Moatside hosts festival of fun

By David Watters

Merstham

Merstham manager Hayden Bird will be hoping for a boost in support over the rest of the Ryman campaign after hosting a 'Lidl Festival of Fun'.

The two day event at the Ryman South's Moatside took place last week before the club's opening game against Ramsgate after they teamed up with Reigate & Banstead Council and the national supermarket chain.

A diverse collection of attractions were organised to entertain guests from the supermarket's outlets across the South East including seventeen giant inflatables, crazy golf and archery, all fulled by an almost unlimited supply of food and drink!

Lidl's Regional Director David Morrison thanked the Moatsiders' volunteers and officials for organising thr event before adding: "A great time was had by all."

In playing news, Merstham confirmed on Friday that they will be without the services of David Graves and Taurean Roberts for a number of games after the pair picked up injuries on the opening day of the Ryman South season at Burgess Hill Town.

Bird told the Surrey Mirror that he didn't want to lay too much blame on their hosts after the 3-2 defeat but blamed a 'shocking surface' for causing his players' injuries.

The Moatsider's manager said: "I really like the guys at Burgess Hill and I think Ian Chapman is a really good manager. I don't want to be too critical of them because we haven't had a lot of rain this summer but if I had turned up at Burgess Hill for a pre-season friendly and had seen the pitch, I would have refused to play.

"Both injuries were because of the pitch. The players have fallen into holes on the pitch; they've put their foot into the holes and then fallen. David Graves has got a sprained ankle and Taurean Roberts might have broken his left metatarsal."

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