MERTHYR v North Leigh

Team: Cutlan, Williams, Newall, Thomas, Colborne, Rewbury, Davies, Leek, Leahy, Jones, Traylor.

Subs: Howe, Prosser, Griffiths M, Newman, Wearn

1 up Thomas. Off his knee - lucky goal. 42mins. Then hit the bar minutes later. H/t 1-0.

1-1 59mins. Keeper may have got angles wrong as ball ends up in the corner of the net.

60mins: Jones and Traylor off, Prosser and Newman on[left]

76th min sub. Leek off and Marcus Griffiths onq

F/t 1-1 attendance 401

Not a classic I'm told - but the biggest league crowd by some margin.

what a shocking performance by the officals today i got to say that was probaly the worst iv witnessed after watching football more than 30 yrs .
the ref must be looked at if he wasnt time a bribe im father xmas !!!
town started well but faded , leek again heart of everyting , joe had a poor game i reckon and got the subs wrong this time shep
but on the plus side at least we had a point.

muscles76 wrote:what a shocking performance by the officals today i got to say that was probaly the worst iv witnessed after watching football more than 30 yrs.

Well, you obviously were not at Evesham on Monday then...

C'mon Malcolm - where is the report?!

Today's team:

Cutlan;
Thomas,Rewbury,Colborne;
Williams,Jones,Davies,Leek,Newall;
Leahy,Traylor;

Subs:
Prosser for Traylor after about 60 minutes
Newman for Jones after about 60 minutes
M.Griffiths for Leek after about 75 minutes
Howe
Wearn

With Matthew Harris and Alun Griffiths both injured (although the former was at least taking part in the warm-up) we did on the other hand have Steve Williams back, with Ryan Prosser, Ryan Newman and Jack Howe available again on the bench.

It was a fairly uneventful start. We won a couple of corners and put in some long throws without seriously troubling the North Leigh goal. The only times we looked threatening going forward were when the ball came to Ian Traylor. Neither side were able to find a way through the respective defences. There was a header just over the bar from a corner by North Leigh after about 30 minutes, and 5 minutes later they put a 25-yard free kick narrowly wide of the post. But after about 42 minutes we made one of our long throws count when Kris Leek sent the ball in from the left and Andrew Thomas touched it into the net by the near post. A couple of minutes later Thomas had a shot deflected onto the bar following anoth long throw.

We just about deserved the lead at half time, but 4 minutes after the break North Leigh equalised when an attack down the right saw the ball reach a player inside the area and he put in a shot which beat Cutlan to go just inside the near post.

After about 60 minutes Ryan Prosser came on in place of Ian Traylor, which was a surprise unless he was carrying an injury. Ryan Newman also replaced Luke Jones in midfield.

Kris Leek, who had earlier had a talking to from the referee for a foul was then booked for playing the ball a split second after the whistle had gone. Not much later he committed a foul (not a bad one) and was soon afterwards substituted - my reading of the situation being that it was to save him being sent off for a second yellow card. Marcus Griffiths replaced him as we went to 3-4-3.

The nearest North Leigh came to a second goal was about 10 minutes from the end when Giles Cutlan parried and caught a free kick, and neither side could find a way through the other's defence, although Ryan Newman livened things up a little for us. Our best opportunity came after about 88 minutes when Ryan Prosser put Joe Leahy through on the left, but all he could do was tamely lob the ball into the keeper's arms.

Probably a fair result on the day as neither side generally were good enough to break the other down.

Best player for me was Kris Leek, although in the 30 minutes he was on in the second half Ryan Newman did very well and didn't look out of place at this level. I have to say that today, and against Shortwood, Joe Leahy DID look out of place (although I haven't seen him in the away games). I can only think that Ian Traylor had an injury that wasn't obvious as otherwise he would surely have stayed on the pitch. Jamie Rewbury had another good game. Have to say that whatever his qualities defensively Jon Newall is rather limited as an attacking left wing-back (mainly due to being right footed, of course).

Although a rather disappointing result, we're at least looking a hard side to score against, and it's worth remembering we've not ben able to field a settled side yet, nor have a fully-available squad.

Solihull Martyr wrote:

C'mon Malcolm - where is the report?!

