Merley Allendale YFC

Portland United 5 Merley Allendale 0

Back after a short break, your match reporter Bailey Jnr. will be covering this week’s match against Portland United. After an impressive win against Shaftsbury Youth the previous weekend, we were full of confidence going into this match, although still languishing at the foot of the table, feeling that we could possibly cause an upset against the Team at the top. This week we were without Rimmer and Richards.

The match started off brightly with Merley dominating the possession and stifling the Portland attack, with our defence of Lourence, Roberts, and Hadley in fine form throughout. The frontline of Wathen, White, and Bailey just behind, were looking sharp, with Wathen asserting himself with some sharp tackles, and White having plenty of shots. On 20 minutes Bailey made a surging run from midfield, picking up the ball and running through 2 Portland players, before a last ditch tackle from a Portland player blocked the pass through to the forwards. On 24 minutes a flowing move involving Wathen and Miles from the right of midfield, was nearly finished by white, who shot narrowly wide. White was again involved on 25 minutes when he picked up the ball on the edge of the area, but was unable to get a shot away. In the 27^th minute, White turned provider for miles, who’s shot was tipped past the post. Then, less than a minute later, Portland broke away to score their first. We seemed vulnerable on the break, and Portland used this to their advantage, and continued to break several more times, scoring twice more in a windy and muddy pitch, which played to their advantage.

We went in at half time 3-0 down, but having not given up, which showed as it took them some time to have the first real attack, on 10 minutes. On 12 minutes Bailey was forced to come off due to a knock to the rear/a pain in the backside (not the usual) [delete as appropriate]. Ben Amey came on instead, adding some pace up front, with White dropping behind the front two. 16 minutes into the second half, Wathen picked up a loose ball in the six yard box, and turned under pressure only to shoot in to the keepers arms.  On 17 minutes, despite a good response and resilience from the Merley player, Portland grabbed a fourth goal. On 18 minutes, the skill of TJ was sacrificed for the grit and determination of Osborne, who went into to defence, pushing Roberts into the centre of midfield, to stop them from playing the ball around the front of the defence, and allowing Roberts to break forward more. Soon after, Portland grabbed their 5^th goal. Then 26 minutes into the second half, Wathen, who was struggling with an ankle injury due to previous challenge, was replaced by TJ up front.

A final score of 5-0 didn’t really do justice to the team performance, who were dominant at times, but the tackles and challenges need to be stronger in matches against the top teams.

Man of the match was awarded to Andy Hadley for his consistency, determination, and dogged tackling.

Some people didn’t know the link to our league table, so here it is http://www.dorsetyouthfootball.co.uk/tables.php?season=2008&league=16&division=2
 

Merley Allendale 3 Shaftesbury Youth 2
This week we were forced to reshuffle the team slightly due to the absence of our Goalkeeper and Captain Tom Tiller and outfield players Richards and Osborne.

However, much to the relief of the team and manager, Alex Wathen took on the keeper’s jersey and provided the stability and confidence required in the absence of our regular keeper.

The whole team stepped out onto the pitched determined to reverse our fortunes and started out with a series of passing moves that set Shaftesbury on the back foot.

Unfortunately in the first 5 minutes Hadley took a knock which caused a blood injury so he had to leave the field to be replaced by Ben Amey. The resulting reshuffle saw Ben Lourence drop back into the full back position but this worked to our advantage as the speed of Lourence on the left and Roberts on the right dealt with their two fast forwards which was clearly their main threat.

Merley dominated the first half with Shaftesbury’s only answer being the long ball over the top which with was covered by Rimmer at centre back, or where necessary Wathen coolly coming of his line.

Merley were rewarded for their efforts when after only 11 minutes our leading scorer Harry White, playing up front for the first time, continued his ‘Rooney like’ run of goals.

As we entered the first and only minute of extra time in the first half a speculative long shot from Shaftesbury midfield just passed through the fingers of the outstretched arms of Wathen to equalise.

Unlike in previous games this only served to push the team on to get another goal. Ten minutes in to the half Miles, who had battled doggedly throughout the game, struck a Beckham like free kick from the left which Shaftesbury defence found difficult to deal with. As it bounced in the crowded goalmouth Bailey made the slightest of touches with his knee to add to the confusion and see the ball hit the back of the net (regrettably no action replays here to decide this one only the word of Elliott).

