MERTHYR v Evesham

Team: Cutlan Williams Griffiths A Rewbury Colborne Harris Newman Davies Traylor Prosser Jones.

Subs: Cornwall Preen Griffiths M Howe Newall

Sub 7th min. Traylor off injured and Marcus Griffiths on

afternoon Solihull,

i appreciate the match updates here

H/t 0-0. Not much to report!

How on early could you let Villa score?!!

Solihull Martyr wrote:H/t 0-0. Not much to report!

How on early could you let Villa score?!!

i have no idea, more like why on earth arnt swansea winning by 6-1, we have hit the post 3 times and had 4 clear shots blocked. we desperately need a nother goal or two or risk losing this one altoegther!

69th min sub. Harris off and Preen on

81st min sub. Newman off and Cornwall on. Villa now winning!

1-0! 93minute - possibly Cornwall with a header - and seconds earlier Evesham hit the post.

And then Evesham with a narrow miss!

F/t 1-0. All happened in injury time. Great start to New Year, Crowd 332.

brilliant stuff


and swansea scored in the 94th minute to equalize!!

well happy, thanks for the updates!1

Well done to the lads: must have been rusty after the layoff. First win at home for a while as well. And what a finish!

SwanseaJack wrote:brilliant stuff


and swansea scored in the 94th minute to equalize!!

well happy, thanks for the updates!1

So I hear: Graham again. But its traditional to give Villa a thumping these days!

Today's team:-

Cutlan;
Williams,Rewbury,Colborne,A.Griffiths;
Jones,Davies,Newman;
Harris;
Prosser,Traylor;

Subs:
M.Griffiths for Traylor (injured) after about 5 minutes
Preen for Harris after about 69 minutes
Cornwall for Newman after about 80 minutes
Howe
Newall

Jason Welsh and Andrew Thomas were both there but not in the squad. No sign of Kris Leek.

Aaron Cornwall was originally due to start instead of Ian Traylor (not fully fit?) with the latter among the subs, but it seems he was delayed in arriving at the ground so Traylor started instead. As it turned out, after being injured in trying a shot after just a few minutes Ian Traylor was unable to continue and had to go off anyway. With Aaron Cornwall still evidently not ready in time Marcus Griffiths came on.

Play was all in midfield until about the 18th minute when Nathan Davies put a shot straight at the Evesham keeper. the first time either keeper had been troubled.

It was 28 minutes before Giles Cutlan had to make a save - a routine one, as Evesham had looked even less like finding away through than we had. But they came into it a bit more then, and had a good opening after about 34 minutes when Jamie Rewbury failed to get to the ball on the left. It was played across for an attacker to miskick from 10 yards out. Two minutes later Evesham had their first corner, which saw Giles Cutlan missing a punch, and when the ball was played back across a player couldn't make proper contact and put it wide.

Overall, for the first half good defending by both sides meant there'd been nothing more than half chances at both ends.

After about 59 minutes the Evesham keeper just got to the ball ahead of Ryan Prosser following a flick on by Marcus Griffiths. About 10 minutes after that Garyn Preen came on in a straight swap for Matthew Harris, and a minute later Ryan Prosser turned well on the edge of the area to have a shot deflected over the bar. From the corner a header was cleared off the line.

We went for the win after about 80 minutes, bringing on Aaron Cornwall for Ryan Newman as we played with Marcus Griffiths and Garyn Preen out wide.A couple of minutes after coming on Cornwall set Ryan Prosser up to eventually get in a shot which the keeper parried over the bar.

Evesham had never looked like scoring in the second half, seeming content to defend, but there was a flurry of action starting in about the 89th minute. First, they mounted a rare attack, which saw a shot from the left go across goal and bounce away off the foot off the far post. When the ball was played back in Giles Cutlan had to make his first save of the second half. Almost straight away we went down the other end, the ball reaching Ryan Prosser on the edge of the area. Surrounded by defenders he was unable to get in a shot, but was still good enough to retain possession and play the ball out to Marcus Griffiths in space on the right of the area. He put over a pinpoint cross to Aaron Cornwall 6 yards out for him to get in a header which a defender was unable to keep out.

There was still time for Evesham to mount another attack, which ended with the ball somehow being deflected just past the post for a corner which we were all glad to see well claimed by Giles Cutlan when it came across.

There was probably more incident in the last few minutes than the whole of the rest of the match. Although we probably shaded the match in the second half it could have gone either way, and it was the sort of game that was either going to finish 0-0 or produce just the one goal.

Man of the match for me was Ryan Prosser. An important and, literally in the end well-won 3 points which keeps us well in the play-off positions.

Kris Leek was sat in the players seats for the whole of the match in his civvies with a cap on his head.

Kris Leek injured apparently,another uninspiring home performance.M.O.M.for steve williams worked his socks off.

As it was the first match of the festive period I thoroughly enjoyed it although in truth, it was not very inspiring and failed to take off. Once again we failed to produce our away form at home, seemingly lacking the enthusiasm we display away from PP as far as closing down the ball is concerned. Evesham did come for a point and rarely troubled our defence until the last few minutes and on the balance of play we deserved the win. Good football led to the goal with Prosser doing well to hold the ball, slide it out to Marcus who sent in a superb cross for Cornwall to finish. I agree with the Imp in nominating Prosser as MOTM as his link up play was good and he did make the goalie work on occasions. I'd just like to see a little bit of devilment in his game and imposing himself a bit more on the opposing centre halves. A further couple of plus points from today's game - firstly the strength of the calibre of players on the bench and those not involved which demonstrate how well Sheppy and Danny have built the squad and secondly how well the pitch played after all the rain we've had recently. We've a hard month ahead with 7 further games to be played in January and the strength in depth we have should put us in an even better position come February.

Onwards and Upwards!

All sounds a bit Bishops Cleeve to me!