MERTHYR v Poole

i have just read on the poole forum that some of their supporters have been threatened by our supporters and they are trying to get out with out any trouble i don't want to believe this the team put up a brave show let's not spoil it

My favourite film was yul brynner and the magificant seven but that had nothing compared to the magnificant nine who today outgunned poole and the referee

Today's team:-

Cutlan;
Williams,Thomas,Colborne,A.Griffiths;
Harris,Davies,Newman;
Cornwall,Preen;
Prosser;

Subs:
M.Griffiths for Prosser after about 65 minutes
Leek for Cornwall at the same time
Traylor for Preen at the same time
Rewbury
Howe

The formation today seemed to be with Aaron Cornwall and Garyn Preen playing behind Ryan Prosser.

After about 2 minutes a lucky break for Poole let an attacker in close to the line on the left, but Andrew Thomas made a good block to put the ball behind for a corner.

After about 6 minutes Alun Griffiths stumbled and lost possession fror Poole to break down the right, but the ball into the middle failed to find any of several attackers.

We gave the ball away again after about 17 minutes through Andrew Thomas resulting in a shot across goal and past the far post.

We'd hardly been in the game as ann attacking force, and it was against the run of play when we took the lead. Garyn Preen went on a run down the left, shook off a challenge, and put the ball across with his left foot for Ryan Prosser to turn it into the net.

After about 35 minutes Poole missed a chance when the ball reached a player on the corner of the 6-yard area, but he put his shot well over the bar. A couple of minutes before the break Giles Cutlan then had to make a good save, pushing away a 20-yard shot from the left of the area.

Then, moments before half time, a good corner from the left by Poole was met by a header close in and cleared off the line. I thought they were appealing that the ball had crossed the line, as it looked close from behind the goal, but then the linesman signalled a penalty, and Matthew Harris was sent off for handling the ball on the line. Poole's midfielder Steve Devlin sent Giles Cutlan the wrong with the spot kick, and while the 1-1 scoreline at half time was no more than Poole deserved it was unfortunate the way it came about.

Rather surprisingly we started the second half with Aaron Cornwall and Garyn Preen still on the pitch rather than with a midfielder on, maybe showing we weren't content just to hang on for a draw with 10 men.

But about 6 minutes into the half, Garyn Preen appeared to be fouled in midfield, but with the referee waving play on Nathan Davies then launched into a challenge which saw the ref produce an immediate red card. After a lengthy delay, in which we had a couple of players booked for protesting about the challenge on Garyn Preen, the Poole player was stretchered off.

We managed to hang on for a while, but on the hour mark Poole broke down the left, and when the ball was played into the middle there was a player free to put the ball into the net.

Down to 9 men with Ryan Newman the only recognised midfielder left on the pitch we still didn't make a change until after about 65 minutes, when we made a triple substitution - Marcus Griffiths replacing Ryan Prosser, Ian Traylor on for Garyn Preen, and Kris Leek in midfield in place of Aaron Cornwall.

We had one or two half chances then, when the ball didn't quite run for us in front of goal, but after about 75 minutes Kris Leek took a long throw on the left, and as the ball dropped we were given a penalty for handball. Marcus Griffiths took it, the pace of his shot beating the goalkeeper.

Giles Cutlan had to make a good save after about 81 minutes, and in added time (of which there was almost 10 minutes) a Poole player pulled a shot wide from 10 yards. They didn't really make the most of the other openings they had. At the other end Kris Leek did well to get to the line and put over a left foot cross which was just too high for Marcus Griffiths to make anything of.

Well, I often remark there are good draws and bad draws, and you couldn't get a much better draw than this one. Poole will definitely feel it was a bad draw, and yet it's still a point each however you look at it.

I couldn't believe it when no free kick was given for that challenge on Garyn Preen, but that doesn't excuse what Nathan Davies did. From what I've seen of him I wouldn't call him a dirty player, so I doubt if there was anything deliberate about it, but it was still a bad challenge. After that it was no surprise when Poole went ahead - the surprise was they didn't go on to make their extra 2 men pay off with another goal. To me they seemed to show a lack of enterprise, typified by when we had a corner late on they still had only two men up on the halfway line. On the other hand - and this is great credit to Garry Shephard and Danny Carter, we were still looking to win the game with only 9 men, still sending Gary Colborne and Andrew Thomas forward late on for throw-ins and corners, when nothing would have been easier than just to sit back and try and make sure of the draw.

Man of the match could have been almost anybody from the last 35 minutes or so, but over the whole match I'd pick Ryan Newman narrowly ahead of Steve Williams.

