Category: Match Reports 1s

AFA Cup chances end with a Big Bang!

Merton certainly won’t remember, remember this particular 5^th of November with much fondness following defeat against a well versed Old Carthusian’s outfit in the AFA cup.

Despite the majority of the team having their blissful Friday night’s sleep broken by Emillio’s late night whatsapp search for a stud tightener, the team (rat aside) successfully followed Clappers’ detailed directions to the picture perfect Charterhouse School in Godalming.

For a variety of reasons, Merton were missing some regular playing members but were buoyed by the return of Matt Bosher for his 1^st appearance of the season. Ivan Gladkov was also welcomed back to the fold following his recovery from a slight hamstring strain.

Despite a swift 5k hike from the changing room to the pitch and a warm-up completed with good intensity, the match started badly for the Boars. The unfortunate demise of the public school fagging system meant that there were no ball-boys present to retrieve the ball as it trundled towards Godalming High Street immediately from the kick-off. When the ball did eventually return, a cross from the untracked OC left back caused mayhem inside the Merton 18 yard box and was rifled home with aplomb to give the hosts an early lead.

For the next 10 minutes Merton struggled to get a foothold in the game, whilst the movement of the OC midfielders and forwards impressed greatly. Though the hosts had a good amount of the ball, slowly and surely the men in yellow gained confidence and started to pass the ball with greater conviction whilst limiting the hosts to few clear cut chances. Midway through the half the unlucky Gladkov had to be substituted through injury once again, with the impressive Emillio replacing him.  Leading Sports Injury expert Peter Browne later confirmed that the unlucky winger was suffering from a ‘lump on the ankle’.

Despite having little opportunity to get on the ball, Charlie & Johnny worked impressively hard up front and created a couple of half chances accordingly. It was this hard work that enabled Charlie to link up with Emilio on the right hand side and curl a beautiful strike inside the far post from 20 yards to level the game 5 minutes before half time and send the Merton support (2) into raptures.

The 2^nd half saw Merton hold a good shape and gradually frustrate the hosts with Sam & Nick providing additional valuable cover to the back four, whilst the introduction of Bosher and his subsequent pace provided a different outlet for the team. OC continued to have the majority of the possession whilst creating some decent half chances which were thwarted by Siri & Browne went close from a Merton corner. The game then swung the way of the hosts with 10 minutes left when Clappers was adjudged to have pushed the OC Centre Forward inside the penalty box. The OC player certainly made the most of any supposed contact but the referee who had frustrated the Merton players for most of the afternoon quickly pointed to the spot.  Siri managed to lay a glove on the ball but to no avail and suddenly Merton had to chase the game. As they pushed up the pitch Browne was left 1 on 1 and was pulled back by the OC Forward. Astonishingly the referee gave a free kick to OC and though it was defended well a free header from the resulting corner made it 3-1 and goodnight Vienna. The final minutes saw Merton get frustrated with the referee further when an offside was missed prior to another penalty being awarded (correctly) against Clappers for pulling inside the box. The penalty was scored and the game finished 4-1 which was very harsh on a Merton side who worked tirelessly against a very good side who will have eyes on winning the trophy.

After the game, the players were presented with hot food and squash by their upmarket hosts. A flapjack was also provided which looked fairly plain but was actually packed full of oatey goodness yet remained moist and soft, something that is far from easy to achieve on such a bake. With the inclusion of some dried raspberries or chocolate chips this would have been a genuine delight.

Next week sees the Men in yellow travel to the Old Blues in another cup encounter. Whilst the return of some regulars and the depth in the squad will certainly provide Captain Clapperton with some selection dilemmas, it would appear that the injured Gladkov will be missing once again along with Kearns who starts his 3 match suspension. In light of this suspension and as part of the clubs commitment to growing community relations, local TV and radio stations have been asked to post regular adverts informing the women of West London that the Trump supporting Kearns is likely to be in the vicinity for the next few Fridays nights.

