MERTHYR v Didcot

Team: Cutlan, Griffiths A, Howe, Rewbury, Colborne, Davies, Newman, Griffiths M, Welsh, Harris, Traylor.

Subs: Prosser, Thomas, Jones, Leek.

1 up! 37mins Matty Harris good drive into corner. Out of the blue - pretty much our first shot on goal!

H/t 1-0.

Attendance 271

2-0 Welsh header 48mins.

3-0! Nathan Davies 52mins

Sub: Jones for Harris 62mins.

Sub: Prosser for Welsh 88mins.

F/t 3-0. Much needed!

wtg lads wd

well done boys,

cheers for the updates

where does that leave us in the league now

Awesome news

Low attendance , but that's got to be the fact we couldn't score or win at home recently ..

Well that's that then --- WE CAN WIN AT HOME AND WIN WELL. Merthyr up to 4th now, as things stand. We're back in the mix, goal difference not great but that can be remedied, plenty of time. Win badly needed to get back on track. Well done to players and coaching staff. Onwards and upwards. Some results went our way today, with some above us losing or drawing. Good home win will be good for home fans morale.

Nice to see lads back to winning ways. Did cot weren't up to much...certainly no tivvy...Gary colbourne was excellent today in a more central defensive role...reminded me of gandolph in the lords of the rings...nothing passed him..paired well with Rewbury...Mattie Harris scored a beauty...much more useful to the team in midfield...welshy had a good game too.....did cot were poor though...they looked deflated and didn't threaten....great one handed pushover save by cutlan second half....but the highlight was colbournes brave double dive...how he didn't have an Adidas shaped face at the end of the mmatch I don't know.....wizard stuff

Today's team:

Cutlan;
A.Griffiths,Rewbury,Colborne,Howe;
Harris,Davies,Newman;
M.Griffiths,Welsh,Traylor;

Subs:
Jones for Harris after about 62 minutes
Prosser for Welsh after about 86 minutes
Thomas
Leek

After the midweek defeat there was a change to 4-3-3, with Andrew Thomas left out, Jason Welsh replacing Ryan Prosser up front, and Marcus Griffiths in the side instead of Kris Leek as we had 3 up front.

Nothing much happened for the first 20 minutes or so, with play confined to midfield and neither goalkeeper having anything to do. Didcot won the first corner of the match on about 23 minutes which Giles Cutlan punched away, an attacker then putting a shot wide. A couple of minutes later at the other end Ian Traylor put a 20-yard shot wide.

Our next attempt at goal came when Ian Traylor was tripped just outside the area on the right, but Ryan Newman put the free kick well off target.

But a rather dreary game livened up on about 37 minutes when Matthew Harris got the ball 25 yards out, rode a challenge as he took the ball to the left, and tried a left-foot shot which beat the keeper to go just inside the post.

It had been a fairly uneventful half, with our goal being one of the few attempts at scoring by either side.

About 5 minutes after the break it was 2-0. After Ryan Newman was fouled outside the corner of the area on the left Marcus Griffiths floated the free kick in for Jason Welsh to head on into the net. About 4 minutes later it was all over following a bit of pressure down the left by Ryan Newman, Jack Howe and Ian Traylor. When the ball was played across Didcot were unable to clear it properly, and Nathan Davies fired home from 20 yards through a crowd of players for his first Merthyr goal.

Just after the hour mark Giles Cutlan had to make a save for the first time - palming a shot over the bar after an attacker stepped past a couple of challenges on the left.

A minute later Luke Jones was given some game time in place of Matthew Harris.

There was very little of note for the rest of the game as Didcot never really looked like getting back into it, and any shots we had going off target. I think it was the 86th minute when we had our first corner. Soon after that Ryan Prosser replaced Jason Welsh for the last few minutes. Giles Cutlan had to push away a 30-yard shot from Didcot, and at the other end after the Didcot keeper was booked for taking the ball outside his area on the left Ryan Newman took the free kick quickly but put it well wide.

Not a great game, but we were good enough to win 3-0 without playing at our best - as they say, we'll play better than that and lose. I can hardly recall the Didcot keeper making a save - it seemed as if everything we had on target went in, our other goal attempts going wide. After facing the best side we've played at home in the league this season in Tiverton last Tuesday we were playing easily the poorest, but you can't complain about a 3-0 win.

I made Gary Colborne man of the match. He and Jamie Rewbury were easily able to cope with anything Didcot managed against them. Ian Traylor, although not at his most dangerous worked hard, and Ryan Newman I thought had a better game than last Tuesday.

I expected more from didcot having won their last league win away and beating and drawing with poole in their last two games.I think four at the back suited us better today and all credit must be given to our young full backs howe and griffiths who did not let the side down with an encouraging display from both

Not the most inspiring of games but a win is a win is a win. A very good goal by Matthew, a neat header by Welshy getting in front of their keeper and Nathan did well to keep his shot down for our 3rd. Didcot didn't offer much but they have had some good results recently and I expected a tougher test. We did look better playing a flat back 4 but was that because of the opposition we were facing? The pitch again seemed to pose a problem as the ball was bouncing in all sorts of directions making control difficult. A week off now for the players and hopefully we'll have a few more fit for next Saturday at Shortwood in the Trophy.

Thought welshie done alright up front held the ball up well and won most of the aerial balls,thought the ref.had a decent game although it was not a physical game,think he could have left the keeper off without a booking for the handball so late in the game and us 3 goal,s to the good,shame about the crowd (attendance).

A liitle worrying with the low attendance when you consider cardiff were away and newport had no game.It is very unusual to see us have a higher attendance on tuesday than yesterday,Could it be that the display on tuesday did not warrant some supporters paying another eight pound on saturday or the fact we had no information in the local merthyr express play a part.together with x mas approaching going on past statistics the crowd will evidently drop.Perhaps if it was possible adopting a policy of playing the least amount of midweek games before x mas might be beneficial in the long term

take a chance put a heavy roller on the pitch some one told me they can't because of the drainage but try it once you never know it may be ok

We used to roll the pitch in years gone buy so i do not know what has changed since.When the frost comes it will be even more of a problem if the pitch freezes it will probably end up unplayable

Perhaps we do not have a roller

The changes made to the team certainly made a difference to the performance. Jack Howe had a solid game at left back, while both Rewbs and Colbourne dealt competently with anything through the middle.

Jason Welsh provides a different dimension up front and after Matty Harris scored we looked more purposeful. The game was over as a contest after ten minutes of the second half and we took our foot off the gas a little following the trauma created by the last two home games. Perhaps Prosser could have come on earlier in the second half to cause a different set of problems for the Didcot defence.

Their #8 was extremely lucky to escape a red card after the late tackle on Howe in the first half but generally the officials were OK.

never thought of that o well never mind have to make the best of it

we look better with a back 4 i believe, the team looks more balanced , the back 4 looked good once we got the goal u could see the confidence coming back into the team.
welsh done well and deserves another crack ??
attendance was disapointing but after last 2 performances what u expect ..
we can get another run going now just before xmas would be great .
id like to see more of luke jones myslef playing off welsh ???

up the town !!!