Marchetti hat-trick sinks Stanground as Meridian go second
Three goals in a controlled second half sent Meridian into the international break in second place, with Luca Marchetti taking the match ball home for the first time in claret.
Meridian took thirteen minutes to settle and one more to lead. Tomás Bekele found the run before the Stanground back line had turned, and Marchetti finished across the keeper from eight yards — his sixth of the season and the start of an afternoon he will not forget.
Stanground held the line until the interval and had the better of a scrappy opening to the second half. Curtis Vane forced Marco Iversen into the only save he had to make, and for twenty minutes the visitors looked like the side more likely to score next.
It turned on 58 minutes. Sekou Ndiaye was caught by Dean Pryce as he cut inside, and Marchetti struck the penalty low and central. From that point Meridian controlled everything, moving the ball between the lines and forcing Stanground into the fouls that cost them a booking each side of the hour.
