MERTHYR v Winchester

Can I be the first to say it?

Winchester were lucky to get nil.

Today i thought I was back at taff's well not for the cricket scoreline but the sunshine ...ten nil was a thrashing but I suspected it was going to be a walkover when their substitutes bench had the cast of boy zone and Harry styles from the wanted upfront....no wonder it was all one direction....but penydarren park was all smiles as captain Mattie Harris...braziliant as ever scored on his veteran debut in charge....when the rest of the team left him to walk out from the tunnel on his own...little did they know he could have played Winchester on his own....just happy to see the side safely off without further injury.....I hope willo wil be fit for the play offs although badger had a good game in his luminous floodlight failure proof green boots....leaky and newman ran the show today and gilo was busy playing on his mobile phone for most of the half...I said to the Winchester central defender sat next to me in the stands in the second half....I didn't see you being substituted ...he said he hadn't been....smiles all around....three points...a huge boost to the goal difference and players rested second half....a second hattrick for Marcus in our sponsored shirt...fans go home happy and a good advert for the fairweather fans to tell their neighbours...confidence is returning.....onwards and upwards to a more difficult round of away games..Yate will be the cruncher....boz

Both Yate and Paulton won as did Swindon & Poole. Hungerford drew at home in front of 68 spectators!

BEST WISHES TO WINCHESTER FOR THE NEAR FUTURE AND MORE DISTANT.I'm sure a lot of the young lads playing today will develop into excellent players in the future.As for the plight of your Club we've been there ourselves on a few occasions and somehow survived.I hope nobody in Merthyr is gloating "these boys playing today do not deserve that"......Once again hope to see you again when things are better.

Totally agree with Royston

Old Sod wrote:Both Yate and Paulton won as did Swindon & Poole. Hungerford drew at home in front of 68 spectators!

Yes, so we needed that win! with both Yate and Paulton winning, still 5th 2pts above Yate, we have a game in hand though over Yate. Play-offs beckon, but we will need to keep picking up points in the next couple of games.

Highlight of the day today was not the screamer scored by kris leek or the belter scored by garyn preen but the way the Merthyr crowd in the stand applauded Winchester and their substitutes off the pitch....there was no gloating by any of the martyrs fans that took the time to applaud both teams off the pitch....especially the Winchester youngsters who some looked as if there may still be eligible to play for their school teams....but as a martyr cruel as it may seem 10 0 sends a message out to our rivals that we mean business.....boz

Today's team:-

Cutlan;
Newall,Thomas,Colborne,A.Griffiths;
Leek,Harris,Newman;
Cornwall;
Prosser,Traylor;

Subs:
M. Griffiths for Prosser after about 50 minutes
Preen for Traylor at the same time
Howe for Harris after about 65 minutes
Jones
Rewbury

As expected, Steve Williams wasn't fit to play, and while Jamie Rewbury was in the squad, and there, he didn't take any part in the warm-up.

It was 1-0 after about 10 minutes - a long free kick from out on the right taken by Ryan Newman was headed back across goal for Ryan Prosser to turn it into the net.

About 3 minutes later Kris Leek put Ryan Prosser away down the right. He put the ball across to Aaron Cornwall, but he was unable to turn it in at the near post. However, the ball came out as far as Kris Leek and he had an easy task to slot it into the net from 20 yards. About 2 minutes later it was 3-0. Ryan Prosser beat his man close to the goal line on the left and put the ball across goal for Matthew Harris to turn it in.

The 4th goal came after about 25 minutes with a break down the right after Aaron Cornwall had battled for the ball. Jon Newall was put free, and squared ball across for Ryan Prosser to turn it into the net. About 5 minutes after that there was a good save from the Winchester keeper to push away a 25-yard shot from Ian Traylor.

About 3 minutes before half time there was yet another Martyrs hat trick for Ryan Prosser after Ian Traylor and Aaron Cornwall had combined well. The ball went out to Prosser on the left of the area and he slotted it past the keeper to make it 5-0.

Giles Cutlan had had little to do in the half except deal with a handful of back passes, from one of which he took a knock as a player challenged, and it was a little worrying to see him slightly limping off at the interval.