Merley continued to dominate with McGregor providing support for the defence and some excellent forward runs to trouble the Shaftesbury defence.

Polchar, as ever, worked hard to win everything in midfield and was matched by Tom Joy we had asked to drop back to sit alongside him in midfield.

Ben Amey playing upfront also started to find his form with two challenging runs on 18 and 22minutes only just being dealt with by the closing goalkeeper.

Shaftesbury were not going to let the game go without a fight and on 25 minutes they put together a good move that saw a good cross finished by an equally good header to make it 2-2.

But Merley weren’t done either and stand in Captain Bailey led by example by urging his team on and challenging for every ball lose ball coming out of the Shaftesbury defence.

With 32minutes gone of the second half it was time to bring on the recovered Hadley who was placed in midfield rather than disrupt our settled defence. McGregor was then asked to push forward into the position vacated by the substituted Amey.

On 35 minutes Roberts came out of defence and ended a searching run with a 25 yard screamer which the keeper struggled to keep out and, you guessed it, there was new top scorer White to nod in the loose ball to make it 3-2 to Merley.

In previous weeks the team has played well and lost however this week good passing and movement combined with a dogged determination meant that we got our first points on the board.

Every single player did well this week making the MOM the match difficult to decide. In the end it was awarded to Polchar who, as with every game he plays, epitomised the effort of the whole team that can make the difference between winning and losing a game.

Dorchester Town Stars 4 Merley Allendale 1
Merley started the game confidently although seemed a little slow to react in the early stages of the game. Fortunately our Keeper Tom Tiller was alert to Dorchester break on 5mins making a fine reaction save at the feet of the Dorchester striker. Apart from a further save on 17 minutes from Tiller the majority of the first half was dominated by Merley but this was not reflected on the number of attempts on goal.

However, against the run of play on 17 minutes Merley we stunned by an opening goal from Dorchester.
Despite this they continued to battle with Joy working hard with Bailey up front to create an opening.
As always, our midfield pairing of Lourence and Polchar continued to win the ball and create openings for the wide players. For the third match running McGregor was impressive on the left and in 20^th minute came close with a looping shot.

It was therefore a body blow to the team when on 21 minutes it was Dorchester who scored a second to lead 2-0.  With the home side leading it was time to make a change and on 27 minutes Wathen was brought on to replace Bailey. With a fresh pair of legs Wathen immediately put the Dorchester defence under pressure by closing down and unsettling defenders. On 32 minutes his efforts were almost rewarded when his glancing header from a Miles cross forced a save from the keeper.

On 33minutes Polchar also came close when his shot went narrowly wide. Merley again almost equalised when new boy White, on for the Miles, flicked a shot over the bar.

One last chance in the first half fell to the head of Wathen from a corner which went wide of the post.
The Merley team came out for the second half determined to close the deficit and the immediately put together a series of passing moves that kept the ball from Dorchester players for several minutes. However when Dorchester did finally gain possession on 5 minutes they lobbed it over our defence and were unlucky not to score.

Merley continued to push but suffered a set back when on 12 minutes Polchar was forced to leave the field unwell. Wathen was asked to fill his role and Bailey returned to the field up front.

On 16 minutes a looping shot from Joy was tipped over the bar.
On 30minutes with Rimmer beginning to suffer from an earlier injury and Joy tiring from his efforts they were replace by Miles and Polchar. It was necessary to reorganise the defence bring Lourence back along side Roberts and the two fullbacks Hadley and Osborne. Both fullbacks worked hard defensively and pushing forward to help the midfield. These forward runs were covered admirably by the fast and reliable Roberts who hardly put a foot wrong throughout the game.

Although not as dominant as the first half Merley continued to work hard and their efforts were finally rewarded when on 31 minutes White struck a perfect mid air volley past the flailing Dorchester keeper to make it 2-1.

But as Merley pushed forward in search of a goal gaps began to open and the back. On 37 minutes, despite a valiant attempt from Tiller to save, Dorchester scored their third goal. This was soon followed by a fourth in the final minute to cap a most disappointing game. 

All round there we good performances, most notably from Tiller and McGregor, but the Man of the Match award went to McGregor based on his good performance over the three matches.