Isthmian South Central 26 Oct 2024
Hanworth Villa 2
- Sam Merson (54’, 81’)
Sutton Common Rovers 0
Match Report
For 53 minutes, Hanworth Villa looked a shell of their usual selves. Simon Haughney’s side were slow to loose balls and had goalkeeper Mark Smith to thank for a number of smart saves at the War Memorial Sports Ground.
Then came a Villa trademark counter attack, which turned the match on its head. Sam Merson applied the finishing touch before scoring another to seal a 2-0 victory for Villa against a resilient Sutton Common Rovers side.
After the hard-fought win, Villa are back up to fifth in the league jumping above Raynes Park Vale who lost 4-2 to Binfield. Besides picking up our first clean sheet in six league matches, the result marked Hanworth’s third consecutive league win which extends our unbeaten run to five games.
Manager Simon Haughney said: “We were definitely clinical today. I thought up till the first goal, they were the better team. They’re quick across the ground, they are a threat from set pieces, they’re physical and aggressive in the right way.
“For us, the effort was there but maybe individual performances on the ball wasn’t great. But after we scored the first goal it looked like the confidence was back, and then we started counter attacking with real purpose.”
After last week’s home game against Harrow Borough was postponed, Villa were raring to get back into league action.
Haughney stuck with the same eleven that beat Westfield 3-1, with the exception of new signing Olukayode Osu’s inclusion. The 22-year-old, who was subject to interest from League 1 side Wrexham just last year, replaced Quincy Patterson at right-back.
Villa suffered an early scare in the ninth minute as Sam Merson reacted well to clear a goal bound Sutton header off the line from a corner.
Minutes later, Villa had a penalty claim denied as Sam Mead was felled inside the penalty box while chasing down a loose ball.
Mead was sandwiched between Sutton custodian Kacper Orlowski and defender Evangelos Empochontsif but referee Harry Wood waved appeals away.
Just before the half hour mark, Villa goalkeeper Mark Smith produced a fantastic close-range save from Sutton forward Christian Gyamfi, who was played through in a one-on-one situation.
Gyamfi had another big chance to give Sutton the lead right after half time. He raced through the Villa defence and unleashed another venomous shot but Smith held his ground to keep the scores level.
Sutton, who were till this point the better side, had another two huge opportunities to take the lead but captain Bertie Lloyd’s header grazed the crossbar and Francis Sey’s powerful drive was parried by Smith again.
About Smith’s heroics, Haughney added: “I’ve been saying all season about this lad. He’s a nutter like all goalies are but we love him for it. He keeps making crucial saves at crucial times.”
Then came the 54th minute, when Villa scored with their first real chance of the game. A swift counter attack saw Finlay Macnab play Alex Body through on goal, who unselfishly squared for Merson to sweep home into an empty net.
Reacting to the game situation, Haughney brought on centre-back Rayan Djouadj for Mead and switched to a 5-3-2 formation in the 68th minute. Christian Jolley also made his return from injury and replaced Body.
Haughney said: “The thinking was that they were so lively up top, so we just felt, why chance it? We played five and then it gave us opportunities to counter attack and get their defenders coming out a bit with the ball. So that was the plan and fortunately for us it worked.”
The change in shape immediately paid dividends as Hanworth were better able to deal with Sutton’s threat down the flanks.
Capitalising on the momentum, Merson produced a spectacular solo effort to put the result beyond doubt in the 81st minute. Dribbling past a host of Sutton defenders, Merson found himself in acres of space outside the box and fired an unstoppable strike into the top right corner.
The win meant Villa are back into the promotion play-off spots, but Haughney said there is still a long way to go.
He said: “We’re looking game by game. Our realistic aim is to be top five but there’s probably 14, 15 teams with the same hopes so it’s going to be very tough.
“We need to keep going at it in training. We’ve done some patterns. I felt two of the players were a bit high at times today so we addressed that at half time which gave us a better balance.
“Training is how we improve and being clearer with individual jobs will help the team push on.”