It could have been 6 a couple of minutes into the second half, but when Aaron Cornwall crossed from the left Ryan Prosser glanced his header just wide of the far post. About 3 minutes later Kris Leek was presented with the ball by a defender about 25 yards out and sent a dipping shot over the keeper to get the 6th goal. Ryan Prosser was then substituted, Marcus Griffiths coming on, and Garyn Preen replaced Ian Traylor. Aaron Cornwall then played more as the target man up front.

There was a quiet spell then, as it began to look as if it might be one of those games where there are a lot of goals in the first half and few afterwards, and we'd not looked as threatening as before the substitutions.

After about 65 minutes Jack Howe came on for Matthew Harris, with Alun Griffiths moving into midfield. Griffiths then put a shot inches over the bar on about 73 minutes after Aaron Cornwall had laid the ball back to him.

It was 7-0 after about 77 minutes. a long cross from Jon Newall was headed back across goal by Aaron Cornwall for Marcus Griffiths to win a header and put it into the net. About 5 minutes later Cornwall was involved again when he held the ball up on the line on the left before squaring it across for Ryan Newman to have a shot blocked, but Marcus Griffiths was on hand to scramble the ball home for 8-0.

After about 83 minutes it was 9-0 when Garyn Preen lobbed a left-foot shot over the keeper from about 25 yards, and 10-0 almost straight away when a Ryan Newman free kick on the right was delivered beyond the far post for Andrew Thomas to head it back for Marcus Griffiths to turn it into the net.

Well, you have to wonder how Wimborne only beat Winchester 1-0 on Monday, but there were several changes to their team for that match, so maybe it explains it. We're probably lucky that they were able to raise a team at all. It's certainly the most one-sided game I've ever seen, and it was reminiscent of some of the visitors to Taffs Well, but even the worst of those were not outclassed like today. Winchester did win a corner in the second half, but I don't think they otherwise mounted a worthwhile attack all game.

We certainly took advantage to boost our goal difference, which was better than our rivals before, and massively better now! Of those rivals, only Paulton have a game to come against Winchester - at Winchester on 27th April.

I would have said Ryan Prosser was man of the match, for making no mistake with the chances he had in the first half, but he was only on the pitch for 50 minutes, so I'd say Aaron Cornwall - as although he didn't score he was involved in several of the goals. Giles Cutlan had almost nothing to do, and the defence was scarcely troubled. It was a good game for Nathan Davies to miss as we didn't need his sort of player at all today. Marcus Griffiths didn't actually do a great deal apart from be on the spot to score 3 goals, and Garyn Preen was maybe a little disappointing at times - but still scored a great goal, which I'd still put second to Kris Leek's second as 'goal of the match'.

An efficient performance and a valuable win for Merthyr and the goal difference factor may help.
But I doubt if anyone is gloating about Winchester, with memories of our own desperate predicament all too recent. The Winchester boys never stopped trying and there is no shame when you have done your best.
All good wishes to Winchester for a brighter future.

hirwaunman wrote:An efficient performance and a valuable win for Merthyr and the goal difference factor may help.
But I doubt if anyone is gloating about Winchester, with memories of our own desperate predicament all too recent. The Winchester boys never stopped trying and there is no shame when you have done your best.
All good wishes to Winchester for a brighter future.

this ^^ Their lads in all fairness didnt stop trying they looked dejected which is understandable. Their number 3 looked about 15 and the goalkeeper seemed to miss everything but they did keep at it and I hope their club can complete their remaining fixtures and they are able to continue. Nice to see some sun in Merthyr today mind I nearly needed my -->

i would like to add my best wishes for the future to Winchester
fair play too their young team they kept going to the final whistle.We had
job to and the team done it in a professional manner.

Winchester are better off than Woodford of The SL Div 1 Central. They have yet to gain a point from 36 games.
Ryan Prosser has now netted 16 league goals this season, only eight players scoring more in our division, including former Tiverton man Joe Bushin who should be an asset to our rivals Paulton now that he has joined them.

Well done to the Imp for noting everything that went on today - superb as usual.