Well now I've taken a breath after that, what a crazy game!

Well done to the boys for that fighting spirit despite the odda being against us. The Ref had an awful game in my opinion, even some of his calls against Poole were a joke! Poole are a very physical side ans they use their size to their strength. We use our pace and try to play it on the ground (when we can). After today we know what we can do, so Tuesday is another big game!

Also I hope that the injured Poole players gets well soon! Never nice to see people get a bad injury so I hope its not as bad as it seemed. Nathan is a strong tackler but he's not a dirty player. That was a red in my eyes mind but as it's been said if it wasn't for the previous challenge being missed by the ref then it wouldnt have happened.

This will be an interesting one to edit for Martyrs TV!

Just read on the Poole forum that their player has not got a break but has ligament damage.

Merthyr Imp wrote:

Boz1964 wrote:I feel sorry for that Poole player...I hope his injury isn't as serious as it looked.
Boz

Broken leg according to the Poole Town forum. I did see an ambulance arriving as I left the ground at the end.

Further post on the Poole forum says he has not broken it but may have ligament damage.

VERY DISAPPOINTING DAY ALL ROUND. THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN A GOOD ADVERTISEMENT FOR FOOTBALL, 2 TOP TEAMS GOING FOR A 6-POINTER. I'VE SEEN THE POOLE COMMENTS AND MERTHYR HAVE NEVER BEEN CLASSED AS A DIRTY TEAM. NORMALLY WE ARE ON THE RECEIVING END OF BAD PLAY. I HOPE THE POOLE PLAYER'S INJURY IS NOT AS SERIOUS AS THOUGHT AND HE MAKES A SWIFT RECOVERY. THE REFEREE NEEDS TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR, MAYBE WE CAN GET HIM BANNED FROM OVERSEEING MERTHYR'S GAMES. VERY SOUR END TO IT ALL. WHATEVER SHOULD OR SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED, WITH REGARD TO FOUL TACKLES BY POOLE WHICH WENT UNPUNISHED AND CAUSED BAD FEELING, AT THE END OF THE DAY I THINK POOLE WILL WONDER HOW THEY DID NOT BEAT 9 MEN AND MAYBE THE DRAW WAS A VICTORY FOR MERTHYR GIVEN A REFERREE WHO DID NOT DO HIS JOB PROPERLY, ALTHOUGH THAT DOES NOT EXCUSE A DISABLING TACKLE THAT DOES A LOT OF DAMAGE. SHEPPY AND DANNY NEED TO HAVE A LONG TALK TO THEIR TEAM BEFORE THE GAME AGAINST SWINDON SUPERMARINE COS WE WANT A WIN IN THE BEST FASHION.

Solihull Martyr wrote:
I thought the away fans were excellent, both as company and in cheering on their team.

I agree with that, and what struck me particularly was that in all my years of football supporting I don't think I've ever heard such moderate language in chanting and singing!

I was at the game today. Was the first one I've been to since a 2-0 defeat to Corby Town a few years back in the old SPL. As an almost neutral (although I definitely was supporting Merthyr) Ihave to say it was fantastic entertainment for £8!!!

On the topic of Nathan's tackle; I have known Nathan personally for almost 10 years and can say hand on heart that he would not set out to hurt an opponent. He is hard as nails in the tackle and I think that today's incident was brought about by the Poole player going into the challenge half hearted. Take one look at Nathan's shin and it is abundantly clear who went in with their studs showing - it was not Nathan.

Unfortunate, and I wish him a speedy recovery but any suggestion of Nath going in to hurt the boy is very wide of the mark.

On a separate point, I will definitely be coming back again next time County are away.

After going down to 9 and being 2-1 down to get a draw seems like a win today. Credit Garry & Danny for changing it which got us our equaliser and if Marcus was an inch taller we might even have won it when he just couldn't stretch up for a header. We scored against the run of play a bit in the 1st half when one of our few quality passages of play led to Preen getting free on the left after getting past a static right back and sending in a lovely cross for Prosser to poke home. Where the referee got all that injury time in the 1st half I'll never know and it was probably pure instinct that led to Matthew handling the ball on the line. A red and a penalty was correct. As has been said the referee was inept throughout except for the big decisions and he just could not get the bread and butter ones correct and that led directly to Nathan's red. He is not a dirty player but he's a hard tackler and whether or not he mistimed it he did deserve the red. However it should have been avoided as a few seconds earlier he should have given us a free kick for a foul on Preeny on the touchline but he failed to see the bleeding obvious and that was that. His ineptness led to the sort of game it become. I sincerely hope their player makes a speedy and full recovery.