Team: Siri, Rat, Clappers ©, Browne, Kearns, Gladkov (Emillio), Sam, Nick, Rayner, Johnny (Bosher), Charlie.

Dick of the Day: Clappers gave away 2 penalties and stole 2 mini rolls after the game. Van got 2 votes.

Man of the Match: Peter Browne. Impressive performance on a pitch that didn’t suit his playing style.

[Show slideshow]

After a 0-0 draw to EBOG last week at the Hood, the Merton men donned their yellow kits again at the Hood for a match up against HSBC, who were promoted last year from the Senior 3 division. Most of the Merton men arrived to the Hood at 12:45 sharp for their first 2pm kickoff of the season. The team welcomed back veteran defender Rat, who had been injured in the first game of the season. Vanny, still side-lined with a lingering hamstring injury, led the warmups and locker-room banter. He informed the team of HSBC’s recent form, stating incorrectly that HSBC had defeated EBOG by two goals, knowing all too well that this would psyche the guys up after last week’s draw to EBOG.
Before kickoff, a minute of silence was held to remember the tragic death of Nick Papanastasiou, who was a beloved Merton player and friend. Both teams stood opposite each other at the center circle for a minute of reflection. The Merton players wore black bands around their right arms as tribute to Nick and his loss to the club.
Merton had the first chance of the game as young James, making his first start for the 1s at left wing, (hopefully first of many) found himself on goal early after crossing up the HSBC right back inside their penalty box. Despite a solid look at the goal, HSBC’s keeper made a diving save on James’ shot. This was Merton’s best chance of the first half and one of the best of the match.
Both teams played extremely physical football and neither took a clear advantage early. The ball was in the air more than either would have liked, but Merton’s strong midfield trio of Tilly, Woody, and Will Low, won a majority of these aerial contests. However, the team lacked composure early and fiddled away a number of would be chances that could have turned the game Merton’s way.
HSBC overcompensated for their inferior skill with physical play and tried to rattle the Merton side with a bit of trash talking. The trash talking started out quite benign, but later in the first half after a clean tackle by Chaz in Merton’s box on a frail number 9, the trash talking escalated quickly to ugly exchanges of words, late tackles, and face-to-face square offs. Unfortunately, this made an already sloppy match, sloppier and resulted in a number of skirmishes, which culminated in Kearnsey’s red card around the 80th minute. He will miss three matches.
Despite a disappointing result for Merton, in which the team could not capitalise on its chances, there were a number of bright spots. Merton was close to scoring on several occasions. In the second half, Chaz sailed a squarely hit header just wide right off of a corner and Charlie, in typical solid form, had a number of shots on goal, most notably, a volley that was saved by their keeper. Els, a late substitution for right wing Milo, gave the team a much needed spark off the bench and demonstrated his speed and skill on the ball by running around defenders and nearly taking it to the house a few times. Manny and Brauner came off the bench in the second half for James and a gimpy Rat, respectively, and kept Merton fresh. The team will follow up on Rat’s injury after training on Wednesday.
In spite of the match’s poor standard of play, the defence held strong and limited HSBC to just a handful of chances. Per usual Siri was stellar, though not needed nearly as often as in the past two matches. Siri did make his presence known in the first half with a diving stop of an HSBC header from the six yard box off of a free kick from a few yards outside of the top right of the 18-yard box.
In the past three matches, Merton’s defence, led by Siri, have held the opposition to just one goal. Even with the team’s defensive effort, Merton has been held scoreless in those three matches and has managed just two points to show for it. With some offensive fire power in Vanny returning shortly from injury and hopefully Tom Rowe later in the season, the team should make for a formidable foe and a tough team to face in league play.
Through six games, Merton sits 5th in the table with 9 points, only two points behind HSBC, who are 2nd with a game in hand. This would have been a huge victory that would have catapulted Merton to 2nd in the table. Merton was the better side and will be ready for HSBC next time.
Next week Merton heads south to the Charterhouse School for a second round AFA cup matchup against Old Carthusians, who play in the Arthurian League and are one of only a few English clubs to win both the FA cup and Amateur Cup. There is no doubt that Merton will be up for this one.
TEAM: Siri (GK), Kearnsey, Chaz, Clappers, Rat, Will Low, Tills, Woody, Milo, Charlie, James Laughton
SUBS: Brauner, Els, Manny
MAN OF THE MATCH: Will Low was voted man of the match for his dominating performance
in the middle
DICK OF THE DAY: Kearnsey’s red card earned him dick of the day, despite 4 votes for Vanny.

