Year: 2016

Today results. 1s make it three wins on the bounce with a big win at Old Finchleans with Bosh a two goal hero. 2s win 4-3 at home to Ally Pally with Olly Ross getting a hat trick . 5s lose 2-1 at home to Civil Service but battle to the end 6s lose both double headers 3 – 2 and 2 – 1. 1s look safe from relegation now and 2s can fight their way out of trouble now. Pics 2s celebrate in the bar and some action from 2s game !!! 4s lost away to HSBC 4s 5 -2.

2s had a great win today and pulled in some experience to help them with four of our players all having 15 years with Merton and 1000+ appearances between them Lofty, Mustard, Welchy and Sherbs stepped up to the plate today and helped in the 4-3 win and a valuable 3 points. Big game at CEV on April 2nd

Back Home. As the pics below show the Hood has dried out and we will be playing home games at the Hood tmro 2s and 4s. Sadly Pitch 3 is still unplayable so KGPF has been booked. Also Four of our youth teams are playing on Sunday. And looks good for Long Good Friday. To celebrate this momentous homecoming i am trying to get local churches to ring their bells at 3pm on Saturday but because of the short notice it is more likely to happen on Sunday morning.  Thanks to Danny, Ian, Ryan and the team from the Council at the Hood for their work this week to get it ready.

THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY RETURNS – 25th March 2016

The Long Good Friday is nearly here – and is set to be a great day with youth games, vets games & senior team games!

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

Youth Results. At WCE U14s lose to Whitton Wanderers but U13s in their lucky white change strip beat Esher Lions (in a strangely unfamiliar yellow strip) 9-0 and move up to second in the table.U10s beat AFC Walcountians 8-1, U11s beat Lyne Pumas 3-2, U12s beat Rocks lane 4-0. So it has been a pretty good day. Well done to all the boys and managers and thanks to the parents for their patience with the Hood still waterlogged. Great stuff.

Todays Results- 1s win 7-2 against Old Salesians on 3G at T&M. Goals Vanny 2, Wilgo,Tills, Woody,Jase, Olly, Good win but at 3-2 it was a close game. The boys (pic) celebrate in the bar. 5s lost to Carshalton.

A rather strange game this for a number of reasons. It started in the usual way with our 12 selected becoming 10 with one cry off and one missing en route. Otherwise a strong looking team.  I missed the first 20 mins of the game as I went to collect the extra player and got back to find we had eleven and were 1-0 down to a dodgy penalty but otherwise were holding our own against a strong Carshalton side. We got to half time only 1 down and had the wind with us in the second half. Despite plans and exhortations at half time Merton started the second half sleepwalking and conceded a pen almost straight away. 2-0 then the game took a curious turn with Merton unashamedly playing the long ball over the top against a somewhat slow back four and scoring three goals (Will T 2 and Dom) in about 10 mins to take a surprising lead. 3-2 could have become 4-2 but the ref disallowed a goal for offside always tricky with no linos and a nailed on penalty when Will T was through for his hat trick. A screamer from about 25yds brought Cars their equaliser which in all fairness was the correct result. Cars were a good side with a lot of movement and it has to be said the pitch was in great condition and made me very envious. The ref took far too many decisions without ever being in control of the game. The 2s need to win a few games soon or we are down and out.

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In the build-up to the match against Ibis, the Merton 4s had been offered a choice of venue. The pitches on Tudor Drive had been surprisingly decent the previous week, albeit that Merton had succumbed to a disappointing 3-2 defeat to HSBC there. So they were favoured over the Wimbledon Common Extensions. Sadly, though, they had been hammered by the rain in the build-up, and looked a bit worse for wear upon arrival.

Sadder still was Merton’s own build-up to the kick-off. Late arrivals meant there was no time for a proper warmup, and the lads began the game with 10 men, including the much anticipated return of a slightly ring-rusty Doddsy, who hadn’t played since November.

