Merstham 5-0 Haringey Borough – Saturday 16th October – Pitching In Isthmian League
Haringey were blitzed by a five star and five goal performance by the Moatsiders. All of the goals came in an incredible first-half, which left the home fans rubbing their eyes in disbelief and the visitors shell-shocked.
Merstham scored with their first real attack after just five minutes. John Ufuah collected a loose Borough header and spotting the run of Dylan Adjei-Hersey, he delivered an inch-perfect ball. The Merstham winger didn’t have to break stride and from the edge of the box, he hit it first time and the ball arrowed into the bottom left-hand corner. Haringey recovered from that early set back and began to get a foothold in the game. A wicked deflection off James Richmond went narrowly wide and Cole’s powerful shot from 30 yards went just over the bar. In the 21′ minute, the Moatsiders doubled their lead, courtesy of an awful mistake by the Borough keeper Jon Miles. Merstham played a short corner and Ufuah delivered a fairly innocuous cross into the six yard box. It was an easy catch as he was unchallenged, but somehow Miles dropped the ball. Reuben Collins gratefully accepted the gift and bundled the ball home. The goal seemed to deflate the visitors and it wasn’t long before Merstham extended their lead. On 28′, a nice exchange of passes between Adjei-Hersey and Troy Williams led to the right-back putting in a great ball to the far post. Merstham’s other full-back Jude Mason had ghosted in totally unmarked and side-footed home from close range to make it 3-0. By now Haringey were all at sea and an awful pass out of defence straight to Chace Jacquart very nearly gifted Merstham a fourth. But a fourth goal wasn’t long in coming. Ufuah had been a constant menace and had given the Borough right back a torrid time, having gone past him on the outside three or four times already. In the 34th minute, he drifted past a couple of challenges, but this time cut inside and unleashed a superb shot from 18 yards into the far corner. Merstham’s supporters were already pinching themselves, but two minutes later it was 5-0. Ufuah was fouled 35 yards out. Jacquart’s quick free kick caught Haringey flat-footed and found the feet of Korrey Henry. The Merstham target man pinned his defender and the rolled to his right before hammering a low shot into the net. The half-time whistle couldn’t come quick enough for the beleaguered visitors.
Although the Merstham faithful were hoping for more fireworks in the second half, both sides were largely happy to settle for what they had. Merstham were keen to keep a clean sheet and not give the visitors any hope, while Haringey were in damage limitation mode. As a result, the second forty-five minutes were relatively uneventful. Haringey had a few shooting opportunities, but all of their efforts bar one were wildly off target. It wasn’t until 64′ that Toby Bull had to make a save of any note, when he palmed away a shot from Bessadi. At the other end, Merstham had a few promising situations, but the final ball was lacking. The one big talking point of the half was when the Borough keeper came out of his box and slipped, making a complete hash of his clearance. He then handled the ball once, as he tried to recover, then panicked and scooped the ball away from an oncoming Henry. Amazingly, the referee and assistant saw neither use of his hands. As he was outside the area, it would have been a straight red. Perhaps the referee was feeling some sympathy to a team five down. But when the visiting fans were agreeing they saw not one, but two hand balls by their keeper, you wonder how the officials didn’t see it. It wasn’t until the dying moments that the Moatsiders threatened again. A James Richmond header was nodded over his own bar by a covering defender, and the Merstham skipper then went close with the resulting corner. Five goals and a clean sheet. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Merstham: Bull, Williams, Mason, Greenwood, Richmond ©, Collins, Adjei-Hersey (Dillon 70), Jacquart, Henry, Ufuah (Makofo 70), Gharbaoui (Anderson 46).
Unused subs: Palmer, Hayles.
Man of the Match: Jacquart