Cinderford v MERTHYR

Soz stuck in London

Cutlan, Newall, Howe, Thomas, Colbourne, Rewbury, Williams, Leek, Prosser, Cornwall, M. Griffiths. Subs: Preen. Traylor, Jones, Harris, A. Griffiths

H.T 0-0

H/t 0-0. Not much to report so far...

Sounds jolly exciting.

We have missed a couple of great chances to score.

71st min sub. Cornwall off and Preen on

78th min sub. Griffiths off and Traylor on

85th min sub. Newall off and Jones on

0-0 F.T

Full time 0-0. We had some definite chances to score, especially in the second half, but couldn't produce an accurate finish. And I'm told it was cold!!

Yate won 2-1 away at Abingdon.

Doesnt sound like there was anything to cheer about...at least we kept a clean sheet...even if it was an ice sheet...let's get to the play offs ...we now we are good enough for the premiership...boz

Poole beat Sholing 2-1. That's our second draw at Cinderford this season, plus a Boxing Day trip washout!
Yate are on the march. We must be on the right track at Didcot and signal our intentions from the start. We don't want to come off the rails!

Quite right time...we don't want any missed carriages of justice and the martyrs promotion bid being derailed...hope the boys don't get the wrong kind of balls on the track.....only the good sidings will make the play offs....boz

112 at Cinderford, 58 at Abingdon, 232 at Poole and 65 at Tiverton....

Martyrs stay 4th on 59 points, 15 points behind Poole with one game in hand.

Why isn't our best attacking player, Traylor, starting games? Bringing him on with 12 minutes to go is too late when we need the 3 points. He seems to be out of favour in the current starting line up but he should be one of the first names on the team sheet.

Vaughany wrote:Why isn't our best attacking player, Traylor, starting games? Bringing him on with 12 minutes to go is too late when we need the 3 points. He seems to be out of favour in the current starting line up but he should be one of the first names on the team sheet.

I don't know for sure, but I've heard he's not fully fit.

Yes, from all accounts Traylor is not fully fit and so he has been on the bench most of this year 2013. It does mean that much reliance is put on Prosser to get the goals.

I turned up with a bit of trepidation after the Boxing Day fiasco but the pitch was OK with the going firm. It was freezing cold though and unfortunately the action on the pitch made it a forgettable encounter which is why I can't remember too much of the detail.

We played down the slope and with the wind in the first half with a back 3 of Rewbs, Tubbsy & Colborne and Badger on the right and Jack on the left pushing on. Willo was in midfield with Leekie & Cornwall and Pross & Marcus upfront. We pressed from the off and on pressure we deserved a half time lead but we created little more than half chances. Jack had oceans of space on the left which we didn't exploit with the majority of our play down our right. When the ball did come out to Jack invariably the earlier space had been closed down. We had a few near things with headers from set pieces and a couple of longish range shots but in my opinion we didn't use the elements to our advantage and we should have had a few more pops at goal. Due to the slope a few through balls run out of play but Prosser did manage to rest a lost cause out of one of them and created a chance which brought a good save from the keeper. We went to sleep a little bit at the back for about 5 minutes before the break and allowed 2 shooting chances both of which went wide of the post without troubling Gilo.

We continued to pressurise in the 2nd half but Cinderford with the elements behind them looked dangerous on the break. It seemed to suit us playing up the slope as the ball was holding more and this time most of our play seemed to be on our left which suggests the pitch was on a tilt! We created much the clearer chances and Tubbsy had a free header from a corner which he should have done better with but he headed it well wide of the goal. Marcus had a half chance that was beaten out and the rebound fell to Badge on the right edge of the 6 yard box but the keeper made a good save. Cinderford, playing very much on the break did create a few chances but as Saturday, Gilo was rarely troubled. Rewbs did make one possible goal saving tackle in the 18 yard area and came away majestically with the ball. We made the 3 substitutions as reported elsewhere on here in an effort to change things and Traylor made a nuisance of himself on the left and could have scored 2 but one shot went narrowly wide and the other was well saved by the keeper.

On pressure and chances we deserved the win but we did not do as well in the last third of the field as we normally do with a few passes going astray. My MOTM would be Tubbsy again as he is in a rich vein of form at the moment.

I don't think Traylor is 100% fit and maybe did enough to earn a start on Saturday but that does depend on the formation we play. Probably we'll go with 3 at the back again and unless we play Traylor upfront with Prosser having players on the wing does detract from the play of the 2 wing backs and they tend to get in each others way. Willo had an impressive game in midfield last night but assuming Nathan - who missed last night due to work commitments - comes in, Willo can go back to his usual position instead of Badge who looked absolutely knackered when he came off last night.

We should have won the game, and apart from a 5/10 minute spell at the end of the first half when Cinderford created a few quick fire chances, we dominated proceedings, but without creating many clear goal scoring opportunities, and this was mainly down to our own doing.

At times we werent sharpe enough, the movement in the attacking third was poor (until the management screamed) then any space had long since been occupied by Cinderford defenders, and when we did strectch them we took too many touches and players failed to lift their heads up to pick out others in better more advanced positions, this suggests a lack of confidence for me, but the lads were excellent on Saturday so its a strange one.

Having said all that another clean sheet (3 in a row now) and 1 defeat in 16 games (away vs Paulton) so its not all bad, plus even though Cinderford are a limited side, they have only lost 1 in the last 8 matches so they have obviously improved.

Keep going lads, the playoffs are goal, then who knows... Lets do it...!!

UP THE TOWN

I was really disappointed last night. We certainly dominated in the first half, passing from one side of the pitch to the other, which looked nice, but when we got it towards their goal, we didn't seem to know what to do next. In the second half we just kept whacking it over the bar! They had way too many close chances and our defence looked as solid as custard. It was obvious Traylor should have been on from the start, and Matty Harris and Preeno also who would have provided the penetration needed. I am not gone on this rotation bollocks as it can mean the most effective players have to sit it out, like last night.When are they being saved for, the play-offs? If we carry on like this, dropping points against the likes of Cinderella, Cirensoft and Paul-the-other-one, we won't make the flippin' play-offs!

There's a report on the Cinderford website:-

http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/cinderfordtown/news/town-gain-well-earned-point-893805.html

Llewmorc wrote:I was really disappointed last night. We certainly dominated in the first half, passing from one side of the pitch to the other, which looked nice, but when we got it towards their goal, we didn't seem to know what to do next. In the second half we just kept whacking it over the bar! They had way too many close chances and our defence looked as solid as custard. It was obvious Traylor should have been on from the start, and Matty Harris and Preeno also who would have provided the penetration needed. I am not gone on this rotation bollocks as it can mean the most effective players have to sit it out, like last night.When are they being saved for, the play-offs? If we carry on like this, dropping points against the likes of Cinderella, Cirensoft and Paul-the-other-one, we won't make the flippin' play-offs!

Matthew was injured after a couple of heavy tackles he received against Hungerford which is the reason he wasn't even on the bench. Traylor is not 100% which is why he's being managed slowly back into contention for a start and should be back up and running before the play offs and raring to go as will the rest of the squad who will all have had game time under their belts. Looking at play offs in most divisions it's the team that is coming into form that are usually the more dangerous and if we are having a slight blip it's best to have it now rather than later in the season in the run in.