Merstham’s wait for a win continues as Basingstoke deliver a second half masterclass

For once, Saturday afternoon arrived without ominous storm clouds overhead. There was blue sky and glorious sunshine as we arrived at the worldflow Stadium for Merstham’s Pitching In Isthmian South Central match with promotion-chasing Basingstoke Town; good news for us all, and perhaps particularly for the home support, for whom this season has already been stormy enough, even discounting the weather.
 
The last time we covered a match at Moatside was on Saturday 22nd December 2018. It was less than four years ago, and yet it seems so much longer- and that is not only the case for society as a whole but, in footballing terms, for Merstham in particular.
 
On that overcast weekend afternoon, Merstham, in the Isthmian Premier, welcomed Dorking Wanderers, the side who were to take that season’s title by twenty two points. The hosts simply swept away Marc White’s much-vaunted visitors, at times playing some scintillating football. Gus Sow, Tutu Henriques and Walter Figueira put them three up with three goals in four minutes midway through the first half, and although Wanderers got one back in the second half through Jason Prior a fourth from Kershaney Samuels made it four-one as we approached full time, killing off any chance of a visitors comeback.
 
It was, without doubt, the most perfect team performance we watched from any side in the Isthmian League that season. After the match, White bemoaned his lot, pointing to the dismissal of midfielder Matthew Briggs as a turning point without mentioning that Wanderers were already three goals behind at that point; whilst home boss Hayden Bird just beamed a few yards away, quietly triumphant. That his side went on to qualify for the Play Off’s was not a surprise. That they travelled to second place Carshalton Athletic in the Semi-Final and deservedly turned them over was more surprising. They were ninety minutes from glory when Tonbridge Angels defeated them at Longmead in the Final, and that was followed by the departure of Bird for Kingstonian. The manager took his entire team with him, and it is probably fair to argue that this was the pivotal point in a slide which now sees the Moatsiders bottom of Pitching In Isthmian South Central and still without a league victory to their name this season.
 
The old cliche states that a week is a long time in football. Four years, if you are a fan of Merstham, must feel like a lifetime.
 
After the departure of Bird and all of his players, the club appointed Frank Wilson, the former Tooting & Mitcham United promotion-winning boss. Wilson walked into an empty dressing room and had to start from scratch, a task which effectively proved impossible. His side were in a relegation position when the following season was ended by the pandemic, were bottom of the table when the next season ended almost as soon as it had begun, and finally saw themselves relegated last time out. 2019-20 saw them use fifty two players. They’d already used twenty seven when the following campaign came to an end, even though they’d played only eight league matches. Last season another forty seven pulled on the shirt. It was never likely, given those statistics, that they were ever going to end up with a settled side- however sympathy lies with Wilson, nonetheless. It is always going to be difficult to keep hold of your best players when they are turning out for what is, lest we forget, effectively a village side, and can be tempted by higher earnings at just about all of your league rivals. That happened repeatedly over his tenure.
 
New manager Peter Adeniyi- the boss of Carshalton Athletic when the Moatsiders pulled off that play off shock at the end of the 18-19 campaign- has also had to start again. Results would suggest it hasn’t worked yet, but there have also been some sparks of light amongst the darkness as his young side tries to find its feet. This week, however, the club has been dealt another blow, with the resignation of chairman Chris Chapman. During his tenure the club won promotion to our top flight, had a record run to the first round of the FA Cup, and twice won the Surrey Senior Cup. Replacement Paul Glasgow has big, big shoes to fill. Mind you, he apparently has big, big feet!
 
Visitors Basingstoke Town have also had a turbulent recent history. It seems no time at all since they were facing Whitehawk in the National League South Play Off Semi-Final, and playing in the First Round of the FA Cup, and yet in the intervening period two relegations and the loss of their fine old ground, The Camrose- the two not at all unconnected- have left them effectively as tenants of the Hampshire FA at Winklebury. The story of their demise is for another article, another day, but is another sad, sad tale of mismanagement and the impact it has on a football club and its community.
 
Stoke had been magnificent on occasions this season, and anything but on others. They started the day in seventh place, two points behind fifth place Chertsey Town, and knew that a win- and they were obviously the favourites- had a chance of taking them back into the play off places. The difficulty, as some of their fans pointed out before the game, was that you “never knew which Basingstoke would turn up.” That was a comment on their lack of consistency this season- apart from a four game run between mid September and early October when they didn’t concede a goal and seemed to be scoring for fun they’ve been as likely to lose as win, and that isn’t promotion form.

The visitors, head to toe in white like a Hampshire Real Madrid, had the first chance in the second minute, Ezio Touray forcing a diving save from Mo Otuyo. “Look at the size of him,” exclaimed an away fan behind the goal at the Merstham number one. “How are they bottom of the league with him in goal?”

