Abingdon v MERTHYR

Keeper tried to prevent Cornwall taking a corner apparently. Both sent off.

F/t 0-0

If Swindon S lose to Poole on Thursday but beat Clevedon on Saturday at home, Merthyr will need a point at Yate to finish third. I think that is right.

Attendance was 85....

It is disappointing to lose Cornwall particularly as he was just coming into some form...but the squad is strong enough and talented enough to cope without him...I think it was more important not to lose than to win....Poole can do us another favour if they can get. Draw at marine on Saturday . A draw at yate would then be enough to get a home play off tie and keep the fans interest going to the last game....I for one will be going to Yate...to encourage the lads over the winning line.....c'mon the town...boz

Poole play Swindon SM on THURSDAY, we will know after that game what we need to do at Yate.

Swindon now have two home games against poole on Thursday and clevedon on Saturday.Does anyone know what is happening with Nathen. He has been out for some time now and there is no mention of him perhaps someone at the club can clarify the seriousness of his injuries

I agree with Tim's figures!

It seems almost certain we'll be playing Swindon in the semi-final - whether home or away still to be decided. Paulton can only catch Swindon if the latter lose both their games and Paulton have a big win away to Winchester in their last game (possible!).

Re Aaron Cornwall, I don't know for sure - but normally wouldn't his suspension only come into force for the final (if we got to it) rather than the semi-final next week. Jamie would know.

Swindon play Poole at home on Thurs and then are home to Clevedon on Saturday.So if they get three points in total, Merthyr will need a draw at Yate. I think Swindon will draw with Poole and beat Clevedon.....but, of course, anything could happen.
But on form, it looks like we will be at Swindon for the semi-finals play-off, the place where we ended our status as Merthyr Tydfil and where we played "our" first game back this season as Merthyr Town!
Whatever the outcome, it has been a good season imo.
I don't know about the Nathan Davies situation. I did hear that he could be OK for the play-offs. Perhaps tonight he was working, I don't know. This is the problem with midweek games, we are sometimes minus players through work commitments etc.
Yes, I think Cornwall would miss the semi-final.....but not absolutely sure.

Swindon SM could finish second! if they win their last 2 games (both at home) and Hungerford lose at Cinderford, both then would be on 84 points and it would all go down to goal diff.

Aaron Cornwall should be fine for both play-offs. I think his suspension starts from 14 days after this game so should start from Tuesday May 7th (ie. start next season). I think. Jamie will correct me if wrong but pretty sure.

I think at the best Swindon will draw with poole on Thursday and beat clevedon on Saturday unless joe perry can keep a clean sheet for us. we would then need to beat yate on Saturday which will be a hard task

cliffyboy wrote:Swindon SM could finish second! if they win their last 2 games (both at home) and Hungerford lose at Cinderford, both then would be on 84 points and it would all go down to goal diff.

Swindon's GD is three worse and they've scored more goals so they would end up 2nd.

I can't see Poole's players being so up for it on Thursday unfortunately.

Let's be cheerful! We are definitely in the play-offs - a truly excellent achievement after two successive promotions. So either we shall be at home with a bumper crowd to get behind the boys or, if we are away, well, hey, we have lost three fewer games away than at home all season. So it's win/win?

Sorry, I meant to say Cornwall would NOT miss the semi-finals of the play-offs. Secretary has confirmed the suspension would come into force at start of next season.
It's an exciting climax to the season. I don't know about a bumper crowd if we play at home!
But judging by the away record this season, I don't think the players will be too worried about an away game. The problem is that if it's away, a week's extra wages must be met for the players but with no gate receipts that week unless there is then a home game in the final!
But whatever the outcome, the first season for Merthyr Town in the SL can be recorded as aq creditable one.

Apparently, Swindon dominated the first half but wasted good chances. Poole came back into the game after the break.

With Rewbs & Tubbsy having work commitments and Leekie, Willo & Nathan still on the injured list we played with Log & Badger in the middle of our back 4 and Scouse & Jack on the flanks. Matthew, Alun & Newms made up the midfield with Preen, Traylor and Pross upfront. It was probably one of the most frustrating nights of football I've seen this season with us having 85-90% of the ball, being camped in the opposition half for virtually all the game but we just couldn't score and to be honest I lost track of the opportunities we did have, particularly in the 1st half.

We played up the slope in the 1st half and attacked from the off with Jack & Traylor combining well on the left. Foster, in the Abingdon goal made a couple of good saves, one in particular from Preen who had made a good mazy run into the box from the right and he unleashed a good shot which Foster put around the post. I think Prosser hit the bar with a shot and later missed getting his head on the ball from a good cross by Traylor who had found some room on the left. Newman had a couple of shots as did Traylor and we had some corners & set pieces but we just couldn't get that all important 1st goal. The keeper - who had played left back in their last game - did well and dealt with everything thrown at him competently but did waste time from the off, waiting to be approached before picking the ball up and then taking an age to distribute it upfield. After one kick out he did seem to suffer a slight hammy which the led to defenders taking goal kicks for the rest of the game, which inevitably slowed things down further.