Well, first I now have to do 130 words for the Non-League Paper by 5.30pm (Ha - they'll be lucky!) then extract what schoolteachers in my day called a fairly-written copy of the report I do for here so it can go on the Official Website - see: http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/merthyrtown/s/match-report-56782.html?official=1&fixture_id=540399

Finally - at long last - the full version gets put on here.

no i wasnt at evesham but heard plenty about it and heard it was a shocker.

Inept/naive/totally biased/looking as though he didn't realise football is a contact sport/petty to the extreme that's all I can say about the so called ref.
Shortwood and North Leigh packed the final quarter of the field and allowed us to an extent to stroke the ball about in non threatening areas.Both of these teams frustrated us...I thought some individuals had a poor game but we all have off days.I thought Wearn should have been given a chance in the last 25 mins up front.We need Shep up front but I fully understand him not playing for the many obvious reasons age/fitness/etc.I feel we need a strong forward but again realise the financial problems etc...Hope things improve Monday.

It was a languid & half hearted performance yesterday and that mood must have been catching as I couldn't be bothered to put a post on here yesterday evening.

The goals summed up the game - ours from a Leekie long throw which struck a few players before wrong footing the goalie and into the net. Theirs looked to be a scruffy, scuffed shot which seemed to find its way past Giles and nestled in the corner of the net. We certainly shaded the 1st half and could have had a few more with Tubbsy's shot hitting the bar and a few headers going close. North Leigh, who didn't look a bad side, had the better of it in the 2nd half and a draw was probably a fair result. Defensively we looked fine again today, the midfield was neat without really being incisive and upfront we tried but didn't achieve much against a defence that have conceded quite a few goals recently.

The referee was better than the ones at Cirencester & Evesham which is not saying much and he did make a few baffling decisions yesterday and on a few occasions some that were totally wrong. We never seem to get a "Homer"! On the playing front it's good to see we have our full squad almost all fit. Alun Griffiths has heel problems which probably explains his disappointing start to the season and Matthew was given time to recover after knocks in recent games and was not included. Knowing our players as we do, the quality of our bench yesterday sums up the strength of our squad but maybe we need a bit more experience upfront to take on the better defences we'll face this season - Sheppy?

Onwards and upwards to the Mangos tomorrow!

It’s near-Leigh, but not quite for Merthyr


MERTHYR failed to hold on to a lead for third time this season and had to settle for a point against a North Leigh side who had been in free scoring form up to Saturday.

Having cracked in 11 goals in their last two games, the visitors from Oxfordshire were never going to be a pushover for Merthyr, but it was virtual one-way traffic for the home side before the break.

But despite plenty of possession Merthyr failed to create many clear cut chances, with Kris Leek mis-hitting a shot at the near post and Ian Traylor’s lob from a tight angle saved by goalkeeper Sam Warrell.

The breakthrough arrived in rather fortunate circumstances on 42 minutes when a long throw from Leek was headed on by Jamie Rewbury and rebounded off North Leigh defender Tom Franklin before finding his own net.

With Merthyr in the ascendency, Andrew Thomas struck a vicious shot against the visitors’ crossbar and also headed a corner over just before the interval.

Three minutes after the re-start, Merthyr were pegged back though, when Keiron Sanders found John Else just inside the right-hand touchline.

He struck what appeared to be a tame shot from 20 yards low down, but Merthyr goalkeeper Giles Cutlan was unsighted and it found its way into the bottom corner.

Both sides had half chances to take all three points, with Michael Hopkins’ free-kick held by Cutlan in the Merthyr goal on 80 minutes.

At the other end Ryan Prosser and Joe Leahy combined well only for the latter to hit a poor shot which was gathered easily by Warrell, and the game ended in stalemate.

From Wales Online

I think wearn should be given a chance he has pace and with his past record though in a lower league he obviously nows where the goals are.I remember him scoring a cracking goal in one of the pre season friendlys.Our forwards are not finding the net as they should at the moment.The return of newman is a bonus .AS mentioned the defence have done well though the loss of tubsy through suspension might upset us as he is the only one looking to score.

Royston Rogers wrote: Inept/naive/totally biased/looking as though he didn't realise football is a contact sport/petty to the extreme that's all I can say about the so called ref.

To be fair to the referee there were three or four occasions when I thought we'd fouled players to win the ball, but nothing was given.