The Moatsiders then charged up the other end and applied pressure, earning two corners in quick succession, and in the sixth minute they had an effort of their own, an Alpha Diallo shot smashing off a defender who had stationed himself on the line. Back we went to the other end, and Otuyo made another good save, again from Touray.

The hosts had the best of the first fifteen minutes without really forcing a save from Mark Scott, and they should have made more of their possession. There was much that was beautiful to watch, a mazy forward run from Bryan Zepo a standout moment, but the visitors looked dangerous on the break and Otuyo was being regularly called into action, inspiring the away fans into song.

Scott was then forced into action, and he did well, saving at full stretch from a marauding Aaron Goode- but the breakthrough did arrive from the resulting corner. The ball was delivered into the six yard box, headed up in the air, and Goode was quickest to react, bundling home. It gave the hosts confidence, and soon afterwards Charlie Greenwood charged forward, the away fans held their breath, but the bar was cleared.

On twenty eight minutes Otuyo was called into action once more, his save from George Reid even bringing praise from some of the visiting supporters. It was praise that was greatly deserved- although the away fans were rather less complimentary when the keeper wasted a little time a few minutes later.

Ten minutes before the break, a penalty. Bradley Wilson went past Goode, who inexplicably stuck out a leg and undid his good work from fifteen minutes earlier. James Clarke’s spot kick was unstoppable, and Basingstoke were level. On the balance of play, it was just about deserved, and half time arrived with no further addition to the score.

The hosts had played some lovely passing football, whilst the visitors moved the ball quickly forward and, in George Reid, had the most dangerous player on the field. But it was, at this point, difficult to understand why the Moatsiders had still to taste victory this season.

We’d played less than three minutes of the second half when the visitors completed the turnaround. It was that man Reid who made the breakthrough, a neat passing move see him go past Otuyo and find the net from a narrow angle.

The hosts immediately tried to hit back, and a cross spun off Scott Armsworth’s boot two yards in front of his own line. The ball could have gone anywhere, but it cleared the bar. The corner came to naught, but another chance came to Goode, and it wasn’t very far wide of the keeper’s right hand post.

On fifty four minutes, another corner for the hosts, Greenwood’s shot deflected wide- although it looked to be going wide without the deflection. The corner saw home fans scream for a penalty, but what they got was a throw in, which wasn’t quite the same- but they kept up their pressure, whilst the away fans sang loudly at the other end. Adam Allen forced a fine save from Scott, and the visitors made the first change of the afternoon, Aiden Lewis off, Marcio Neves on. Merstham followed up, Jordan Wilson departing for Raheem Sterling Parker.

The hosts pressed, the visitors tried to catch them on the break, but on sixty six minutes there was almost calamity for Merstham. Otuyo came out for the ball, slipped, Touray pounced, but the Stoke number nine somehow couldn’t manage to steer the ball past the one remaining defender to give his side a cushion. Would they live to regret that?

The answer came quickly, and it was no. Reid- the last player who should have been afforded space- received the ball on the edge of the box. He jinked, fired goalward, and those behind the goal cheered wildly as the ball smacked into the back of the net. Merstham had twenty minutes to find two goals, and a fan in the front of the stand shouted that his side were “a load of rubbish.” They assuredly weren’t that, but they were almost four-one down after an error saw Wilson run clear and force a fine save from Otuyo.

Merstham kept up the pressure, whilst the visitors pulled almost everyone behind the ball and looked to break quickly. In the seventy sixth minute they did exactly that- and this time, Otuyo couldn’t stop Wilson. Four-one, and without doubt, game over. “One-nil, and you…failed to capitalise” (or words to that effect), sung the travelling hordes.

Ten minutes to go, and a goalmouth scramble looked certain to end in a Merstham goal, but somehow ended up as a corner. The ball came to Sterling-Parker, and his shot ended half way between post and corner flag. Straight up the other end, and Wilson’s cross was turned home by Stefan Brown for five. It was sixty seconds which summed up the hosts afternoon entirely. “We’re the Basingstoke, the mighty Basingstoke, we always win away.” Given they’d lost two of their seven matches on the road, that statement didn’t really bear scrutiny, but they didn’t care, and understandably so.

With five minutes to go Wilson should have made it six, finding himself clean through and firing over. Another chance for the visitors late on forced a save- but nobody from Hampshire cared.

On the basis of their second half performance, Basingstoke deserved their victory- although the margin of it was perhaps a little harsh. But for all their lovely passing and movement on occasions, there was a defensive naivety about Merstham which saw their rearguard fall away almost every time it was attacked in the last forty five minutes.

Peter Adeniyi has a lot of work to do if he is to retrieve something from this campaign, even with little more than a third of the season completed.

 
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