Merstham v Enfield Town

[seemgee]

Team

Wright,  Parcell, Sutton, Johnson, Weatherstone, Rumens, Sayoud, Blackman,  Bricknell, Youngs, Ibe

Subs

Mubaiyi,  Hatton, Greene, Davison, Empson

[seemgee]

1-0 down after 13 mins

[seemgee]

HT still 1-0

[seemgee]

FT 1-0 defeat

[littlehampton]

It is always disappointing to play away to one of the form teams in the IPL, give a good account of ourselves in a very close match, and come away empty-handed. That, according to the excellent Twitter updates on the ETFC official website, is what happened this afternoon. Merstham came into this match, unbeaten in their last six matches (with 5 wins and a draw) and won this encounter with an early goal in the first 15 minutes. Town pressed hard for an equaliser, went close on a number of occasions, but could not find the back of the net. One of those days!

Fortunately, a number of the other results went for us today, so we are still in the mix. Be very interested to hear the thoughts of other Towners, who travelled over to Surrey. Was this a good Town performance, did we deserve something from the match, how did our new guy do this afternoon?

We go again on Tuesday evening in the League Cup quarter final at home to Burgess Hill. They lost today at home to Bognor. An exciting game in prospect. Look forward to seeing you there!

[Stanners66]

At least Haringey lost. Shame we couldn’t make up ground on them though. 11 point gap is not insurmountable but we need to put some pressure on them. I’d be very disappointed if they finish above us.

[Theodopolous]

Merstham looked a good footballing side... we huffed and puffed and played like we play and it made for a close game... gutting to go behind to a joe howler dropping a simple cross at the feet of their striker.... no real attempts on goal first half and some of our shooting actually made me laugh it was so wild.... the second half opened up when greene got wide but teams always look dominant when the oppo are defending a lead.... Marc missed a glaring header near the end  and again the lack of composure near goal was clear.... three more points gone and the startling fact that we have not won a league game without Mo since Tonbridge in October...... while the optimists will still say keep the faith we are only three points above Brightlingsea and in my opinion we are nowhere near ready for promotion ... 

[Albury_Walker]

3 hours ago, Stanners66 said:

At least Haringey lost. Shame we couldn’t make up ground on them though. 11 point gap is not insurmountable but we need to put some pressure on them. I’d be very disappointed if they finish above us.

No chance 

[Steph]

Interestng that nobody has commented on the narrowness of the pitch which, imv, must be the narrowest in the league and barely up to standard. Whilst they played wide, we did not and regularly overhit our crosses.

In these circumstances it seemed to me that good link play was required getting the ball out to the flanks and then shooting it low into the box. These were the tactics that Merstham applied we strove, until the latter stages to play it through the middle. We rarely got to the byeline and when we did our crosses were overhit. From the way that goal kicks went out of play or from goalie to goalie it may even be that the length was also smaller than usual. But length is always harder to judge. Every game I look at the 10 yard line from the corner and consider how close it is to the penalty area. The ten yard line was barely a yard from the penalty box putting that pitch at around 55 yards wide very near the   50 yard rule minimum!

It needed more effort from the players run fast, after all, they were not going to the cover the distance that they normally do on  a bigger pitch. That field of play was worth a goal start to Merstham. Look at the table home form 8-2-2 away 2-6-4. it is clear that they know how to play on their pitch.

[The Crowing Cockerel]

20 hours ago, Theodopolous said:

...and in my opinion we are nowhere near ready for promotion ... 

In my opinion we could - and should - have been near to promotion this season. There are no 'really big guns' (i.e. Billericay, Dulwich...etc) in the league. Haringey have demonstrated what an organised, settled side can do. So from that point of view its disappointing that Town aren't setting the world alight in terms of league position.

[4wembleyfinals]

Quite an interesting number of comments. Although I was unable to be there on Saturday reading the last few observations shows the frustration of many supporters. LH dismissed it a one of those days. Where as it was more like deja vu in that we have failed to score against Mersham at all this season. In fact I don't think we have beaten them in the last three seasons. So no surprise there.

Theo, comment that "we huffed and puffed" and Steph's remarks, which suggest we were unable to adjust to the size of their pitch brings me back to an earlier post I made. That is we although we may have enough defenders and attackers what we are still crying out for is play makers. We have industrious midfield players but still have no one who can control play by the use of several give and go short passes to slow the game down until an opening occurs. In fact the only one I have seen in recent years is Billy Crook. The present format is to try long cross field passes which have a limited expectancy of success.

CC sums it up well when he says Haringey have so far achieved by having an organised and  settled side. I would also add an ability to vary their pattern of play. In our case we have become to one dimensional and therefore predictable. If that serves us to obtain a play off place all well and good. But unless we see a change of play, especially in the midfield area, it will be difficult for us to achieve. All depends how we go about it.