Poole are a good side but a bit one dimensional and failed to take advantage when we went down to 9 particularly when they had 12 on their side if we include the referee. We didn't play well today and no doubt only playing 2 games in the last 3 weeks made us a bit rusty. However we showed great fitness and determination to get something out of the game. It was great to see so many away supporters there today and they seem genuinely nice people and were great to Wayne and hopefully they don't think our ire directed at the referee was aimed at them. It certainly shouldn't have been as they were there to support their side and they did so well and hopefully we'll see them again next season. We always moan about having no away support at PP and when they do come we should treat them with respect as the vast majority of us do.

A great fighting performance by The Martyrs today. Appalling ref. Best wishes to the Poole Town player stretchered off. Hope he has a speedy recovery. Roll on Tuesday!

Gary shep.. sent off at half time.... ...

Poole player has not broken his leg. Needs MRI scan next week to check for ligament damage. Player is travelling home. Good news.

The first half was entertaining end-to-end stuff where honours were just about even, so Poole deserved their equaliser, though it's a shame that it happened as it did.
Nathan Davies's record shows that he is not in the business of committing cynical or malicious fouls and sometimes a misjudged or over-enthusiastic tackle can accidentally cause quite serious injury that appalls the player responsible as much as anyone else. As has been said, and I was right where Garyn Preen went down, he was the victim of a blatant foul and had the referee stepped in then, the subsequent foul by Nathan Davies and resulting melee would not have occurred. The lino was next to useless and seemed incapable of doing anything beyond flagging touch decisions. Referees must realise sometimes that the weight of protests they receive means they have missed something or got something wrong, and the answer is not to compound the error by booking experienced players or sending justifiably aggrieved managers to the stand. But then, as has been said many times before, the standard of refereeing in th SL is far below that of the Western League.
Full credit to our nine men for holding on so tenaciously for a well-earned draw, but such a pity that what began as an enjoyable game ended in needless frustration for all concerned.

Firstly best wishes to the injured Poole player hope he'll be ok.....
Dorsetyellow must normally be a chess or tiddleywinks supporter if he thought Merthyr's crowd was threatening or nasty..all I saw was a good welcome from one non-league crowd to another.As for comments that we celebrated a draw at the end...WE CELEBRATED 9 MEN PLAYING AGAINST 12 AND HAVING THEM ON THE ROPES AT TIMES.....Anyway best wishes for the rest of the season to Poole and its supporters

ncfc wrote:I was at the game today. Was the first one I've been to since a 2-0 defeat to Corby Town a few years back in the old SPL. As an almost neutral (although I definitely was supporting Merthyr) Ihave to say it was fantastic entertainment for £8!!!

On the topic of Nathan's tackle; I have known Nathan personally for almost 10 years and can say hand on heart that he would not set out to hurt an opponent. He is hard as nails in the tackle and I think that today's incident was brought about by the Poole player going into the challenge half hearted. Take one look at Nathan's shin and it is abundantly clear who went in with their studs showing - it was not Nathan.

Unfortunate, and I wish him a speedy recovery but any suggestion of Nath going in to hurt the boy is very wide of the mark.

On a separate point, I will definitely be coming back again next time County are away.

Take a look at the video footage, you may change your mind on the tackle

Well, I'm sure that Nathan Davies didn't intend to hurt Glen Howes but I don't think there could be any argument about the red card.It seemed inevitable.
Best wishes to the player for a speedy recovery.
But it was disappointing to see the referee get an unfriendly reception at the final whistle from some fans. That sort of behaviour does not do any favours to any club.

The fans reaction was inevitable after his performance..............

Blandford dolphin wrote:

ncfc wrote:I was at the game today. Was the first one I've been to since a 2-0 defeat to Corby Town a few years back in the old SPL. As an almost neutral (although I definitely was supporting Merthyr) Ihave to say it was fantastic entertainment for £8!!!

On the topic of Nathan's tackle; I have known Nathan personally for almost 10 years and can say hand on heart that he would not set out to hurt an opponent. He is hard as nails in the tackle and I think that today's incident was brought about by the Poole player going into the challenge half hearted. Take one look at Nathan's shin and it is abundantly clear who went in with their studs showing - it was not Nathan.

Unfortunate, and I wish him a speedy recovery but any suggestion of Nath going in to hurt the boy is very wide of the mark.

On a separate point, I will definitely be coming back again next time County are away.

