficit through Sonny Kennedy. His bullet header nestled in to top right hand corner of the onion bag. A short while after one become two courtesy of Dom Plumridge. His purple patch seemed to have gone AWOL the last few week but it found its way back through a smart left footed finish into the bottom left. We were now level and it was game on!
Confidence was oozing from every player on the pitch. Passes were being completed, interceptions made and tackles and headers being won. It wasn’t long before our dominance was rewarded. A cross from the right sat up nicely for Dom to connect with a volley however he opted for a smart disguised layoff for Will Toms to finish low just inside the area.
Will Harrison, the catalyst of most of headers and tackles being won (on par with Sonny!) was a solid presence in the middle of the pack having replaced Joe Plumridge. It was he that gave us a two goal cushion, albeit through a stroke of good fortune when an attempted lopping cross to the back post found its way into the back of the net, bamboozling the keeper.
You could say that the best was saved until last when Sonny, for his second of the day, unleashed a left footed half-volley that even the likes of David de Gea would have struggled to keep out.
The referee finally put an end to Civil Services’ misery.
Next week we host South Bank, one of the only teams to defeat us this season, who also took points off of our title rivals Old Salesians to reduce the gap to only one point. Unfortunately we need to keep doing what we are doing and hope that results go our way if we are compete for the title.
FINAL SCORE: Civil Service 6s 2 – 5 Merton 4s
SCORER(S): Sonny Kennedy (2), Dom Plumridge, Will Toms and Will Harrison
MOTM: Sonny Kennedy – Another solid performance in midfield capped off with two goals.
DOTD: Joe Plumridge – Anger issues need to be tamed although reaction was warranted.
STARTING LINE-UP: Michael Gubby (GK), Joe Plumridge (Will Harrison), Michael Elgar, Danny Gridley, John Gridley, Edward Plaistow (Capt.), Sonny Kennedy, Akram Choudhury (Matt Shreeve), Will Toms, Aaron Loftus, Dom Plumridge