Squad: Paul Taylor, Seni Majek, Michael Crouch, Paul Lambert, Dave Morriss, Will Smith, Adam Griffiths, Ross Bedding, Paddy Dalton, Loz Needham, Davy Anderson, Matt Giles

Report:

Having been given the call up to play with the 1st XI on Saturday, i was both sad to leave my beloved 2's, but also anxious to see how the pinnacle of our club was set up and performing. It has to be said for both the 1's and 2's the start of the season has been inconsistent, big ups followed by big disappointments. However, with the opposition being Merton i felt we could get a result.

The first thing i noticed when entering the almost professionally sized dressing room number 11, was that half of the squad are now made up of players once from the 2's, Loz, Morriss, Bedding, Crouch, Giles and myself which in some ways is a real positive, movement up and into the 1st XI is clearly good, but on the other side it shows that perhaps we are lacking some depth having lost big names in the summer. That said, there's no doubting the class that remains with the side captained by Lambo, at the hands of Taylor and fuelled by Griff, Seni, Smith and of course Luis Anderson. With Sully on the sidelines and Ashdown out injured there's still plenty of quality around the 1st team.

The warm up was thorough as always, but for whatever reason we started poorly and found ourselves on the back foot. Question...Can a side be too prepared for a game? Merton are a big outfit, they are not blessed with natural ability, but make up for it in what seems like a strong spirit, some Torres look a likes and a decent striker who'll need the gaps of his teeth filled after lying through them to gain a penalty early on.

It was that incident which sparked a Weirside revival, Merton missed the spot kick and for the next 60 minutes the possession was mostly tangerine. Crouchy couldn't carry on past 25, so Matt Giles took his place and gained his first cap for the 1's. He wouldn't disappoint and will surely be considered for the game this coming weekend.

Griff used the whole penalty saga to once again get a little friendlier than necessary with the oppo. A second red card in three weeks may have received harsh punishment, so it was good to see things calmed down into the second half. It has to be said that Griffs aggressive nature, even though at times very frustrating is often the catalyst to a better performance and that reigns true from Saturday.

A fair summary from the opening 45 minutes would be, all Merton to begin with, Penalty missed and the tides changed. Weirside ended the stronger and went into the dressing room for a quick chat with the gaffa.

On returning things carried on where they'd left off, possession dominated by the tangerines, but Merton always looking dangerous on the break, not through flowing counter attacks, but more with launches up the field and into channels for the young 'Femi' and Torres to run onto. To be fair Torres was a decent player too, why they replaced him is beyond me. Anyway, for a 25 minute period we had chances, Davy dropped into the midfield and probed, Morriss went up top and Ross out left. Smith Dog was a great outlet all afternoon and provided some excellent crosses, one of which was met by Ross who was only denied by an outstanding save from the Merton GK.

Other opportunities came and went, but we remained the more positive, what with all the ball and far greater fitness surely the goal would eventually come. Well like a similar reserve team game against merton a few years back it didn't and with only 1 minute on the clock the oppo counter attacked and found the right pass to the oncoming number 6 (Torres's dad) who finished as cool as you like, into the bottom left corner and the game was over.

Sometimes in football you perform well and don't get the result you deserve. Merton were plucky, dug in and took there one big chance, credit to them. We didn't on the day, but will win more than we lose with performances like that and again those two 2nd XI players who came into the squad played there part. I'll enjoy going back to the 2's for Dec 3rd, but i also, once again enjoyed my time in the 1's, the banter is there and so is the quality, just gotta keep improving!

Paddy.