WE’RE READY FOR HAMMERS’ TIME!

COBHAM will be ready to continue their histo- ry-making FA Vase run whenever the green light arrives, says manager Sam Merison.

The Hammers are in the fourth round of the competition for the first time and desperate to test themselves at Eastern Counties League Premier side Stowmarket Town. The Surrey-based outfit’s last game was a 5-0 win at Clapton in the previous round before the country was plunged into a third lockdown. It completed a run of four consecutive victories in December after returning to action following By David Richardson November’s break – and Merison wants to take that preparation forwards. “Clapton was our best and most complete performance of the season,” he told The NLP. “I really felt like I was watching the team doing what we’d set out to do at the beginning and we’d finally got to that stage. “Boris Johnson made his announcement just after half-time during that game, one of my coaches was behind me having a look at his phone and then said Christmas was cancelled. I guess it was bittersweet because that was the last game and the last time were together, but had we lost and then gone into a lockdown we probably wouldn’t have the enthusiasm to keep ticking over. “November, during the second lockdown, gave me a chance to think about what was important going forward for that team.

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“We parted ways with a couple of players and amongst us as a backroom team, we had some great chats on Zoom to refocus. “The players were fantastic in terms of keeping themselves fit, they were having weekly competitions with 5km runs. One of our coaches was doing his own version of online Joe Wicks sessions and all the boys were doing that. “We came back fit, as a management team a bit more focused and December was fantastic for us, we want to do that again.” Cobham have sorted their training facilities for March 28 onwards when they hope to be able to return with their tie expected to be played early next month. They’ll take part in the special competition the Combined Counties is organising as well as continuing their League Cup run – but the main focus is on prolonging their season in the Vase at Thurlow Nunn League side Stowmarket, who were unbeatwe en in all seven of their league games this term. “That’s a tough game, we know a fair bit about them and had some reports,” said Merison, in his fifth season as manager having taken the club up in 2018. “They’re a team that is equipped to play at a higher level and have thrown quite a lot of resource off the pitch and on it to achieve that. “This Vase game was always going to be massive for us, hopefully we’ll get the right reaction. It would have been terrible to get the furthest the club has got and never to finish it. “At least there’s a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel.”