After the disappointment of last week’s away defeat, we were keen to change said fortunes around. Back to the fortress Hood. Both Sam and Jonny on time, a good omen right? Even before starting the warm up, news of an Injury on the far pitch meant a 15 minute delay to the start of the game. Thus a chance for us to go through Clappers dynamic warm up. Why so many squats? Why do the lines cross? No wonder I shout at him.

Personally, from last week’s performance, the main reason we came away empty handed, aside from Woody/De Bruyne/Aguero and pals penalty antics was the lack of bite all over the pitch. We welcomed back Sam, Tilley and Nick in the midfield which was a needed boost.

The emphasis was to start quickly and make sure we competed physically. However the first 15 minutes belonged fully to EBOG. They passed the ball very quickly and were direct in their play. Their number 10 made some incisive runs, but just couldn’t finish. Siri with a couple of blocks one on one.  I think the general consensus was that it would only be a matter of time before they scored as we could not get a foot hold in the game. However this eased as we started to play the ball around more. Both Jonny and Milo found success against their opponents and Charlie had the beating of his man every time. Charlie had a glimpse of goal in the first half and was probably unlucky not to hit the target when he had a little more time. Chaz scoring from a free header from 5 yards out would have been the icing on the cake, however as against IBIS, he has a tendency to head wide.

While the first 15 belonged to EBOG, the rest of the first half definitely belonged to us. They started to give away needless fouls and get on the referees back which only worked in our favour. Come half time, the message was to go again. Keep up the same intensity. Shout out to Nick for being a calming influence on the side line for Harrison.

Again we started the second half brightly, the three up top all providing great out balls. However we started to fade from around 55 minutes in and EBOG came back into the game. Again their number 10 had the beating of our back four, but couldn’t put countless chances away. (See Ballotelli vs Manchester United 2014). The game became very open and we started to create clearer cut chances. Chaz picking up the ball from a throw at right back forced his way to the right wing, laid the ball off to Jonny and made the run into the box, Jonny found him with an inch perfect ball and from 5 yards out he ballooned over. Typical Chaz. EBOG created a couple more chances, but were dealt with by Siri/the back four.

The last 15 minutes were all about Merton. Again from another corner Chaz staying up top, chested the ball down and re-enacted Frank Sinclair vs Barnsley, only to be denied by the bar. The chances were coming thick and fast, Jonny again ghosted past their right back and with three lining up on the penalty spot, tried to beat the keeper at the near post. James also impressed in his cameo as he often does. He was unlucky not to curl past the keeper with the last kick of the game.

Overall a good point earned, as both teams could have won the game, but a feeling that we probably had done enough to nick it. Every player put in a shift against the best opposition so far this season. Very much an improved display from the week before. Many positives to take forward. Man of the match was Chaz. Very well deserved as he has put in a number of strong performances recently. DOTD was a difficult one at first as there were no real mistakes/errors. Missing two chances from 5 yards out is cardinal sin though, so Chaz has the fortune of also being DOTD.

Team : Siri (GK), Kearnsey, Chaz, Clappers, Browner, Sam, Tills, Woody, Milo, Charlie, Jonny

Subs : James Laughton, Nick

Civil Servants spoil all the fun

A mixed start to the day was a good forerunner for the game itself.

On the plus side, Milo was on time for his pick up and Chaz and Jonny arrived EARLY. Which suggests Sam might be the cause of their normal lateness! On the other hand Willgo and Clowesy were 25 minutes but again looking for positives they did visit three SAL grounds. Having arrived at Chiswick station in plenty of time they first went to Poly, wrong, then they went to IBIS, wrong, and finally they arrived with us at Civil Service.

On a big pitch we kicked off up a slight slope and into the wind. We settled well but couldn’t maintain possession or get in behind their back four enough. This wasn’t helped by Vanny going off after less than 10 minutes with a pulled hamstring. It’s amazing what missing training can do to your fitness levels.

Civil Service started to get some joy down their right, with Kearnsey being given an uncharacteristicly tough time by their winger, and one strong run led to a penalty as Kearnsey pulled him back in the area. He did go down easily mind. After last week’s heroics a penalty isn’t as bad as it looks these days, and so it proved. An unconvincing penalty was well saved by Siri, low down to his left.

This should have galvanised us but it didn’t and the half continued in much the same vein. We defended solidly but couldn’t make the ball stick up top, whilst the midfield was bypassed. 0-0 at half time and not much for Browner to be happy about.

We were much better at the start of the second half but still got caught up in little battles, that suited their strong combatitive style of play, and the game soon drifted into the scrappy affair it had been in the first. The introduction of Browner and James Laughton, with 20 minutes to go, gave us a bit more energy in midfield and creativity out wide and this combination almost brought us a goal as James crossed but their keeper just got in front of Browner to gather theball.

Just as it looked like drifting to a fair 0-0 Civil Service’s centre forward twisted well in the box and drilled a good cross onto the head of the advancing right winger. 85 minutes 1-0 and it looked like our hard work would be to no avail. But then, Willgo was played in down the right, the keeper came out, Willgo lifted the ball over him and towards goal only for the Civil Service centre back to punch it off the line. Penalty and a red card.

With a minute to go could our come from behind luck be in again. With Woody on the penalty it certainly felt good but alas this time he changed his mind mid run and put his kick over the bar. This was virtually the last kick of the game and we lost 1-0.

This was a good test for a new look team and one we need to learn from. We got muscled out of it most of the game and were a bit naive with fouls for and against.

MOTM: Charlie Hockless (Siri was solid again and Chaz further enhanced his reputation)

DOTD: Woody (it wasn’t close)

Line up: Siri, Clowsey, Chaz, Clappers, Kearnsey, Will Low, Woody, Willgo, Vanny (Milo 8, James Laughton 71), Charlie, Jonny (Browner 65)

It was good to be back at the Hood for the first home game of a new season and with the comfort of three points from the previous Saturday’s win at Alexandra Park. It was also good to see that our recruitment drive had drawn in so many new players with six of the fourteen in our squad playing their first season and bringing down the age profile of the club.

Over the past two seasons I have always felt that we never quite got the results we deserved: A win would become a draw and a good point would be snatched from us in the dying minutes, but not today. Old Finchleians were lively and organised and their industry gradually secured them the upper hand.

They did not carve out that many opportunities, but after half an hour we carelessly gave the ball away inside our own half made a couple more defensive slips and their man was at the far post to drive the ball home.

In the second half we gave a slightly better showing but they carved out the better opportunities and missed them. Their strikers had a very off day as our keeper, Siraj, still did not have that much to do.

Their profligacy was punished, just as ours has been in the past and a one goal lead is seldom enough. A great ball out of defence from Ben Cook was controlled brilliantly by James Laughton and crossed to Jonny Graham who controlled it with a good first touch and buried with his second to make it 1-1 with 10 mins to go.

They still had time to win the game but missed to go golden opportunities and had a shout for a penalty. Another good move from our boys gave Jonny another chance to inflict even more pain on the visitors but he curled his shot over the bar. So in the end we were pleased with our point and they were disappointed with theirs. Our squad had a fresher look with some good young new members well marshalled by Clappers.

