Merton's unbeaten streak continued last Saturday, with a comprehensive defeat of Reeds-Weybridge which moves them up to second place in the League table with a game in hand, writes Jack Canniffe.

The Morden Rec outfit achieved this victory without Steve Capron and Nick O'Sullivan, who failed to recover from injuries sustained the previous week, but welcomed back Gary Newark, Richie McLaughlin, Jimmy McLoughlin, Heath Hooper and Damo Green to the squad.

The hosts chose to play down the slope in the first-half and quickly gained good field possession thanks to their marauding forwards. Unfortunately, they could not open their account and it was somewhat against the run of play that Reeds took the lead with a penalty from in front of the posts. It did not take long for Merton to get back on terms, Mike Garnett coolly stroking a penalty to tie up the scores. Following this initial early sparring, it was the hosts that swiftly moved up through the gears with a series of unanswered tries to which their opponents had no reply. First to cross the whitewash was Darren Glossop, who was a handful for the visitors throughout, showing great awareness to slip through a gap in the defence for a seven-pointer, with Garnett converting. Despite a few handling errors in the threequarters, Merton continued to dictate play, gaining the upper hand in the set pieces and having the lion's share of the ball. Further tries were added by Craig Millan, Matt Cooper, Mike Reid and David Borchardt, before Glossop added his second to give his side a very healthy advantage at the break.

At the start of the second-half, Merton seemed to go off the boil a bit, and it took the introduction of replacement Jimmy Sowersby to galvanise the hosts back into action. He soon crossed for his first try for the Club, driving over from close range, before home superiority was again accentuated, Hooper and McLaughlin adding tries from the back division. The game was now virtually one-way traffic, as Merton launched attack after attack. It was fitting that their next try went to their outstanding player of the day, prop Alan Power making it five for the season with a trademark powerful run, scattering defenders as he surged over the line. The hosts' final try came from the quick dancing feet of McLoughlin, who rounded off the win in style with an unstoppable run from ten metres out.

Next Saturday, Merton continue their League campaign with a visit to New Malden to play Economicals, and again must do without Hooper and McLaughlin, although skipper Chuck Sanger and Kerryn James hope to resume training this week with a view to a return to action in the not too distant future.

New players, of all standards, are welcome to attend training on Wednesday evenings at 7.30pm, under floodlights, at Morden Recreation Ground, Faversham Road, Morden. For more information, call Jack on 07970 166958.