Merstham host Ashford United on the Moatside's new 3G pitch on Saturday

Merstham are looking to avoid a Halloween horror show when they open their new 3G pitch on Saturday – and in fact, Jamie Decruz hopes a few home comforts might push his team onto a good run and back towards the play-offs places.

The Moatsiders have started the season with a plethora of away games interspersed with a few ‘home’ games played at Sevenoaks Town’s stadium, which is a 35-minute drive from Merstham.

It has also meant Decruz’s team have struggled for somewhere to train for much of pre-season and the start to the 2026-27 campaign, although the squad have now been training on the new 3G for a fortnight while finishing touches have been done to the ground.

The opening of the ground was put back by seven days to allow for those finishing touches, but this Saturday will finally mark the Moatsiders homecoming as Merstham host Ashford United at the Hybrid Fitness Stadium.

“You forget that when a 3G goes down, they literally take it over as a building site,” Decruz explained. “So once they had finished with the pitch, we had tractors on site, we had fences down that needed to go back up, holes in the ground that needed to be filled with tarmac. A lot of it was health and safety.

“But we are all on course for it to be signed off on Wednesday [yesterday].”

Ahead of their return to the Moatside, Merstham sit 19th in the Isthmian League South East Division with 11 points from 13 games and Decruz admits it is far from where he had hoped his side would be, but after the ups and downs of their homeless start to the campaign, he’s glad to now have an extended period back in Surrey.

“Hopefully it will be a good crowd on Saturday and then a run of home fixtures can help us build some momentum,” he said. “I think we’ve only got two away games from now until Christmas. So no excuses and hopefully an opportunity to put some form together.

“People don’t see a lot of what goes on behind the scenes but for example, even the post-match food that you have to supply for both teams - we have been cooking it and the club and driving to Sevenoaks with it. Everything’s been a little bit long winded.

"Sometimes you’ve just got to suck eggs and try and get on with it, right? But hopefully things will settle down and people can start focusing again – and hopefully that will come with some rewards.

“I don’t want to put too much pressure on it, but it’d be nice to feel like this is the start of this season, albeit 11 games late. We’ve got to use it as a catalyst to kick on.

“Every Saturday I’m listening to managers moan, moan and moan. But then sometimes I think you’ve just got to turn around and say, it is what it is, right? I mean, every game you have a chance to win, every game you’ve got a chance of losing and if you lose three games now it is a sackable offence but if you win three games, you win manager of the month.

“I think everyone is just so emotionally impulsive when it comes to football and we all are, right? But I think sometimes you have just got to breathe and look at it. If someone had said after 11 games, we would be where we are now, I wouldn’t have been best pleased, but now I know the period we’ve gone through and sort of the constraints through it. I think we got through it and things are definitely looking more positive.”

In September, which coincided with a spell that saw Merstham only take two points from six league games, they lost striker Louie Theophanous to East Grinstead Town and defender Matt Drage to Cobham.

It meant Decruz did a bit of mid-season rebuilding.

“We signed a lad who we know from his time at Sutton; Vinnie Tume,” Decruz said. “He’s on a dual-reg from Sholing but he lives in Lingfield, so it works out well.

“We’ve also signed Hamilton Antonio from Herne Bay who’s played in midfield.

“Charlie Greenwood’s back from injury now too. So we’ve had some really good news on that front and our team look a lot more balanced.”