Certainly a very harsh booking of Kris Leek though, which made no sense as the whistle had barely sounded when he played the ball, and it's not as if he would be doing any time wasting at 1-1 playing at home.

Was Kris Leek booked for kicking the ball away or for something he said, the (REFEREE?) seemed to gesture with his hand that he had.But I agree the referee was not the best, not as bad as the one at Evesham but not good.
What was good was the support 401 the 3rd best in the Evo-Stik Southern League, only bettered by games at Leamington 502 and Kettering 500 in the Premier.

north leigh website




Merthyr Town 1 - 1 North Leigh
On their first visit to this famous old ground and in front of a large and vociferous Welsh crowd, the Millers went a goal down just before half time, but fought back strongly in the second half to equalise just after the break and go on to dominate the half.

On a bumpy hard pitch the Yellows had to withstand early pressure from the home side. With John Mills and Kieran Sanders working hard up front chances were few with the home defence well in control. Likewise the vistiors were not troubled as Merthyr were reduced to long through balls easily dealt with by Sam Warrell and his defence.

The goal on 42 mins came out of nothing. A ball out on the right should have been cleared by the Yellows, but a throw in was sloppily conceeded by the visitors. Merthyr's long throw specialist heaved the ball into the box and although Warrell went for the ball, Andrew Thomas for Merthyr got there first and the ball bounced off his knee into the net.

HT: Merthyr Town 1 - 0 North Leigh

From the off Leigh attacked the home defence and the equaliser wasn't long coming. On 48 mins Sanders on the right in the Merthyr half threaded a ball inside to Jon Else who drifted past a defender and although boxed in by other defenders got his left foot shot away on the edge of the box and was delighted to see the keeper dive but unable to stop it going just inside the near post.
On 55 mins a powerful Mills shot was well held by keeper Giles Cutlan and shortly after the best move of the match saw the ball flow from Stuart Hole to Lewis Coyle and onto Michael Hopkins who's firm low cross just needed a touch.

For the remainder of the half it was the visitors who looked the more likely to score with their best chance coming on 79 mins after Mills was fouled on the edge of the box. Hole's free kick was on target but well held by the keeper.

A disappointing game and a disappointing result. The side seem to be lacking a cutting edge up front . Scorers so far: Thomas 2 (although there seemed to be various thoughts about the goal), Traylor 2, Leek 1, Jones 1.Six goals in six matches.
But with only four goals conceded, we can see where our strength lies.The side have again been hit by early-season injuries so I think the best is yet to come.
Although the gate was very good by current Southern League standards, the attendances from the first two games this season are actually down on last season. Wouldn't it be nice if the 700 plus gates for two matches last season were replicated!
But so many people just turn up when there is something tangible to gain- promotion or a Cup triumph.
And, in fact, on Saturday there were a number of Cardiff City fans (not from Merthyr) present to boost the crowd.

Can't comment on the ref in previous games, but Saturday's was a shocker, he seemed to give free kicks against our centre backs every time they challenged for a header, but their 9 & 10 were making no effort to get up for the ball anyway. Not sure why Jack Howe isn't playing at left back as he did really well last season, looks a much better player than Newell. Strange substitution with Prosser, he seemed to be playing wide on the left or right when he came on, why wasn't he in the middle up front to give their centre backs some hassle?
A decent point, sides in this division seem much better organised and have a shape about them, they're obviously coming here with a plan to stop us playing.

Thought this was a poor result following a very good one against Evesham, we should have really won the match given that there wasnt much in North Leigh (for the record I thought Shortwood were much better)

Defensivley and midfield no problem at all, we keep the ball, close down well, defend well, but like in previous matches we put ourselves in a position to go on and win the game, yet there is very little end product.

The concern is that none of goals this season have been scored by a forward, and we have gained 4 points at home basically through own goals.

On a couple of occasions though we created space and fired one or two delightful crosses into the six yard box but there were no forwards anywhere near the ball and they are chances forwards crave and more importantly they chances that win matches.

Hope we can sort this out in double quick time and we can start picking up the 3 points that our overall play deserves.

Newman being back will help us on the creative side, but we need to be alot more busier up front in my opinion..

I agree Scamp think we need to give Wearn ago..