Hungerford v MERTHYR

Updates here!

Solihull Martyr wrote:Updates here!

yay! Thought you weren't doing any today.

Team: Cutlan, willo, Alun, tubbs, Colborne, rewbs, Harris, Newman, preen, Marcus, Traylor. Subs Prosser, jones, Howe, Newall, welsh

H/t 0-0. Good first half performance.

1 up! Traylor nods in a header 54mins.

Get in Preen corker 25yrds top corner 56mins

Great keep it up 3pts please

come on the town

Get in 3 up Prosser pen 72mins

4 Traylor superb 84mins

It gets better and better.

And better still.

F/t 0-4. What a result!

Excellent result well done lads thanks for updates.

OUTSTANDING.

Excellent result well done lads thanks for updates.

Thanks for the updates.

We had a couple of great away victories on the grounds of then league leaders last season, but this beats them!

It doesn't seem long since people were saying we needed to sign a striker!

Good result people.

Twitter reporting it as 0-3. Eitherway 3pts. See you all in Feb.

0-4 on the Southern League website.

Excellent result lads. Well done.

Yippee kiyaaay Moneyfunsters! Brilliant result. Roll on Saturday.

The Hungerford Town website is confusing. The goal times are completely different. They have IAN TRAYNOR rather than Traylor and credit TWO goals to Preen and add that the penalty by Prosser was the fourth goal instead of being the third!
It did say that Merthyr were much sharper,especially in the second half.

Yes very confusing but here it is. http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/hungerfordtownfc/s/match-report-11575.html?fixture_id=638551&official=1

What an absolutely fantastic performance last night. The boys were brilliant and the scoreline was true reflection of the game.

On an excellent playing surface Hungerford won the toss and elected to play downhill in the first half which is apparently a break from the norm as they prefer to do that in the 2nd. Perhaps they felt they needed a cushion of any early goal because in the FA Cup game they used the slope well in the 2nd half to stretch our defence - or maybe they were worried about us!

Even though we were playing uphill we took the game to Hungerford with our front 3 of Preen, Marcus & Traylor stretching their defence. We did have some pressure against us but with the aforementioned trio closing down the Hungerford centre halves they were unable to put the ball over the top into the corners for their wide men to take advantage with the regularity they did in the FA Cup game. Alun Griff did clear one chance close to the line from a corner but he also had a shot well saved by the Hungerford goalie. Traylor, Marcus & Preen were pulling the defence this way and that but we were limited to long range efforts, mainly by Preen and the odd cross did flash across the goal but no-one could get a touch. We ran the first half with Hungerford playing on the break and deserved better than a 0-0 scoreline.

However we had obviously softened Hungerford up as we started the second half playing downhill at full throttle. Good interplay on the left gave Preen a bit of room and he sent a pinpoint cross over the defence and probably the shortest player on the field - Ian Traylor - sent in a looping header back the way it came over the keeper into the net and it was nothing more than we deserved. Shortly after that Preen found a bit more room on the left and advanced towards the corner of the 18 yard area and sent in a terrific shot which curled over the keeper and into his top left hand corner of the net. I was behind Preeney as he took this "speculative lob" as described on the Hungerford website and it was a superb shot which he sent wide of the goal but it curved in the air giving the keeper no chance. Hungerford did try to exert a bit of pressure with a few efforts on goal but apart from having to deal with a few crosses and back passes Gilo had little to do. Preen, who had done a lot of running, was replaced by Pross and within a few minutes of coming on he made a run into the area and was fouled by the Hungerford #4 who was only shown a yellow despite him seeming to be the last man. Pross took the penalty himself and paused in his run up, the keeper went down and Pross sent in quite a weak shot which bounced off the keepers outstretched arms and into the net. We carried on in the same vein and looked as if we'd get a cricket score with some good intricate passing football both on the left and the right causing Hungerford no end of problems. From one corner the keeper made an excelelnt save from a volley by Rewbs and there were a couple of goalmouth scrambles. Newman (I think) played a cracking through ball to split the defence and Traylor, well onside, used his pace to get to the ball first and he took it round the keeper and slotted it into the back of the net from the right hand edge of the 6 yard area despite the presence of a defender who'd managed to get back. Luke replaced Newman and we continued to press with Hungerford looking what they were - a well beaten team.

The game ended and the Merthyr players left the field to a tremendous ovation from the 30 odd (don't go there, Solihull!) Martyrs there with the Hungerford supporters agreeing there was only one team in it. The Hungerford team were kept on the pitch for a post mortem which lasted 10-15 minutes. It was an excellent performance and picking a MOTM is difficult as they all had stormers of a game. Gilo did what little he had to do well and Willo & Alun kept the flanks covered well and joined in the football being played upfront whenever they could and doing it well. In the FA Cup game their right winger caused no end of problems for our defence but such was the hold Alun had over him he was subbed in the 2nd half. Matthew & Newms both played very disciplined games, defending when they had to and feeding Preeney, Traylor & Marcus regularly and the 3 of them worked their socks off and were superb throughout the time they were on. Both Pross & Scouser played in a similar fashion when they made their appearance. I suppose it'll go the Traylor for his 2 goals but Preeney had his best game for us and was a constant threat and Marcus run his socks off for little reward so maybe it should go to the trio.

Great welcome at Hungerford again and after Saturday it seemed especially so. The people there are great as are their facilities and they were very magnanimous in defeat acknowledging we were streets ahead on the night and it'll be interesting to see how Hungerford bounce back from that home to Cinderford on Saturday. We're at home to Yate and after that Red Insure game we know we have to play well so we don't lose the advantage gained last night.