Cirencester v MERTHYR

Updates here (hopefully!)

Team: Cutlan, Newall, Alun, Rewbury, Colborne, harris, Newman, leek, Prosser, Cornwall, Traylor. Subs: marcus, preen, tubbs, jones, Howe

o-o h/t Merthyr had better of first half

HT 0-0

0-0 half time. Prosser hit the post after about 20mins. Right game. Submit have just shaded the 1st half.

Come on the Town

Clean sheet keep it up boys and leave Marcus come on for the last 8 minutes to make it 3 0 ....boz

63rd min subs: Preen and Jones on. Harris and Cornwall off

76th min sub. Leek off and Marcus Griffiths on

C'mon team. We need a win regardless of other scores,
So far YATE 0-SHOLING 1, PAULTON 0-0
dOES'NT MATTER ABOUT THESE, WE NEED 3 PTS.

F/T 0-0

FULL TIME, YATE 0 - SHOLING 1, PAULTON DREW 0-0.

A point away from home is better than a defeat....roll on to a barrel full against Taunton on Tuesday.... Play offs are calling....boz

0-0 fT. Yate lost. Swindon Drew

Not so bad looking at the other results games are running out its still in our hands....

I thought it would be a draw today.

Six needed from five now at most, no problem.

Lot of nerves about this time of the season......

MarkyMark - you just worry about your goalposts!!

It's going to be done and dusted before the last game- at Yate.

Three home games left - in five days as Merthyr look to the play-offs. Perhaps we can see three good attendances which are needed to boost the finances after the difficulties of late which saw the cash reserves dwindle. Join the Club for £10 or £5 concession and subscribe to Soccalot.
There will be bills in the summer but not much income so do your best! It's not just about what is on the field.

Thanks for the updates.

To update the 'points needed', I make it now that if we can get 7 more points from the three home games and the visit to Abingdon we're mathematically certain of a play-off place even if we then lose to Yate. Given our superior goal difference, 6 points would probably be enough.

That's to finish 5th. To finish above Paulton and be sure of 4th place we'd need (as things stand) 11 more points from 5 games - or probably 10 would do.

To finish 2nd or 3rd we've got to rely on Hungerford and Swindon dropping points.

Poole aren't confirmed as champions yet, but we can't catch them now.

Swindon pinched a point with an 89th minute goal.

I think two more home wins will put us safe....but let's beat Yate anyway....keep the run going strong and the form going....up the town ( to the league we belong)... Boz

It was a cold, miserable, damp day in Cirencester yesterday and it was a hard game and probably a draw was a fair result. In saying that we did have much the better of the first half. Playing with the wind, we had the same team that started at Didcot and we did attack from the off, testing the Ciren defence to the full. Initially, Garner in the Ciren goal who had had a great game at PP a few weeks ago had little to do other that to garner in a few crosses. We used the width of the pitch well, with Traylor looking particularly dangerous and we forced a few corners. Prosser got himself free in the area and sent in a good shot, from a similar position to where he scored his goal in Bridgwater, which zipped past Garner but it came back off the post. Traylor also had a shot saved by the keeper and then Rewbury hit a good left foot volley, when the ball dropped to him on the left hand side of the 6 yard box but Garner saved really well at his near post. Ciren created little with our back 4 standing firm with Colborne outstanding. Gilo had little to do other than to deal with a few crosses, long range efforts and field a few back passes. It was from one of those that Ciren nearly scored when his attempted clearance rebounded off an attacker who was closing down but Gilo made a smart save. Just before the break, Traylor got free just inside the 18 yard area and just as he passed the ball inside he was clattered by a Ciren defender and it looked like a clear penalty. However the referee didn't give it presumably because Trayls had got his pass away, but as that came to nothing then the 3 second rule should have applied and we should have had a penalty kick for the original foul. Had this incident happened outside the box, no doubt the referee would have given us a free kick but obviously didn't have the balls to award a penalty. It was interesting to see that it was only Danny who was talking to the referee as the teams left the field at half time as no doubt all the Ciren manager would have to say to him was "thanks"!

The wind seemed to strengthen at the start of the 2nd half and despite the prompting of Matthew & Leekie we created few chances. What we did have were mainly from set pieces with Colborne and Rewbs getting to the ball but their headers were either deflected or to wide. Rewbs did have another volleying opportunity and would have gone somewhere close had it not been deflected wide for another corner. Prosser was being well handled by the Ciren defence and their #2 was starting to shackle Traylor allowing him to do very little. Matthew, who was suffering from a virus was replaced by Scouser and Cornwall, who had had another disappointing game from my point of view was replaced by Preen. Matthew had been playing a holding role and the game became a bit more open after he went off with Ciren coming more into the game and they started to make a few incursions into our last third and also seemed to be first to the "second ball" and we were under a bit of pressure. Our back 4 dealt with everything well but there was the odd nervous moment. Marcus replaced Leekie who had felt a tightening of his hamstring and immediately we looked better going forward, although Ciren were bypassing our midfield with ease. The last few minutes saw both sides have good chances to win. Preen sent an excellent ball inside the left back and Marcus, who had been pointing to where he wanted it played to, used his pace to reach the ball first and looked odds on to score. However the combination of a slight dither and the speed of Garner coming off his line meant Marcus's effort was smothered. Ciren broke away and a cross from their right found a forward free in our area but Gilo made a superb save to keep it 0-0. Even the we still could have won it when Preen & Trayls combined on our left and the ball flew into the Ciren area but none of our forwards gambled and the chance was lost. The game ended with us on the attack but to no avail. My MOTM is a toss up between Rewbs & Colborne with Rewbs just shaving it for me as both defended excellently but Rewbs threatened more in the opposition box.

As I said, probably a draw was a fair result although we had much the better of the 1st half whereas Ciren probably only shaded the 2nd. The boys fought well and in the light of yesterdays other results a hard earned point was certainly better than nothing. I'm not really a mathematician but I think 2 wins will see us a certainty for 5th place and 3 wins and a draw from our last 5 games will see us 4th but that's assuming both Paulton & Yate win all their remaining games, and if the don't, it'll be in our favour. It's still possible we could finish higher than fourth but at this stage, whoever we'll meet will be a test. I'm confident we can beat any of the current play off contenders in a one off game either home or away.

Onwards & Upwards!