TEAM: Siraj (GK), Ben Victory, Ben Cook, Clappers (Capt), Clowesy, Sam, Woody, Will Lowe, Emilio,

Ivan, Tom Rowe

SUBS: James Laughton, Jonny Graham, Will Kearns)

IBIS Eagles away 24/9/16

Last season’s game saw us dominate with no reward, so to come out winners of this seven goal thriller was even more satisfying.

We started well, defending strongly, winning the ball in midfield and getting in behind the IBIS fullbacks. It was this combination that led to us taking the lead.

Sam brought a defensive clearance down, turned his man, and played a great ball over the top of their left back for Vanny to run on to. He took the ball in his stride, ran into the box, and finished low and hard at the near post. 1-0

Whether it was over confidence or just sloppiness, all of a sudden our defenders became their best attacking threat. We managed to play in their centre forward twice when a simple pass to a man in yellow was on. The first two times he let us off but it was third time unlucky for us. Chaz didn’t get enough on a back header to me, I then only managed to head the ball against the on rushing centre forward and he broke forward. There was still a chance to recover but, with Siri narrowing the angle and me back on the cover, Chaz decided the best option was to scythe him down. 1-1 from the resulting penalty.

Only a very good smother from Siri, late in the half, kept it all square at half time.

IBIS began the second half on the front foot but it was us who struck next. Woody sent in a deep free kick, which I headed down to an unmarked Chaz. He controlled and turned in his debut goal to make it 2-1. This should’ve been the signal for us to take control but again we opted for the complete opposite and pressed the self destruct button as hard as we could.

Firstly we conceded our second penalty. We were slow to pick up the IBIS centre back and then let him run 20 yards with the ball. A ricochet just outside our box saw him break through and now it was my turn to bring their man down. 2-2 and more good work wasted.

Five minutes later and my finger was still hard down on the aforementioned button. An innocuous pass was played to me midway into our half. I controlled the ball, looked up, and……slipped over! Their centre forward picked up the loose ball and gleefully ran through to score. 3-2, a very buoyant IBIS and red faced me.

Thankfully our new look team is full of characters with real strength in depth.

Sam, Woody and Tills took control of midfield whilst Charlie and Jonny, both fresh off the bench, harassed and ran at the IBIS back line. One burst from Charlie saw him brought down in the left channel. Woody delivered a good ball to the back post where an IBIS defender kindly headed in. 3-3 and our tails were now up but time was against us.

With 10 minutes left on the clock the game was won with the best goal of the game, by far.

Chaz had the ball deep in our half and knocked a great ball over their left back. Tilley flicked it on to Charlie on the corner of the 18 yard box. As the ball dropped over his shoulder he unleashed a dipping volley which sailed over the rooted keeper and nestled in the far bottom corner. 4-3 and a great finish to an entertaining game.

We headed off on our night out in high spirits and Vanny dressed as Jon Bon Jovi.

MOTM: Charlie (with mention to Kearnsey and Sam)

DOTD: Clappers (not the best week for me to bring this in)

Line up: Siri, Will Low, Chaz, Clappers, Kearnsey, Sam, Woody, Tilley, Vanny (Jonny 65), Tom (Charlie 70), Milo (Nick 80)

First game of the season and it was one of our three trips up north.

Alexandra Palace is a long way from Morden but it isn’t the hardest to get to by public transport. That is until, there’s a passenger on the line at Warren Street, and the Victoria Line is part suspended. If whoever it was, thinks they’ve got problems, they want to try and herd 14 blokes around London every Saturday!

We built in plenty of slack in the meet time, the 3s take note, so even with our detour, arrived at the ground 50 minutes before kick off. The youthful enthusiasm of the team, yes you read correctly, youthful, meant we were changed and warming up in plenty of time to kick start our season at full throttle. And full throttle we did.

