Media Watch - Yate Town

Merthyr Town star Kris Leek set for play-off return
South Wales Echo

Kris Leek, Merthyr Town’s influential midfield player, is set to return for the EvoStik Southern League play-offs.

Newport-born Leek won’t be fit for Merthyr’s final South and South West Division match of the season tomorrow, but is on target to be available for the play-off semi-final against Swindon Supermarine. Former Clevedon, Cwmbran and Newport County player Leek has been out of the Merthyr team because of injury. His return will be a major boost for joint managers Garry Shephard and Danny Carter.

Captain Steve Williams is ruled out by a hamstring injury with Luke Jones likely to continue in the right-back role.

The Martyrs, who could still finish third or fourth, travel to play Yate tomorrow, while Swindon take on Clevedon at home.

Top scorer Ryan Prosser, with 19 goals this season, leads Merthyr’s attack against Yate as Merthyr aim to finish third and earn a home tie.

It looks certain Merthyr will play Swindon in the play-offs, but they won’t know where the one-off game will be played until after the final whistles tomorrow. If Merthyr stay in third they will host the tie at Penydarren Park next Tuesday (7.45pm), while if Swindon can finish above their rivals the game will be played at their Supermarine Stadium on Wednesday.

Hungerford Town and Paulton Rovers are set to clash in the other semi-final next midweek, while the final will be played on Bank Holiday Monday, May 6. The team who finished highest of the two finalists in the final table will be at home.

Only one team is promoted automatically from the South and South West Division and Poole have already secured the title.

Poole were presented with the championship trophy after their final home match, against Swindon Supermarine and now face a play-off against the Central Division winners. They look certain to face Buckinghamshire outfit Burnham on Saturday, May 4.

This is the first season the two Division One winners will have met. The play-off has previously been contested between the Premier Division champions and League Cup holders.

Promotion Dream Over
Gloucester Gazette

Although they can no longer reach the play-offs as they head into their final game against Merthyr Town at Lodge Road on Saturday (3pm) Yate will be keeping a keen interest on events at Tiverton for two reasons.

The visitors there are Sholing, who are just one point behind Yate in the battle for sixth place, while their striker Lee Wort is level with Scott Wilson at the top of the league’s goalscoring charts with 28 goals.

Yate defenders Edd Vahid and Tom Seery are both rated doubtful due to shoulder injuries.

Wandering wrote:Merthyr Town star Kris Leek set for play-off return
South Wales Echo

Top scorer Ryan Prosser, with 19 goals this season, leads Merthyr’s attack against Yate as Merthyr aim to finish third and earn a home tie.

It looks certain Merthyr will play Swindon in the play-offs, but they won’t know where the one-off game will be played until after the final whistles tomorrow. If Merthyr stay in third they will host the tie at Penydarren Park next Tuesday (7.45pm), while if Swindon can finish above their rivals the game will be played at their Supermarine Stadium on Wednesday.

Hungerford Town and Paulton Rovers are set to clash in the other semi-final next midweek,

Poole were presented with the championship trophy after their final home match, against Swindon Supermarine and now face a play-off against the Central Division winners. They look certain to face Buckinghamshire outfit Burnham on Saturday, May 4.

This is the first season the two Division One winners will have met. The play-off has previously been contested between the Premier Division champions and League Cup holders.

Some errors and misleading statements in the above.

1. The figure of 19 goals for Ryan Prosser is evidently league goals only and taken from the Southern League website - however that's wrong, as a comparison with Merthyr's results on the same website shows he's actually scored 22 goals in the league (plus 4 in cups).

2. It's still possible for Swindon to finish above Hungerford, so these permutations for the play-offs are not quite correct (although they may be likely).

3. Poole's game against the Central Division winners is not a play-off game of any kind but a sort of friendly match on the lines of the FA Charity Shield.

Yes, there seem to be more holes in the South Wales Echo report than a piece of Gorgonzola cheese.First, they state Merthyr will be playing Swindon Supermarine and then later it looks almost certain they will play them. The final league places have not yet been deterimined.
Poole Town have been promoted; they don't have to win a play-off!

Clearly the standard of reporting on sports features has demised since the local papers were 'sappered' of their best staff....sappered of their best staff...did I already say that already is there a bad echo in here somewhere! .....boz

Bristol Post

Yate boss Cousins believes the disappointment of failing to claim a play-off spot should not deflect from what his players have achieved.

Cousins watched his injury-hit side suffer a dip in form to fall out of contention in the final weeks of a campaign during which the players enjoyed a financially-rewarding and historic run to the first round of the FA Cup.

The Bluebells also embarked on a record-breaking run of mid-season form, which saw them race into play-off contention after being bottom of the table in November, and Cousins said: "Once we get over the disappointment of missing out on the play-offs, we'll look back on what has been a great season for us.

"The FA Cup run will live long in the memory and the way we recovered our league form after a difficult start to the season was a great effort.

"It is a shame we couldn't quite see it through until the end, but I think injuries caught up with us over the last couple of months and that made life difficult."

Yate host Merthyr Town in their final game of the campaign tomorrow, before Cousins and assistant manager Michael Meaker begin their plans for a sustained promotion bid next season.

"We'd like to try to keep the nucleus of the squad together and then add a few new faces to make us even stronger," said Cousins, who is without skipper Edd Vahid and defender Tom Seery for tomorrow's game.