Young striker nets twice in win at Merstham
George Oakley rediscovered his scoring touch after injury with an impressive double to help our development side to victory at Merstham.
Oakley, who had been out for six months with a broken leg until recently, struck the first and second goals in a 3-0 win with Jayden Antwi rounding off victory.
However, Alan Reeves was full of praise for Joe McDonnell’s performance as he made three brilliant saves – including a penalty stop- to deny Merstham’s first-team, a side preparing for their season in the Ryman Premier League.
“Merstham are a physical team, but they also play good football,” said Alan. They passed it out from the back well. It was a different kind of test for our young players than what they faced against Tonbridge. It was a step-up for our boys and they showed they could get to grips with it.
“It could have been different though as ‘Macca’ made three brilliant saves. You need your goalkeeper to help you out when the other team are on top and he saved a penalty when they were having a good spell in the second-half.
“George looked sharp and lively, but it is going to be a slow process to get him back to his best. We need to handle him with kid gloves as we don’t want him getting injured again.”
Oakley’s first goal came inside 10 minutes with a header after a fine cross from Neset Bellikli. It was 2-0 four minutes later when Oakley made no mistake from 12 yards after Toyosi Olusanya had been brought down in the box.
McDonnell made a superb save in the first-half to maintain the 2-0 half-time lead and after his penalty stop in the second-half, substitute Jayden Antwi sealed it with a clinical finish after being set-up by Olusanya.