Merton 4s v HSBC – 13th October 2012

The 4s maintained their unbeaten record, but this was far from a convincing display and perhaps the only thing that could be takenfrom it is that good team get results on bad days… and we got out of jail here!

Injuries and unavailability meant a few changes to the starting XI with Paul Ellis coming back in goal (apparently 3 clean sheets isn’t enough to keep your place … sniff) and Jamie Buckley and Shaun Jones replacing the missing Chicken Kiev and Fat Controller. This accounted in part with the slow start the 4s made and we could easily have been down and out before we woke up. An incredible clearance off the line by Marc Cottrell and a fine save from Paul kept it 0-0 but then HSBC split us apart again far too easily and tooka deserved lead. As this stage it was all HSBC and I couldn’t see where we could get back in the game. Then suddenly Ricardo made a break and fed Kieran in on goal, he was tackled well but the ball broke to Dan Kelly and he finished well … Always scores the hard ones… we’ll come back to that later.

This should have kicked us into gear… but HSBC weren’t done and a smart turn and shot on the edge of the box left Paul with no chance and it was 2-1 and half time.

A few choice words at half time a slight change of shape had little effect initially with HSBC still bossing things… but we startedto influence the game on the break and had a number of excellent chances to score, most notably Giz, Shaun and Dan Kelly (who hit thebar with the goal gapping… cost… £1 fine) before Shaun Monoghan finished well round the keeper to equalise. We then took the leadwhen Dan Kelly beat defenders to the ball to squeeze the ball in to make it 3-2 and surely job done.

But HSBC weren’t done yet, Paul made a few smart saves before with a minute or so to go their striker was allowed to turn and shoot to get what they must have thought was a deserved point… But in one final twist, Giz won a free kick and after pushing Giz and Jamie Buckley away.. Marc Cottell stepped up.. and with Pearcey’s words of encouragement – “noooo , don’t shoot, how many do we put in the net from there” ringing in his ear.. He curled it into the bottom corner – The club will be pleased to hear that he will be finedif he ever mentions the free kick again… So feel free to ask Essex about it J

MOM:Dan Kelly