And the Yellows looked exactly like a team who was cold and unprepared in the opening exchanges – so much so, that no one was particularly surprised that Ibis registered a goal inside three minutes. The goal itself had the intensity of a training ground exercise. A couple of triangle passes exposed the vast swathes of space in front of them, and a neat through ball left the striker with just Sam to beat. He made no mistake. 1-0. Too Easy.

Fortunately, the cavalry arrived a couple of minutes later, and back up to full strength (and full numbers), Merton began to dig in. Although they were still getting somewhat overrun, the defence showed good shape and discipline in the face of the onslaught, and for all their dominance, the visitors didn’t really carve out much in the way of clear-cut opportunities.

At the other end, chances were few and far between, but some good interplay did set Dulanie through on one occasion. Unfortunately his well-hit strike sailed just over the crossbar – the keeper seemingly not too interested in knowing much about it.

Merton continued to be dogged in their defensive work though, sticking to their task. Alas, with about 5 minutes to go before the break, the Ibis striker managed to double their advantage, as a blocked clearance fell kindly to him in the box; his finish leaving Sam with no chance.

At the break, the lads were a little bit flat, despite only being 2 goals down. Of course, on the previous occasion that these two sides had met, Ibis clawed back a three-goal deficit in the last 15 minutes to steal a draw. Could Merton do something similar, and get their revenge?

Unfortunately not. They started the second half poorly, and the goals flew in. Four of them in fact. Details on the goals? Hazy. They all happened so quickly that they kind of merged into one.  The third was a bit unlucky, as, on the edge of the box, Merton got a touch on a pass in a bid to intercept, but the ball merely fell fortuitously for an unintended player in red, and he stroked it home.

After that, a hapless Merton outfit watched on as the net continued to bulge. Four, Five. Six. One was a scorcher to beat Sam at his near post, another a deflected free kick. The other – hold my hands up, can’t remember it for the life of me. Nevertheless, at 6-0 with 20 minutes still to go, it had the makings of another cricket score-type humiliation.

But for once, the heads didn’t drop. Maybe Ibis took their foot off the gas, but Merton started to do some good things. They passed the ball around, they harried in defence, and, at long last, began to carry a goal threat. And after some sustained pressure, the goal finally came. Dom put a lovely through ball in to Jake, who did ever so well to beat his man and get to the byline. He then put in an excellent cross, and Ryan, who had made a lot of ground to get into the penalty area, slid in bravely and slotted the ball home. 6-1.

Buoyed by this consolation, Merton got even better, and forced a couple of corners. And the second one was a thing of beauty. With a sea of yellow jerseys in the box, Mikey thumped his set piece in high, handsome and curling. Amid the melee – and a very cunning block on the keeper by Scholesy – the ball simply sailed straight into the goal. 6-2, and there were smiles in Yellow everywhere now.

Despite the still-embarrassing score line, Merton began to look as though they were starting to really enjoy themselves, and although the game was gone, were beginning to rattle Ibis in the closing minutes. Unfortunately no more goals were forthcoming, and the referee called time on what was, overall, still a forgettable encounter.

A shame too, as a season in which Merton had really started to hit their straps midway through appears to be rather petering out. Safe from relegation, perhaps, but this team knows they are better than the recent performances they have been putting in. One more match against HSBC left in order to finish on a high note. It really has become a must-win game to restore some pride and confidence in this team.

FINAL SCORE: Merton 4s 2 – 6 Ibis Eagles 4s SCORERS: Ryan Burchell, Mike Elgar MOTM: Ryan Burchell

STARTING LINE-UP: Samuel Singer-Ripley (GK), Ryan Burchell, Mike Todt, Steve Burchell (Jake Hewitt) Edward Plaistow, Chris Outred (Capt.), Chris Dodd (Mike Elgar), Glen Porter, Billy Dowie, Dulanie Richards, Dom Plumridge.