3G's Please
On what was offically the greyest day of the year the soche journeyed to their old stomping ground. Raynes park
As we sat on the train to Clapham junction it slowly dawned on us this game wasn’t going to be easy. We were depleted, but not yet defeated.
Sam had done and old skool classic and got his mum to call in sick for him. TK was shocked to hear from her twice in one week. ; )
Sam just added to the large portion of Merton Players left scattered around south London. Battered and bruised. The Sesh had taken many a victim. Alas. We marched on.
We arrived at Raynes Park to our new pitch which had changed from a perfectly crafted 3G pitch, to a muddy, slanted pitch at the far end of a gloomy playing field. Things weren’t looking good.
To top it off, as we warmed up, we realised all was not right with the bare 11 we did have. Tom Pye, the man brought in as back up, had a mare out on the piss and injured himself. Not believing that injuries could occur while drunk he neglected to tell TK that anything was wrong. It soon became apparent the injury sustained while drunk was of a serious nature and the soche were down to 9.5 players.
Step up JD. The Captain of merton social. This time he’d remembered the balls and that he’d put his shin pads on, however, he was dazed and confused after a big night on the town with Kate and her parents. He knew he needed to dust him self down and shake of that hang over if he had a chance of surviving the quest before him. A couple of warm up headers later he was ready and the game began.
Once the game began the soche were out the blocks fast, we were up for this and we were giving Bec a decent game. We were getting stuck in and working hard to win every ball. It was safe to say for the opening part of the first half was more soche. However a free kick on edge of the box was beautifully whipped in leading to a Becc goal. There wasn’t much that could be done, the soche were 1 – 0 down.
We continued to battle on.
Jack and Oly were strong in the middle, with Oly winning all the 50/50’s as usual. Jack. Who’d had a red bull just before the game, literally grew wings. Flew through the air and made a shocking tackle on the opposition. It was an innocent mistake and he did try and pull out but it just wasn’t quick enough so he had to deal with the consequences of his actions. The ref gave him a telling off and the opposition shouted at him. “It’s not the 90’s mate.” The tempers were now flared and the rest of the half was scrappy with no team having any more shots on goal.
Half time arrived and the soche were relatively up beat, we were playing well and there was a real sense that we could get something from this game. What’s more, Daniel had decided to show up, so we were back to 10.5 players and we went into the second half ready to win.
The second half was much the same, with tempers flared and the ref blowing up relentlessly as arguments were breaking up all over the pitch, Merton plugged on. There was some good interchange with the mid filed and the defence was strong but we weren’t making enough chances. TK had a free kick on the edge of the box which he blasted over the bar.
Another chance fell to Tom Leach right near the end of the game, give him a chance to leave for India a hero but he didn’t quite manage to get it in. Story of his life. On a serious note though. Tom will be missed. He’s off to find himself in India. Much Love Tom. You’ll be in our hearts. The number 9 shirt will lay waiting. (On cats bedroom floor, ey Daniel?)
As the game drew to a close Tommy P made a wonderful save to keep the game at 1-0. Allowing us to feel positive about the out come although slightly upset we couldn’t of had more of the Soche Mandem. If we had, who knows what the outcome would have been.
The Xmas break is upon us, so let the Sesh begin. Ready for next year, when Merton will come back big and better than before. HAPPY CHRISTMAS. xxxx
