Brentwood Town suffer back to back defeats with two first half goals which cost them as they lost 2-1 against Merstham at the Brentwood Arena.
Merstham took a two goal lead in six minutes apart, after a wonderful individual run by Tommy Hutchings was tucked away inside the box. The visitors extended their lead from the penalty spot from a handball inside the box, which Fabio Saravia fired in.
Jamie Guy got Brentwood back into the game shortly into the second half as he slotted the ball into the bottom corner for his seventh goal in 11 games.
Brentwood made two changes to the side that lost 1-0 away at Canvey Island on Saturday as Tom Richardson and Sam Lechmere replace Liam Hope and Leon Fisher.
‘The Blues’ almost pounced on an early mistake, as Mitch Hahn’s free-kick was spilled by Merstham’s Brandon Daly but Brentwood could not react to the loose ball.
Merstham went on the counter attack from the clearance, as Stefan Cox’s cross found Fabio Saravia at the far post, to head across goal which Martyn Guest at full stretch denied the visitors the lead.
The away side took the lead 24 minutes in, as a ball was given to Hutchings out wide who went passed Ryan O’Rawe and got a low shot off, which crept into the bottom corner.
Just four minutes later, Nicky Symons went sliding in on Cox whose cross hit his raised arm which the referee pointed straight to the spot. Saraiva stepped up to double Mersham’s advantage despite Guest diving the right way.
In the second half, Brentwood got a quick-fire goal as a long hit cross from Hahn was headed back into the box by Stokes to Guy who held it up and his shot on the turn nestled into the bottom corner.
Merstham nearly grabbed a third as substitute Michael Olarewaju won a loose ball and cut it back to the edge of the box for Tom Kavanagh, but his shot went over the bar.
‘The Blues’ tried to force the issue in the closing stages searching for the equaliser but lacked the final ball, as Brentwood drop to 16th and Merstham move up to 18th with three points.
Brentwood now go into Cup action as they travel to Hoddesdon Town in the third qualifying round of the FA Cup.
Brentwood Town Lineup: 1 Martyn Guest, 2 Leon Gordon (13), 3 Paul Goodacre, 4 Nicky Symons, 5 Ryan O’Rawe, 6 Martyn Stokes ©, 7 Mitch Hahn, 8 Shad Ngandu, 9 Tom Richardson (65), 10 Jamie Guy, 11 Sam Lechmere (57)
Substitutes: 12 Liam Hope (65), 14 Leon Fisher (57), 15 Jordan Holdsworth, 16 Phillip Anderson (13), 17 Daryl Robson
Merstham Lineup: 1 Brandon Daly, 2 Simon Cooper, 3 Antone Douglas, 4 Lewis Gonsalves, 5 Tutu Henriques, 6 Kershaney Samuels, 7 Stefan Cox (83), 8 Tom Kavanagh, 9 Omar Folkes (54), 10 Tommy Hutchings © (89), 11 Fabio Saraiva
Substitutes: 12 Michael Abnett, 14 Aaron Rhule (53), 15 Dexter Peters, 16 Jerald Aboagye (83), 17 Michael Olarewaju (89)
Attendance: 90
Interview with Assistant Manager Steve Portway:
