PRE-SEASON
THURSDAY 29TH JULY 2021
MERLEY COBHAM 5 VERWOOD TOWN 1

What a difference two days make. ….

A good performance against Wareham.

A very acceptable performance at Sturminster Newton.

Then ….this one !!!! Verwood Brownies would have turned us over.

We had a couple of flash attacks but Merley's determination and wanting to win attitude outshone what we had and we had to back pedal constantly.

30 minutes and a shambles in our box resulted in the ball being poked past Bartram. 0-1.

We made hard work of the remaining time to 45 minutes but didn't look as if we had anything to offer as competition to the home side.

Half Time 0-1

We made several changes at half time…. Carvalho making way for Anderton and Pigott off for Powis.

Within a minute Bartram had to go to ground to gather a grubber from an immediate Merley attack. A minute later though a philanthropic Anderton deflected a shot past Bartram. 0-2.

14 minutes and we had a surprise. Hall, Nicholson and Guthrie cut open Merley's defence but the Guthrie shot spun up off a defender's foot and nestled into the goalkeepers arms.

Vining gave a glimmer of hope on 27 minutes swerving past his marker and unleashed a left footer that reduced arrears. 1-2.

That was it. Verwood show over. On came the Merley onslaught.

28 minutes 1-3. Long ball not covered.

31 minutes 1-4 Long ball - no concentration. Gifted to a runner.

36 minutes - 1-5 Penalty for Cobham

Result 1-5