It was literally a case of men against boys today but you can only play what's put in front of you and we were efficient, clinical and professional and what's more we kept going to the end. Did I feel sorry for Winchester? As a football watcher, yes, but as a Merthyr Town supporter, no. We did what we had to do and did it well. We scored some very good goals today with Leekie's second being the pick of the bunch, closely followed by Preeny's although I also like Pross's third as the build up play was superb and he took it really well.

As has been said, the Winchester lads gave everything and were clearly very dispirited towards the end and I really hope that they and their club can bounce back from the plight they are in, even if it means taking a step backwards and coming back stronger. We've been there and know how hard it is but the difference is that our players stuck with us whereas most of the established Winchester players have left. Hopefully the supporters organisation they have formed will do as well as we have done. I remember years ago we put 10 past Rushden and look what happened to them after that. Yes, they've slipped back now but they did have some marvellous seasons in between. Good luck to Winchester for the rest of the season and in the future.

Tim Drummond wrote:-

Winchester are better off than Woodford of The SL Div 1 Central. They have yet to gain a point from 36 games.
Ryan Prosser has now netted 16 league goals this season, only eight players scoring more in our division, including former Tiverton man Joe Bushin who should be an asset to our rivals Paulton now that he has joined them.

Ryan Prosser has infact scored 21 league and 4 cup goals sofar this season 25 in total.

I felt a bit sorry for Winchester, well a bit! I think some of their subs were revising for their GCSE's.

A great mental boost for us after the dip in form!

Cheers, Gordon. I thought Ryan's tally was more than that. I just had a hasty check on the SL site but it probably wasn't up to date! They were too busy verifying the Merthyr score today, I think!

Those figures on the Southern League website are only up to 28th March. As of today, Ryan Prosser has now scored 5 more in the league since then - current total is 25 in all competitions, as stated.

http://www.southern-football-league.co.uk/scorers/south-and-west.asp?section=top-goalscorers

This is on top of 24 goals last season, and 20 the season before when he didn't join the club until nearly the end of October.

My second game of the season today up at Merthyr seeing as Newport played last night. I should come more often. In the two games I've been two I've seen 14 goals (the last game being Poole), 2 red cards, and lots of entertainment.

Was good to see Merthyr playing the game out professionally and keeping the ball moving I thought, as it's easy to hog possession and try and go for glory yourself when it's that easy. A few peaches in there as well with Leek and (I think) Preen's long distance goals.

Next game for me will be Yate away on the 27th April as County's season will be over and we'll be playing in the play-offs on the Sunday.

PS. I actually said before the game that I thought today would be 10-0 ...... honest!!!

I said "We should have a FEW goals today." lol...

Winchester have another meeting on Wednesday night to discuss their future. On their messageboard, fans wrote they thought the score 10-0 was an error and should have been 1-0!

Tim Drummond wrote:Winchester have another meeting on Wednesday night to discuss their future. On their messageboard, fans wrote they thought the score 10-0 was an error and should have been 1-0!

Well let's hope they don't fold as it would mean a 6pts deduction and plus 13 goals lost!!

Dropping out now would surely end up in massive fines and penalties? They will surely see out the season with only a few games left?

Yes, I think they want to carry on with the promise of a former owner taking over. Some fans have already made donations to help out short-term.
However, if the club quit during the season and folded, there would not be anyone there to pay any fines. Troedyrhiw FC folded before the end of last season. They were fined for not fulfilling a fixture and fined for resigning from the South Wales Amateur League during the season. They paid one debt they owed, didn't pay the fines from the league. The league then said they would try and get the money from the players who were on the club's books at the time. I don't really know what happened!
Let's hope Winchester carry on. But there could be a problem re midweek games which may have to start early as I don't think they will have the use of lights from what I have read.

Dave Malone has promised to return as owner to rescue Winchester with current owner Paul McCarthy stepping down. McCarthy feared the club could fold like another Hants club, Andover, two years ago.
MrCarthy reduced the club's debts from £95,000 to around £10,000 but couldn't do any more.Sponsors Denplan have paid for improvements to keep the team in the league. The city council also want to keep a club in Winchester. Good luck to all at the club,I say.

we can only beat whats infront of us but i thought winchester kept their heads up as well as poss & it will surely serve as a learning curve for a lot of their youngsters...so hope they hang in there !!

ps imp...bought a programme & a few pints lol