Media Watch - Bishops Cleeve

Posting this optimistic that the game will go ahead on the weekend!

Weather forecast for Saturday is good but prospects of heavy rain for four hours early on Friday evening.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2642705

Merthyr play-off forecast
Ian Caleb, Celtic Sport

MERTHYR Town will finish third in The Evo-Stik Southern League Division One (South and West), according to the Football Web Pages site prediction for this season. It forecasts Poole Town to win the title (14 points ahead of The Martyrs), Swindon Supermarine second, and Hungerford and Tiverton fourth and fifth, which are the other play-off spots.

There were six scheduled midweek fixtures, including Merthyr home to Taunton Town. But the table after the weekend, when six of the 11 matches beat the weather, saw Hungerford clear on top with 59 points from 27 games, Poole 51 points from 21 fixtures, Merthyr third 21 games played, 43 points, followed by Swindon Supermarine, 39 points, 19 games, and Tiverton Town, 36 from 22.

Merthyr still have hopes of finishing top but a play-off place will be a fine achievement after two successive promotions.

Hungerford struggled at home to overcome bottom club Bishops Cleeve by 1-0 on Saturday and the latter journey to Penydarren Park this Saturday (3pm). Bradley Gray hit the 82nd-minute winner from a poor encounter. But Bishops Cleeve, with a youthful side, battled all the way.

The Martyrs hope for a good following on Saturday as they aim to return to the Premier Division of the league, where they were three seasons ago when the old Merthyr Tydfil club was liquidated.

Merthyr are aware that the youngsters are the fans of the future. And under-16s pay just £1 to watch the side, adults £8, and £6 for seniors and students.

Bishops Cleeve, Gloucestershire, were despatched 3-2 in their home battle with The Martyrs in October after a dramatic last-minute winner on a difficult pitch. Bishops boss Alex Sykes knows plenty about The Martyrs. A former Mansfield Town player, he has been with Forest Green, helping them to the then Conference in 1998. He has also worn the shirt for Gloucester City under manager Tim Harris, who has also been in the Merthyr hot-seat.

But Garry Shephard and his co-manager Danny Carter will ensure that the Merthyr players are not rusty after the last three fixtures were postponed because of bad weather and will be demanding maximum points. Merthyr’s last match saw a 3-0 triumph at home to Mangotsfield.

Bishops Cleeve were due at Cinderford on Tuesday. Before then, they had won four of 19 games, drawn six and lost nine, with 25 goals for and 31 against. Merthyr were on 41 goals with 21 conceded, a defensive record bettered only by Poole and Swindon Supermarine.

Club secretary Jamie Mack has been busy rearranging called-off games. ”If we have a few more games called off, it will begin to become a concern,” he said. And the club face playing Tuesdays and Saturdays in some of the coming weeks.

We will be ready for 23 games in 84 days
Gloucestershire Echo

A SEIGE mentality will envelop Bishop's Cleeve's squad over the next 13 weeks – a spell in which they will be forced to play a staggering 24 games. A wet autumn followed by the icy blast of winter means that with just over a third of the season to go, the Villagers still have to play more than half of their Southern League fixtures.

Starting with tomorrow's trip to Merthyr Town, Cleeve will face 23 Evo-Stik League Southern Division One South and West games in 84 days. Throw in at least one tie in the Gloucestershire Senior Challenge Cup and the Villagers will barely have time to train or wash the kit between games with one coming every three-and-a-half-days.

Ready for the challenge that awaits, Cleeve boss Alex Sykes says that he is hoping to develop something of a Blitz spirit among his squad ahead of the long forthcoming slog.

"It's going to be difficult work, but we will be ready to face it," Sykes said. "There's no way that we can be up-tight about it – it's not going away and we've just got to get on with it. I said to the lads on Saturday after our game at Hungerford that however well we do over the next period of time, it is going to come from the group we've got. This next 13 weeks is going to test the squad massively both in the short and long term. We have to try and get some momentum going by claiming some results and then that will make each game thereafter that bit easier."

But, to put a fly in the already cloudy ointment, Cleeve face arguably one of their toughest tests of the season at Pennydarren Park tomorrow. Battles between Merthyr and Sykes go way back, even as far as an epic Southern League promotion battle between the Martyrs and Sykes' Forest Green in 1998.

"It's always a massively tough place to go, Merthyr, and I don't think that I have ever had an easy game there," Sykes said. "Whether it would be with Forest Green, Bath or Gloucester it's always tough and we know that we'll have to be on our game. Along with Hungerford they've probably been one of the best sides we've played this season so we know we will have to be on our game to get a result. But we battled well with Hungerford to hold them for 82 minutes last week and that can give us a bit of confidence going into this game."

Sykes will still be without forward Mike Tambling for the trip to Wales, with the former Gloucester City man still suffering with an ankle problem. Reserve team graduates Ben Maguire and Nick Rhodes will be in the squad after impressing at Hungerford.

Wandering wrote:We will be ready for 23 games in 84 days
Gloucestershire Echo

Sykes will still be without forward Mike Tambling for the trip to Wales, with the former Gloucester City man still suffering with an ankle problem.

The nephew of Bobby Tambling, whose Chelsea goalscoring record Frank Lampard is slowly closing in on.