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6s vs Bank of England – 26.11.16
Bank of England 2 Merton 6th 4 (Dan, George, Mark, Callum)
In the salubrious surroundings of the Bank of England club, Merton 6s stretched their unbeaten run to 5 games and did so in style.
We welcomed back a number of players both from injury and unavailability, so that we were able to field a very strong side. From the off we were all over Bank and they did well to repel the impressive attacks that came from our front 4 of Peter, Dan, George B and Callum. We never let Bank settle and after a number of near misses we took the lead after Georges shot rebounded to Dan who finished well into the unguarded net. It was 2-0 soon after when George B impressively rounded 2 defenders and audaciously chipped the keeper.
Bank finally began to get a grip on the game and often broke quickly using the pace they had up front and on the right wing. We had a number of warnings, before they got a goal back. After the ball was cleared by Bank, George H miss controlled and the striker was on him in a flash, Beans (clearly worried about the guys pace) tried to tackle but missed and left the guy one on one with Swanny. The Guy finished well and Swanny got a knee in the head for his troubles from yours truly whose ageing legs were trying hard to cover!
Our 2 goal lead was restored soon after when the Bald Eagle soared onto the pinpoint corner from Ty. I’d gone close with a couple of corners before and it was a perfect ball from Ty and an easy header.
Bank were still working hard and the free flowing football of the 1st 20 minutes had deserted us for a time. Bank tried all the tricks they could, including trying to Wind up Big Kev, but it was all to no avail.
Our 4th came from a flowing move. Both George and Callum were constant thorns in the side of Bank all afternoon and they linked up well for Callum to score a great team goal.
The 2nd half should have been a procession but in typical 6s style we just couldn’t kill off the opposition, chance after chance went begging, and despite being 3 goals down, Bank to their credit would not give up. Chances of note should be mentioned .. George B nearly scoring the goal of the season with a 40-yard chip drive that hit the crossbar, Callum kept his feet when fouled bursting in the box and the ref played on rather than give a pen and The Bald Eagle headed over from 5 yards (although ref would’ve given a foul).
Despite Banks pressure, largely helped by Merton losing our shape because of the substitutions, they just couldn’t find a breakthrough. The defence held firm, learning from the mistake of the 1st half and never diving in on the quick forward, and whenever they got beyond the defence, Swanny was there, saving well on 2 occasions.
Then with 10 mins to go Peter came back to assist the defence, and decided the best way to do this was to assault the Bank player on the edge of the box. Pen .. and it was 4-2
It was a nervous last 10, but we held out and took all 3 points
MOM: Unanimous votes for George Brobby. Superb display and scary that he’s only 16
DOD: Split vote between Ty for his ridiculous half volley cross that went behind him and Peter for his GBH… AND … (Drum Roll) … It was Peter that pipped it. Better luck next week Ty