Take a look at the video footage, you may change your mind on the tackle

Nathan is a tough player but not dirty. He has suffered with injuries himself over the years, and would not set out to intentionally hurt anyone. Both players went into the tackle strongly, and Nathan himself was hurt in the collision, although Howes came off worse.

Spoke to Poole this morning, looks like Howes has not broken his leg which is good news. He is having an MRI scan to assess ligament damage.

Everyone at the club wishes him a speedy recovery.

Royston Rogers wrote: Firstly best wishes to the injured Poole player hope he'll be ok.....
Dorsetyellow must normally be a chess or tiddleywinks supporter if he thought Merthyr's crowd was threatening or nasty..all I saw was a good welcome from one non-league crowd to another.As for comments that we celebrated a draw at the end...WE CELEBRATED 9 MEN PLAYING AGAINST 12 AND HAVING THEM ON THE ROPES AT TIMES.....Anyway best wishes for the rest of the season to Poole and its supporters

No point in hiding behind handles, I post as Dorset Yellow on the PTFC forum. I have for the 30 years before my involvement with Poole Town followed a Football League side in all of the top 5 divisions, plus home and away national football. Yesterday was my 152nd football ground. I have been in some pretty hairy situations in my time and let me be clear, at no time yesterday did I PERSONALLY feel threatened.
However I am also a Director of PTFC and three of our fans have recounted to me how they were all verbally abused and/or threatened independently yesterday. At least two of them and I believe also the third were called English C...S. A group of your supporters threatened to kill the English C in on situation. I did say in my post on our forum that it was a minority and accept that in the whole we were made welcome. Your officials hosted us tremendously.
It has also been noted on this thread that we do not sing expletives. Something we are very proud of. We overlooked the fact that some of your fans in our Main Stand at Tatnam were singing Shit Ground, no fans. We never sink to that level. You may have heard us sing, have your kiddies got Tourette's? That was in response you one of your youngsters in the FAMILY stand telling us to F Off. The same youngsters moved behind our goal in the secondhalf and found it amusing to throw stones at us.
To top the day off, I did not get back until closer to 11pm as I had to collect a player from Accident and Emergency and take him home to face the realisation that he will be out for at best a long time and being thirty ........... well you can guess the rest.

I turned my back on the Pro Game in 2008 and have loved the non league scene ever since. I may have caught you on a bad day, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.

To the genuine fans, weed out the bad apples!

Good morning to the Poole town guests on our forum.

I genuinely wish your injured player a speedy recovery.

No one wants to see amateur players get hurt.

That is not what football is about.

I apologise on behalf of the genuine fans if any Tourette suffering children were throwing stones or swearing.

This is the first time I have heard of such reports in my 36 years following ur club.

Yes there is always Banter but there is no place for threats or language of that sort in our community club.

Perhaps your fan who was abused could give us a physical description of the offender and we can see if the incident is picked up on martyrs tv.

I have no doubt of its accuracy...next time please ask your fans to join us in the seats for good humour and banter and none of the above.

Apologies but most of us adults offer you a welcome in the hillsides whatever the result.

Boz

Abusive behaviour is a disgrace. Threatening behaviour is a criminal offence. I know that the Poole Town and Merthyr Town fans have set up a friendly link this season which should not be jeopardised by an out of control SMALL MINORITY. Any miscreants should be weeded out as they are of no value to the club.
We mustn't let that detract from the courageous way Merthyr battled throughout even when down to nine men. And they didn't just defend; they still attacked and could even have snatched a winner.
In reality, it was amazing that Poole failed to win against nine men. I expect Tommy Killick had something to say to them afterwards.
Earlier in the game, we saw some tough tackling but it was generally not a dirty encounter. Whatever people thought of the referee, he is entitled to respect. The country is short of referees. Perhaps some people who think they could do better should start to qualify in the post.

Tim Drummond wrote:Whatever people thought of the referee, he is entitled to respect. The country is short of referees. Perhaps some people who think they could do better should start to qualify in the post.

Yes, while I can't say I never make any critical remarks of a referee myself, I often wonder how many games some of the more outspoken critics have refereed themselves at any level never mind semi-professional.

Perhaps your fan who was abused could give us a physical description of the offender and we can see if the incident is picked up on martyrs tv.


Well the Camera I use up in the Gantry can't really pick up much speech clearly, apart from Garry and Danny below me but sometimes that can depend on the crowd as well. I know Laura on the other camera was behind the goal we were attacking so I doubt she picked anything up. If anything was caught then obviously we would hand the footage over to the board.