That said w can still hope for another winning sequence to start this week and for the other teams around us to continue cancelling out one and other.

 

Edited January 13, 2019 by 4wembleyfinals

[andyetfc]

Narrowness of the pitch? Teams have to adapt. It will be interesting to see ETFC's home and away form as I know that we have drawn quite a number of home games when we were expected to win.

[littlehampton]

4WF like yourself I wasn't at the match yesterday, but my post-match comments are based on reliable feedback throughout the game. Suggest you take time to read Ken Brazier's match report on the ETFC official website.

[72wembleyfinal]

1 hour ago, littlehampton said:

4WF like yourself I wasn't at the match yesterday, but my post-match comments are based on reliable feedback throughout the game. Suggest you take time to read Ken Brazier's match report on the ETFC official website.

Or maybe the match report in the non league paper !

[Theodopolous]

6 hours ago, The Crowing Cockerel said:

In my opinion we could - and should - have been near to promotion this season. There are no 'really big guns' (i.e. Billericay, Dulwich...etc) in the league. Haringey have demonstrated what an organised, settled side can do. So from that point of view its disappointing that Town aren't setting the world alight in terms of league position.

Totally agree CC ... it’s not just the points that I think where we fall short it’s as a team and club.... I mentioned numerous times that a number of club members seem happy with  mediocrity... that is what we have and nothing will change....our squad for this time of season is bare.... apart from Greene on the bench there was nobody.... the tactics never change ... the goal kicks again as mentioned we’re flying over heads .... on a change of subject I stood behind the dugout for the first half and listened to forty five minute of Mario shouting instructions without pause.... more of less instructing every pass.... the players seem to be restricted to carrying outs these instructions instead of using their own senses..... 

[4wembleyfinals]

LH I have read it and to be honest I would have probably written a similar report if I held Ken's position.  In no way do I suggest that what he writes is anything other than a true reflection on each game as he sees it. As for other press outlets 72W I would not be surprised if he sends copy to various ones for publication. That is what Press Officers do. File match reports and obtain publicity and I believe Ken represent the club to the press admirably.

However, my comments arose from what has been said by other contributors. Yesterdays result was probably due in part to bad luck but our win ratio in tight games cannot always be put down to this. I therefore concluded that we still have to find a way to correct this if we are to really progress. 

LH and 72W I would recommend to you the contents of the previous post by THEO, which although you may find unpalatable,  I find acceptable as it comes from a concerned and dedicated supporter. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 13, 2019 by 4wembleyfinals

[Tom S]

20 hours ago, Steph said:

Interestng that nobody has commented on the narrowness of the pitch which, imv, must be the narrowest in the league and barely up to standard. Whilst they played wide, we did not and regularly overhit our crosses.

In these circumstances it seemed to me that good link play was required getting the ball out to the flanks and then shooting it low into the box. These were the tactics that Merstham applied we strove, until the latter stages to play it through the middle. We rarely got to the byeline and when we did our crosses were overhit. From the way that goal kicks went out of play or from goalie to goalie it may even be that the length was also smaller than usual. But length is always harder to judge. Every game I look at the 10 yard line from the corner and consider how close it is to the penalty area. The ten yard line was barely a yard from the penalty box putting that pitch at around 55 yards wide very near the   50 yard rule minimum!

It needed more effort from the players run fast, after all, they were not going to the cover the distance that they normally do on  a bigger pitch. That field of play was worth a goal start to Merstham. Look at the table home form 8-2-2 away 2-6-4. it is clear that they know how to play on their pitch.

55 yards?  The penalty box is 44 yards wide, you've estimated the distance from panalty area to corner flag as 12 yards (10 from the mark to the quadrant, 1 from mark to penalty box and 1 from quadrant to flag). That makes a total of 68 yards (44+12+12).

Edited January 14, 2019 by Tom S

[Theodopolous]

Whilst we were the dominant team for most of the game the fact is most teams are when they are 1-0 down ... Mertshams objective was to keep a clean sheet and they got just that.... the fact our finishing was wild and weak is our problem not theirs.... agree with the midfield looking strong and the tackling was excellent... personally I find little satisfaction that results ‘went our way’ I’m just concerned about the five dropped points since Mo was injured and the lack of a league win without him since October.... very worrying...

Edited January 14, 2019 by Theodopolous

[Tom S]

Adding to my previous post, the grading requirement for step 3 is a minimum pitch width of 64 metres which translates to 69.99 yards. So I would guess Merstham's pitch is 70 yards wide and Steph slightly underestimated the distance between the 10-yard mark and the 18-yard line. Does anyone know the width of our pitch?

[littlehampton]

4WF it is always interesting, and appropriate, to hear how the opposition camp saw the match and  performance of both sides.
Suggest you check it out on https://www.mersthamfc.com/copy-of-match-reports
It doesn't, by the way, mention anything about us "huffing and puffing"!!