Merstham 5-Town 0 (25/01/14)

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Towns new manager John Lambert has had a baptism of fire in his first week in charge. According to the local press both Rye and Eastbourne United were considering reporting Town to the Sussex FA for illegal approaches and now the Hastings Observer says that Westfield are doing the same after losing their profilic goalscorer Dom Clarke. Several players appear to have left the club and so he put five new-comers in the team with three more on the bench. Chris Cumming-Bart (ex Hastings) Jamie Crone(ex Lewes and Hastings) have both played for Little Common. Harris -Green (goalkeeper) Thomas Howard-Bold (ex Crawley Down Gatwick) and Munday started. Clarke and Adebayo-Rawlings were on the bench with Max Hollobone and Clifford. The regulars were Lansdale,Elliott,Davidson,Sutton and Medlock.
The Merstham manager is aiming for a top ten finish and we are not likely to argue. The Eastbourne cause was not helped by former stand-in captain Ross Sutton being sent off in the first half. Two others were booked (and with the youth team having two sent off mid-week it appears that discipline is a word that Town do not quite understand). Merstham scored their opening goal after 15 minutes and four more at regular intervals. Harris-Green had to go off during the second half,and with reserve goalie Sutton already dismissed Lansdale had to take over the Jersey.
To make matters worse the teams around us at the foot of the table both won. Chipstead won 2-0 away and Three Bridges 5-2 at home whilst Casuals game was postponed. If we hope to stay up we have to play the remainder of the season as well as any club has that are now in the top half of the table.
If Mr Lambert wishes to commiserate with another manager he could try either Francis Vines, newly installed at Crawley Down Gatwick,who has signed 7 new players only to finish Saturday losing 4-1 with two sent off. Or he could try the Whitstable manager who's team were having a rare win away when the game was abandoned. It is hoped that we will be fielding a couple of new players against Horsham on Wednesday.

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Merstham 5 v 0 Eastbourne Town
Scorers: Merstham: Taurean Roberts (2), Liam Wright, Sam Tucknott, Tommy Hutchings
Team: Brannon Daly, Rob Carter (Simon Cooper), Jordan Johnson, George Craddock, Liam Harwood (C), David Graves, Taurean Roberts, Fabio Saraiva, Tommy Hutchings, Ashley Robinson, Liam Wright (Sam Tucknott) (Elliott Thompson)
Unused Subs: Tutu Henriques, Dean Gunner

Merstham Man of the Match: Taurean Roberts Referee: Gary Poynter Attendance: 123
Merstham Matchday Sponsors: HUA Services LLP
Earlier This Season: Eastbourne Town 1 Merstham 0 Last Season: Merstham 3 Eastbourne Town 1
Match Report: Neil Squires

The Moatsider’s welcomed back last season’s ‘Player of the Season’ Fabio Saraiva, on loan from Maidstone United, with a thumping victory against a shell-shocked Eastbourne Town.

From the beginning, the home team pushed forward and dominated their visitors with the midfield pairing of George Craddock and Saraiva breaking up any threat from Eastbourne. Although the home team were dominating possession, the visitors did show glimpses of threat within the first 20 minutes but the hope that Eastbourne may have had was extinguished in the 21st minute when Liam Wright put the home team ahead. Ironically the first goal came from an Eastbourne corner. The ball broke to Wright whose quick ball released Tommy Hutchings. Wright had not given up his run and burst the entire length of the pitch to get on the end of a long ball from Hutchings to put Merstham ahead. The first goal set the scene for the rest of the game and in the 31st minute a trademark jinking run from Taurean Roberts, ended with the winger unleashing a vicious shot to double the Moatsider’s lead. Things went from bad to worse for the visitors when Captain Ross Sutton levelled a volley of abuse at the linesman. Unfortunately for the Eastbourne skipper, referee Gary Poynter was having no truck with that and gave Sutton a straight red card. As the visitors went down to 10 men, the 11 of Merstham took total control and, in the third minute of injury time, went further ahead when Sam Tucknott, on for the injured Wright, slotted home. In truth it was no more that the home team deserved and, if it wasn’t for the acrobatics of visiting goalkeeper Sam Harris-Green, the home team would have been six goals up at half-time.

Things continued in the same vein in the second half with Merstham in total control. Eastbourne, to their credit, had a handful of chances at the beginning of the second half but they had left themselves a mountain to climb. That mountain turned into Ben Nevis for the visitors when, in the 56th minute, a pin-point cross from substitute Simon Cooper found an unmarked Roberts in the penalty area. The winger made no mistake with his header and the Moatsider’s lead increased to four. As the fourth goal went in, Harris-Green went down in a heap suffering from cramp. As the ‘keeper was taken off he was replaced by full-back John Lansdale. For the remainder of the match Merstham took total control but a combination of dogged defending by the visitors and wasteful finishing by the home team, meant that the final goal didn’t come until late on. As the heavens opened, and gale-force winds whipped across the Moatside, Tommy Hutchings popped up in the 89th minute to score a well-deserved goal and inflict more punishment on a beleaguered Eastbourne Town.