Merthyr Tydfil 3 – 0 Wealdstone
Merthyr Tydfil3 - 0
WealdstoneStones couldn’t follow the success of their supporters who beat Merthyr 4-2 in the morning as they went down to a 3-0 defeat in the afternoon in Wales.
Merthyr scored once in the first half from what appears to have been a ‘dodgy’ penalty, their second in the early stages of the second half came via a similar route, and with Stones on the back foot they scored a third midway through the half to leave Stones a pointless journey home.
Wealdstone: Lee Carroll, Josias Carbon S64 Andre Dellissier, Lee Chappell, Fergus Moore, Kevin Swift, Scott Donnelly, Graham Hall S64 Graeme Montgomery, Chris O’Leary, Theo Robinson, Dean Papali, Scott Cousins S64 Dean Clark, Subs Not Used: Josh Cooper, Matt Gooderick.
Merthyr Supporters 2 – 4 Wealdstone Supporters (by Sudhir Rawal)
Revenge is a dish best served cold but I am not sure whether eighteen years is what they had in mind. The last time Wealdstone lost a supporters match was way back in 1989 when the Martyrs left Northwick Park with a 3-2 win.
Since the inception of supporters’ matches, Stones have played around a hundred games and have only tasted defeat on three occasions. That defeat still irked. When I was putting a team together for the match in the Principality, I wasn’t sure what sort of side I could muster. We have been fortunate in the past that the bulk of our team has come from the ranks of SFC Wealdstone which gave us a great advantage over other supporters teams. SFC has now withered and died – symptomatic of our dwindling fanbase – and those of us still around are now the wrong side forty and some touching fifty.
Would our old lags, moulded together with some fresh new blood have a chance against the Welshmen? To be fair, we might be old, but seven of our team were Middlesex Cup winners only five years ago so it was a good base. In the end, we managed to cobble together the largest ever squad for a supporters game with eighteen players, all of which played their part in our 4-2 win. In reality, despite having a back four that included a 51, 49, 46, and a 36 year-old in front of a 43-year-old keeper, Wealdstone dominated the game from start to finish and only had themselves to blame for not racking up a much bigger win.
Having been denied a couple of clear-cut penalties in the first half, Stones hit a glut of chances high, wide and handsome. The Welsh took the lead against the run of play when Tim Parks was adjudged to have handled in the box. It did hit his hand – a moment of Hancockesque comedy attempt at controlling the ball – but another referee could have easily given a different decision as there was no intent. The penalty was duly despatched. Wealdstone equalised in the first half through a drilled shot from Adam Hills and the teams went in at half-time all square. The second half saw wholesale changes in our formation and personnel. The weather also got in on the act by trying to confuse everyone with rays of sunshine, sleety rain, hail and chilling wind to keep everyone on their toes.
The half was pretty similar to the first in that we continued to dominate without being able to put the ball in the old onion bag. We finally took the lead when Tony McDonagh stabbed home from close range. As fitness levels faded the game went into a lull from which it wouldn’t have stirred had it not been for the Martyrs equalising after a goalmouth scrabble.
This seemed to stir us on a bit more and we laid siege to their goal but hitting the barn-door was proving very difficult. Eventually, with minutes to go, a brace from fifteen year-old Billy Corner saw us home to a more than deserved win.
The old fogeys just about managed to last the pace and the clutch of debutantes proved worthy of the task with my man of the match award going to another fifteen year-old, one of four in our team, in Ash White on his debut.
Who said you couldn’t win with kids?
Thanks to Richard Bennett from Merthyr and the other lads from there who proved very hospitable hosts, and hopefully we don’t have to wait eighteen years to reciprocate. Squad: Sudhir Rawal, Gordon McKay, Tim Parks. Alan Hill, David Lloyd, Jamie Rous, Paul Cooke, Adam Hills, Ashley White, Jeremy Albert, Mickey Kane, Adam Corner, Billy Corner, Mark McManus, Grant McCann, Tony McDonagh, Matt Hill, Sateesh Khanna