The 2nd half continued in the same vein as the first but we created fewer chances as Abingdon defended with 8 or 9 men behind the ball and did so resolutely by fair means of foul, throwing their bodies on the line to block goal bound efforts. With the bus firmly parked we just couldn't find that bit of magic to provide the breakthrough and what chances we did have were blocked. Aza & Marcus replaced Pross & Preen to liven things up a bit and they immediately did so. Marcus made some good runs on the right but the final ball was still missing. Traylor did have one goal bound effort, which almost poleaxed their #4, Halliday but again the resulting corner was easily dealt with by the Abingdon defence who seemed to get to everything first and we were largely jumping to head the ball from static positions. Alex Long replaced Traylor to inject a fresh pair of legs but to no avail. Marcus had a clear heading opportunity at the far post but just couldn't get over it and the chance was lost. Abingdon did have good 5 minute spell towards the end of the half where we were committing more men forward and could have nicked an unlikely winner but luckily the forward missed his kick when alone in the box. Apart from that and a few crosses we were rarely troubled and I can't remember Gilo having to make a save. The referee who had shown very little inclination to get involved in hurrying up Abingdon lost control of the game and started making some bizarre decisions which annoyed both sides. The Abingdon #3 committed 4 fouls, each of which were worth a yellow but he didn't even get one and the #4 virtually ran through Newman, clattering him to the ground and still nothing. All this built up to an air of frustration and the game became fractious which led directly to the sending offs. We gained a corner on the left hand side, Foster wouldn't release the ball and Aza tried to get it off him. There was a bit of a wrestling match between them, virtually all the other players got involved with the upshot of Foster & Cornwall being sent off, although Cornwall would be available for a Play Off final should we reach there. It was handbags, really, and a couple of yellows would have sufficed but there was an assessor there so no doubt, the referee felt he needed to take stronger action, which if he had done so earlier in the game, would have prevented the incident happening. From the resulting corner the stand in keeper made a near post, clawing, fingertip save which sent the ball beyond the back post and from the resulting cross he did the same again, which probably summed up the game, and that was that. My MOTM last night is Matthew who prompted continuously from midfield.

Abingdon have recent history in frustrating better sides as they've drawn with Poole, Hungerford & Paulton in recent weeks and that is exactly what they did last night. They did defend heroically, with 2 banks of 4 and at times it resembled Rourke's Drift and it just wasn't our night. It wasn't pretty but Abingdon did what they had to do to get a point and they put their heart and soul into it, as well as a few strong arm tactics which the referee failed to punish. From our point of view we missed some chances but did pass the ball well on a difficult, hard, bumpy pitch but we did lack a bit of nous in the final 3rd. We did tend to over carry the ball and did lose it in potentially dangerous areas and a better side could have punished us.

Onwards & upwards to Yate.

A good performance from the lads, considering it was our 3 game in 4 days. However it was a poor result as even though Abingdon were heroic in defence, they were a very poor side who we failed to beat.

We were missing several players, Willo, Rewbs, Tubbs, Leek, Nathan (at least 3 of them would have started if available for me) however we were by the far the better side without causing Abingdon many problems, it looked a bit desparate in the final third.

I think the substitutions were a little strange last night, Preen and Prosser were having average games but were looking likely when they had possesion but they were taken off, immediately Marcus and Cornwall created a chance or two but after that we had nothing up front, no target, no out and out striker to cause the threat, and when Traylor was taken off moments later the draw was sealed as after this we only created half chances and best and lacked a bit of composure.

I cant be critical of the lads because they have all been superb, but in light of the Swindon result a win would have really benefited us last night in the quest for a home play off match to create a bit of excitement.

Now we have to go and win at Yate and hope a result of 2 goes our way, but Id like to echo what others have said, its been a tremendous season irrespective of what happens from now on in...

If we are away in the play-offs, will we again have the problem of some players having work commitments? These are the problems faced at non-League level, unfortunately. And such factors often have an impact on promotion and relegation issues. But work has to come first.

cliffyboy wrote:Yate won 2-1 at Bridgwater, !

Interesting to see that Bridgwater's goal was a penalty scored by their goalkeeper, Luke Purnell who played in Sunday's game.

Football is a funny old game sometimes and fate too plays a hand. It would be no surprise for the wheel of fortune to throw our lads at tie away at Swindon Supermarine the place we played last before we dropped three leagues....if nothing else it will be a great season finale for martyrs tv....and if we win...which we will anyway....and raise some sales for the DVD....I personally think a wider pitch at home will suit us ...but on a small narrow pitch at Swindon we will score hatfuls and our slower defence will not be so troubled without the bumpier pitch ....fate will decide in the form of Marcus griffiths.....or kris leek who scored there last time....boz

martyrant wrote:Aaron Cornwall should be fine for both play-offs. I think his suspension starts from 14 days after this game so should start from Tuesday May 7th (ie. start next season). I think. Jamie will correct me if wrong but pretty sure.

I am clarifying with the League, but in matches prior to the play offs it takes 14 days before ban takes effect, so as you say, 3 game ban will start Tuesday 7 May, which means Aaron will miss first 3 games of next season.

If somone is sent off in a play off match though, the suspension is immediate. So if a player is sent off in the semi and his team qualifies for the final, they will miss the final. If they don't qualify for the final the suspension will be the next competitive game at the start of the next playing season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV_mV6rlSmM&feature=youtu.be

Just watched the Abingdon highlights......shame there wasn't any....but at least we got a point.....I would hate to watch a team play like that at home....it is no wonder the fans sounded so delighted at a snore draw at home....there is always someone worse off than yourself ....imagine watching that every week...no wonder their crowds don't fill out a kebab shop....boz