MERTHYR v Cirencester

Updates here!

Team: Bradley Green Davies Bauza Wright Rewbury Morgan Williams (G) McLaggon Newman Traylor.
Subs: Summerfield Harris Leek Jenkins Prosser

1-0 up. Gavin Williams in the 4th min. Kerry earlier hit the crossbar.

McLaggon goal incorrectly disallowed for offside 12mins.

1-0 half time

2-0. Wright with a header in the 55th min

70th min sub. Newman off and Leek on
76th min sub. Morgan off and Jenkins on
88th min sub. McLaggon off and Prosser on

F/t 2-0. £3k to the good! Well done lads!

Evesham drew 2-2 so no game Tuesday

Great win

Today's team:

Bradley;
Green,Rewbury,Wright,Davies;
G.Williams;
Traylor,Bauza,Newman,Morgan;
McLaggon;

Subs:

Leek for Newman after about 69 minutes
Jenkins for Morgan after about 75 minutes
Prosser for McLaggon after about 88 minutes
Summerfield
M.Harris

The team was the same as that which started the second half against Yate. Gethin Jones started at right back for Cirencester.

After some pressure at the start from Cirencester, we put in an attack, with Ian Traylor through on the right of the area putting the ball across to be parried away by the goalkeeper. The ball was then worked back across to Kerry Morgan who hit a great volley that hit the angle of bar and post. We continued to press and after barely more than 3 minutes Gavin Williams hit a great first-time shot from 25 yards which flew past the keeper into the net.

After about 11 minutes Kayne McLaggon had a goal ruled out for offside.

Cirencester's left back then had to go off injured and was replaced by the prolific former Swindon Supermarine striker Josh Parsons making his debut for them. Their readjustment saw Gethin Jones move into the middle of defence.

After about 18 minutes Ian Traylor, on the left of the area, put a shot just wide of the far post. We were on top for most of the rest of the half, and on about 36 minutes following a corner the ball was cleared to the opposite side for Ian Traylor to cross to Kayne McLaggon at the near post but he put his header over the bar.

The nearest Cirencester came to a goal in the half was from a corner which was headed 2 yards wide of the far post. Straight afterwards we went down the other end and Ian Traylor had a shot which was pushed away well by the keeper.

It was a deserved lead at half time, but after the break Cirencester really pushed us back, but their only moment of danger came after about 52 minutes with a shot straight at Tom Bradley. It was rather against the run of play when we scored again. Kayne McLaggon won a corner on the left when he had a shot blocked, and when Gavin Williams swung it over Jamie Rewbury was unable to get his head on it at the far post, but Jarrad Wright behind him was unchallenged to head inside the post for his 3rd goal in 3 games.

Tom Bradley had to parry a shot over the bar after about 58 minutes as Cirencester continued to press as we defended deeper with Kerry Morgan often chasing back to good effect. But Kayne McLaggon's pace was always a handful for the tall Cirencester defenders, and on about 60 minutes he broke down the left, cut inside and fired in a shot which the keeper parried with Ian Traylor just unable to get a touch on the ball.

Kris Leek replaced Ryan Newman with about 20 minutes or so to go, and there were fresh legs after about 75 minutes when Corey Jenkins came on for Kerry Morgan, and a few minutes before the end when Ryan Prosser gave Kayne McLaggon a rest.

Well. a deserved win. Cirencester had their moments, but Tom Bradley was equal to anything they could manage when they did get through the defence - possibly our best defensive display in a home match this season.

Difficult to choose a man of the match as everyone had a good game. Personally, I'd say Gavin Williams, but there's no doubt Kayne McLaggon was a real handful throughout for the Cirencester defenders, often winning the ball in the air against players who were all much taller than him. Adam Davies also took the eye, and Ryan Green had his usual steady game. I'd also rate it as the best game I've seen from Guillermo Bauza. Ian Traylor, with a bit more luck could have had a goal.

The really encouraging thing is we were a match for a side mid-table in the Premier Division.

A useful £2,700 better off, and let's hope for a good draw in the next round.
One slight drawback is we were due to play Fleet Town away on the date of the next round so that will mean a long midweek trip there when that game is rearranged.

Great result! Well done the boys!

What was the crowd??

307.

That's a bit disappointing, thought it would have been much higher!!!

We usually get a smaller crowd for cup games. Plus Cardiff City were home as well.

I said I thought it would be 100 or so down from the last two games. Good to see the increasing number of fans from outside the borough. If more locals could be attracted,we could surely expect league gates of about 500 which would be a big boost for the club,management and players.

Great performance today. Could have been 5 or 6. Kayne was superb, Gav was brilliant and I thought Tom Bradley had a very solid showing. He saved a hand full of very good shots, some he saw quite late and he seemed in control at corners and set pieces.

Could have had more on the gate but 411 on the previous Tuesday night was a solid showing of support as well.

Solihull Martyr wrote:Evesham drew 2-2 so no game Tuesday

Evesham equalised 2 minutes into injury time. Edenborough sent off.

Great Team performance against good opposition. Nice to see Tom Bradley having a superb game in goal, especially his organisation of our defence at set pieces/corners, best keeper we have had for a long time.

Let's hope for a home draw on Monday against a quality side.

Well done to SJ and the whole squad involved yesterday for a job well done.

Solihull Martyr wrote:McLaggon goal incorrectly disallowed for offside 12mins.

Correctly disallowed and Peter has photographic evidence to that effect.

There was only one team that looked an SLP side yesterday and that was us. We pasted them in the first half and their defence was as eight and nines, let alone sixes and sevens. We could have easily trebled our half time lead and although Ciren did push us back a little bit in the 2nd half our defence and Bradley coped well with few alarms and excursions.

Our 2 goals were both excellent in their own ways. An excellent shot, giving Garner no chance by Gavin showing the benefits of his game of Walking Football last Thursday where he obviously picked up a few tips from the more mature player and what has become a typical headed goal by Jarrad from a set piece. We deserved a minimum 4-0 victory yesterday but 2 was more than enough to beat a poor Cirencester side who showed that they cannot play football on a true running surface.

I thought this was definitely our best team performance so far this season.
Everyone got their act together,from keeper outwards,and whilst It's great seeing us bang in goals against teams who are frightened to venture over the halfway line,yesterday our defence had to dig in too,and played some cracking football.
It was a useful yardstick to see how we measure up against a team in a league above,and one who actually wanted to play attacking football, albeit in phases.
It was a great game to watch,and the 100 plus who dropped off from Tuesday missed a belter!

Fingers crosses we will get promoted this season! Really impressed by the way SJ has gone about managing our side, you can see he has the total respect of the players who never seem to show dissent about any decisions/substitutions or team selections he makes.

Yesterday showed we are more than capable of holding our own in the SLP and I would suggest our current side would comfortably finish in the top half of that league maybe even in the top 6.

Onwards and upwards and lets make sure we get out of this league this season and play in the much more prestigious SLP next season where we belong.

I've uploaded some images from yesterday's game onto the club web site including the offside goals.

Great to see Garry and Danny there yesterday. It has been a fairly seamless transition from last season to this, which is a credit to the previous and the current management team. It is interesting that of the fourteen Merthyr players who took part yesterday, nine were with us last season.
I particularly enjoyed our defensive performance in the second half as a fairly creative Cirencester were searching to get even.

Record in cup and league this season played 20, won14, drawn 3 lost 3 goals for 58 goals against 19

After 20 games last season - won 13 drawn 3 lost 4 goals for 46 goals against 30