Isthmian South Central 25 Mar 2025
Hanworth Villa 4
- Sam Merson (10’, 73’ pen, 90+5’)
- Sam Mead (29’)
Hartley Wintney 1
- Zac Horkan (75’ pen)
Match Report
Hanworth Villa continued marching towards the promotion play-off with a convincing 4-1 win over rivals Hartley Wintney at Rectory Meadow.
A hat-trick from Sam Merson, including another long-range stunner, and Sam Mead’s fourth goal of the season ensured Villa moved up to fourth.
With six games to play, Villa are on 68 points and within one point of both Kingstonian and Uxbridge.
Ascot United (65) occupy the final play-off spot while Villa now have a five-point cushion over Hayes & Yeading United (63) in sixth.
Manager Simon Haughney said: “After a good result on Saturday, we felt we had to back it up against a play-off rival. So yeah, pleased with the result, 4-1, happy.
“This is the best I’ve seen Sam Merson play, scoring worldies and taking chances. The last couple of years in Step 4 he’s always been good but he’s at his best.
“Game after game now, the first goal he sees the goalie off his line and no one’s surprised when that goes in. He’s massive, absolutely massive.”
Straight from kick off, the away side were eager to make up ground in the play-off race and forced Mark Smith into a fingertip save .
But Villa quickly regained control of the game as Lucas Defise shot narrowly over the bar after Merson precisely plucked a high-trajectory ball out of the air.
It didn’t take long for Merson to break the deadlock, with another spectacular goal in the 10th minute to delight the 181 spectators.
From 30 yards out, spotting Nick Jupp off his line, Merson lobbed the Hartley goalkeeper with a superb strike.
With Hartley reeling from the setback, Villa nearly had a second a minute later but a stretching Finlay Macnab could only roll the ball into Jupp’s grateful palms.
Villa continued pinging passes left and right in the final third, creating quality chances and leaving Hartley defenders chasing shadows. This was no doubt one of Villa’s best first-half performances of the season.
The second goal came in the 29th minute, after Mead found space in a dangerous area and although his first effort was saved, he kept his cool and rifled the rebound into the net.
Five minutes later, Abdullah Javaid raced down the right flank to the byline and played a sumptuous cut back into the path of Ben Mulley, who side footed it narrowly wide of the post.
Hartley were all over the place at this point, but they nearly pulled one back in the 42nd minute when Smith misjudged a long ball forward and was caught in no man’s land.
Conor Lynch beat him to the ball and lifted it towards goal, but after an agonising two seconds the ball trickled just wide.
Haughney said: “If I’m going to be critical, I thought the first couple of minutes we didn’t make a clearance and Smudge (Mark Smith) had to make a good save and we don’t defend a cross.
“When we got going, there was some good play and we got into half time with a two-goal lead. But yeah, the first half was pretty decent.”
Just after the hour mark, Merson tried another outrageous lob from the halfway line and did not miss by much as the ball bounced right in front of goal and sailed over.
The away side then had a great chance to pull one back but Mark Smith pulled off another stunning save to stop a looping header destined for the top corner.
In the 73rd minute, Merson netted his brace from the spot after Hartley captain Liam Gavin blocked Lucas Defise’s strike with an outstretched arm.
But two minutes later, Hartley had a consolation goal with a penalty of their own converted by Zac Horkan.
There was time for Merson to complete his hat-trick in the fifth minute of stoppage time after Hartley puzzlingly sent goalkeeper Jupp up for a corner.
After Villa got the ball clear, KJ Osu pulled the ball back for Merson who took his time before hitting an absolute dart into the top corner with two defenders scrambling on the line.
With yet another dominant performance, Villa are clicking into gear at perhaps the most crucial moment of the season.
Haughney said: “We’ve got a healthy squad now and I think that’s because we’re not going two or three weeks without kicking a ball and then picking up niggles.
“Having a training venue on Thursday or even Tuesday they’ve helped us out a lot so a big thank you to the youth section because you can tell on the pitch we look sharper and fitter.”
About the play-off spots, Haughney added: “We’re not counting our chickens, there’s still six games to go. We got Ascot here on Saturday and it’s going to be a massive game again, both teams will be going to win that.
“We’ll have a plan, they’ll have a plan so it’d be an interesting game Saturday.”