Author: Matt Haswell

6s played Old Wilsonians 8s at weekend, who had a player marking his 1000 appearance for the club.  Bruce Graham who is the 4th member of Old Wilsonians to make it to 1000 games, a remarkable achievement for Bruce and just shows what a strong club Old Wilsonians are.

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This was a very  competitive SAL Intermediate Division 2 game played at HSBC’s Beckenham ground with wonderful facilities. It was another very welcome 3pts and a second consecutive win for Merton Res. The team had changed somewhat from last week but still seemed strong enough to deal comfortably with HSBC who were bottom of the division. This was far from the caes as HSBC battled hard and played some very good football right to the end. It was in fact HSBC who went ahead after about 15 minutes with a good move and early cross from the left with a good finish. This set back galvanised Merton who played with more urgency and Will Taylor’s surging run past defenders caused their last man to concede the penalty which was probably the red card not the yellow he was given . I understand the ref, Ray Gangadeen’s reluctance to send a player off. Femi tucked the penalty away confidently. This was not an easy game to referee and Ray did well enough. Soon we were 2-1 ahead when  Will was played through and scored comfortably. Then a long Sherbs clearance was flicked on by Femi to Jason who outpaced their defence down the right and crossed for Will to  make it 3-1 with an excellent goal and that was the half time score.  The second half started with a narrow escape for Merton but then we created a number of really good chances from good attacking play but missed them all hitting the bar, post or straight at the keeper. Their culprit in the first half was lucky to not get a t least a second yellow for a nasty tackle with 20 mins to go. But energy levels were beginning to sag and HSBC were not for giving up and scored a terrific second goal with about 15 minutes to go and were dominating the game so that when a good move produced their equaliser near the end it looked very much like a point apiece. Some late pressure from us inspired by Wilgo and Will coming on and re-energising our effort produced some sustained pressure and corners and the final one was flicked on and into the net by Femi to secure the 3pts and the ire of the HSBC GK who hotly disputed the award of the corner and was fortunate not to get a red card. Sadly for HSBC the game ended on a rather sour note whilst we remained somewhat bemused but pleased with the 3pts. This was a really exciting game to watch and both sides played a lot of good football with some excellent goals. Will Taylor was outstanding injecting pace energy and enthusiasm into the game when we went 1-0 down.He was Man of the Match (pic) Femi bagged a couple again but this was a good all round team performance with a squad well managed and lead by Wilgo. Well done lads.

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Sundays youth results.

U11s (pic) lost a really competitive friendly 6-3

U12s drew 4-4 with Claygate Royals who equalised in last seconds in a very good game good game. (pic)

U8s beat Carshalton 10-5 being 5-3 down at one stage.(pic ) A really entertaining morning down at the Hood. Well done to all the players and supporters.

Hi All, We will be holding a raffle at The Quiz Night in January, and are looking for as many donated prizes as we can get our hands on. If you have anything suitable please bring to the Hood Bar or contact a member of the Committee

Football or Strictly Come Dancing footwear? 3 points if you can guess which Merton FC member these belong to..?!

Boot cleaning service £1 per pair. Well done Kenzo this is the sort of entrepreneuship that will get the country back on its feet.

This was an interesting game which I was able to keep an eye on whilst also watching the 2s game on the adjacent pitch. Both games contained a lot of good passing football and Merton scored 4 goals in the second half of each game.  In the first half whilst Merton created a lot of opportunities their finishing let them down and HSBC were always dangerous on the break and it was on the break that undid Merton in unusual circumstances

HSBC’s attacker was through on goal when our man, Mark Chappell tugged him back. A red card offence you may think. But play continued with the ref seemingly playing an advantage which would have been a good one had he not blown up just before HSBC stuck the ball in the net. Uproar!!!  But the ref called both captains over and consulted them on what to do seemingly at great length and then awarded the goal and yellow carded our man. 1-0 down but 11 men on the pitch. (There is no truth in the ugly rumour that their captain was insisting Chappell should stay on the pitch whilst ours was quite certain he should go.)

The second half was very different with our boys finishing off their good football and overrunning HSBC. This was a very welcome good performance and the game was played in a good spirit and well done to the referee. Neil Davison (pic) had another good game at the centre of all good things for Merton. It is great to have him back at Merton and his contribution on and off the pitch is appreciated.

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This was a welcome win after a succession of defeats for ‘Team Handsome’ EBOG after a succession of good results were top of Intermediate Div 2 but were well under strength, probably as aresult of such an off putting difficult journey. In contrast our reserves welcomed back a number of players from injury and put on a particularly impressive display of passing football which in the first but for some woeful finishing should have put the game to bed. But it was only 1-0 at half time with Richard Moore’s goal driving home from 10 yds after some sustained pressure the only difference. To keep the lead Sherbs had made a particularly good save from their No 11 who was one of their 3 or 4 very good players in their team. The second half had continued much as the first with Merton even more dominant but EBOG’s quality players always dangerous on the break. The after having missed a one on one chance Femi (MOM pic) marked his return to the side with a couple of quick goals that broke EBOGs resolve. Richard Moore (Pic)added his second and the 4^th and Chris Rayner scored the 5^th to round off a satisfying day for Merton. Disappointing for EBOG and their frustration showed understandably with a late booking for their No 11. One suspects the return in Barnet will be very different.

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