With four debutants in the starting XI and two more on the bench the squad had a fresh look. As all six are under 26, two even still in their teens, it also drastically lowered the average age. Despite the new line up we started well, with the old hands organising well and leading by example, and it wasn’t long before we were putting the AP defence under pressure. It was this pressure that meant AP surrendered possession to Tom Rowe out near the right wing. Tom beat his man, ran into the box, and calmly curled the ball round the oncoming keeper. Midway through the half, no real pressure on our goal, and one nil up. This was already much more enjoyable than last season.

It wasn’t long before we were two up. Milo played a good ball into the left channel and Tom was again one on one with an AP defender. This time his strength and power saw off his challenger and after steadying himself he finished well at the near post. Turns out a quiet Friday night in pays off, doesn’t it Tom! We dominated the rest of the half without creating many other opportunities but equally not allowing AP any clear sight of our goal. Woody and Tilley dominated midfield whilst Tom and Milo kept us on the front foot.

AP started the second half better and we were soon on the back foot. We hadn’t really got going and then Rat suffered a bad ankle injury and had to be substituted. We reshuffled and AP threw more men forward but our defence stood strong with Clowesy and Ben in particular making key clearances. Special mention goes to Siri in goal who made some good saves whilst generally being a commanding presence. The half didn’t go past without us creating more chances and on another day Vanny could’ve come away with his own brace. However, there were no more goals and we saw out the half to record our first victory of the season.

Well done to the debutants; Siri, Ben, Nick, Milo, Sam and Jonny, who all played an important part. Also a well done to our ref on the day, who’s game management and communication was very good. He was particularly good at seeing when a foul wasn’t simply a bad challenge but that the ball was there to be kicked!

MOTM = Tom Rowe

Line up: Siri, Ben, Rat (Sam 59), Clappers, Clowesy, Nick, Woody, Tilley, Vanny (Milo 85), Tom, Milo (Jonny 68)

What a strange afternoon this turned out to be. It was a fairly crucial league game at the bottom of SAL Div 2 between the two teams that had been relegated from SAL Div 1 the previous season and were both battling to avoid consecutive relegations. With the Hood still waterlogged it was off to Tooting and Mitcham 3G for this encounter.

Merton had the best of the early exchanges but we went behind after about 15 mins slightly against the run of play to a passing movement cross and shot from the left hand side. We had created and missed a couple of chances but got the equaliser on about 25 mins when OS cleared a corner to the edge of the box and we recycled it and Wilgo flicked it in with his head. Now I have watched Wilgo over the last 15 years or so I have seen him do many things on the field with a football but a Wilgo headed goal is a first. It got better because almost immediately after a great move down the right involving Rat and Vanny and a deep cross was volleyed home at the far post by Tills. Moments later it was 3-1 when a free kick touched on by Woody was fumbled in by their keeper. Just before HT their tricky CF came down in the box and it was 3-2 from the spot.

The second half was not what you might expect looking at the ultimate scoreline. OS came at us and put us under the cosh and Clappers and Browner had to be at their best to deal with their very good CF. We had a number of great opportunities to make it 4-2 all on the break but comprehensively missed them all and it looked more likely to be 3-3 than 4-2. However Jason having missed a couple on the break eventually scored rather cleverly on the break and 4-2 soon became 5-2 with Olly scoring and game over. Vanny fed up with being grappled and tugged back scored a couple of good goals as Old Sals rather gave up. So this was pretty good win and three excellent points in a horrible game. All our players put in a good shift and needed to against clever opposition who were good on the ball and well organised at the back and lively up front. Clappers deserves enormous credit for organising our team and maintaining their discipline in the face of a lot of provocation. It was not an easy game to ref and he did well to avoid any major bust ups. But in all honesty  it was not very nice.

Team Adam (GK), Kearnsey, Browner, Clapps (Capt),  Rat, Woody, Tills. Will L, Wilgo , Tom Rowe, Vanny Subs Jase and Olly

Scorers Vanny 2, Woody, Tills, Wilgo, Jase, Olly