Merton returned to winning ways with a laboured 27-12 victory at Woking on Saturday thanks to tries from Mike Garnett (two), Bryce Lund, Oli Webber and James Newbury, writes Jack Canniff.

They began well, pinning Woking back with a series of attacks on the home line.

The forwards had already gone close, when scrum-half Lund decided to unleash his threequarters, spinning the ball out and seeing it go wide, eventually reaching the hands of Garnett, who skinned his opposite number to dot down in the corner for his eighth try of the campaign.

The same player then produced a magnificent conversion from the touchline to add the extra points.

With their tails up, it seemed only a matter of time before the visitors added to their tally, both forwards and backs combining with great offloading and getting near to increasing the advantage. Woking were not going to lie down, and defended well, breaking out with a succession of drives from their forwards.

It was from an isolated attack just before half-time that the hosts went over the whitewash for a converted try to tie up the scores.

There were a few stern words at the break from coach Dave Burford, as he tried to rally his side to make the most of their chances.

They started the second period in fine fettle, again going on the attack, the midfield of Garth Hume and Christo Swanepoel making good breaks into Woking territory.

It was Lund who made the breakthrough, scuttling through a gap in the home defence and just making the line for an excellent try.

The lead was extended soon afterwards, when youngster Webber made a trademark break through the onrushing defence to dash over the whitewash, Garnett adding the conversion.

Although it now looked like Merton were all set for victory, the hosts had other ideas, at last putting together a move in their threequarters and creating an overlap for their wing to go crashing over.

This was another wake up call for the visitors, and they went on the attack immediately, earning themselves a penalty chance in front of the sticks, which Garnett popped over with no bother.

Now with a bit of breathing space, Merton made their final change of the afternoon, withdrawing the combative Tim Rossiter and giving the eager Jimmy McLoughlin a run.

He made a couple of his jinking runs and caused havoc in the home defence, the ball going out to right wing James Newbury, who scampered over in the corner.

Alas, it was to be his last touch of the ball as, soon afterwards, he pulled his hamstring chasing a kick into the home 22, Darren Glossop moving out to the wing and Merton being down to fourteen men.

It did not matter, Glossop almost pulling off a piece of magic in his new position with a chip and catch over the left wing which almost brought another score. The visitors saw out the rest of the game without further mishap to retain their fourth spot in the League.

Merton are looking for opponents this Saturday, as their proposed adversaries, Kingston, have a re-arranged League match. The Morden Rec based side will be without Tom Wood, Oli Webber, Ed Crawford and Kerryn James for this week's match, in addition to the injured James Newbury. Coach Burford is hoping to promote Matt Sitch to the 1st XV squad, as a reward for a number of exciting appearances in the Club's second string.