MERTHYR v Cinderford

Updates here!

Christmas jumpers out in force I hope!

Team: Bradley Summerfield Davies Harris Wright Green Jenkins Williams G McLaggon Leek Traylor.

Subs: Williams S Rewbury Evans Morgan Prosser.

1-0 up Kayne

1-0 up H.T

1-0 up. McClaggon 41st min

H/t 1-0 in awful weather conditions.

60th min sub. Harris off and Prosser on

2-0 up Wright

2-0 Wright in the 70th min

iesu Mawredd

come on martyrs

3-0 Traylor in the 75th min.
Attendance 703. Great effort!

3-0 Traylor

4-0 Prosser

4-0 F.T excellent win, well done.

4-0 Prosser 90mins.

F/t 4-0. Gr8 result!

absolutely brilliant

Evesham 2-0 Stratford HT

Today's team:

Bradley;
Summerfield,Green,Wright,Davies;
G.Williams,M.Harris;
Traylor,Leek,Jenkins;
McLaggon;

Subs:
Prosser for Harris after about 58 minutes
Evans for Williams after about 75 minutes
Morgan for Jenkins after about 83 minutes
S.Williams
Rewbury

No Guillermo Bauza but Kris Leek available again. Tom Bradley back in goal.

With us playing in the special red shirts for charity it was a little confusing at first with Cinderford in white shirts and black shorts!

The first 10 minutes or so were fairly uneventful, then Ian Traylor avoided a challenge on the right to put the ball across the area. But Kayne McLaggon, stretching to reach it could only put the ball over the bar.

The game then settled down to be uneventful again until after about 24 minutes when Kayne McLaggon won the ball down the right. He put it inside to Ian Traylor but he put his shot over the bar when he might have done better. About 3 minutes after that the referee allowed good advantage after Ian Traylor was fouled. The ball came to Gavin Williams and his ball to the near post was met by Kayne McLaggon whose flick just didn't have enough on it to cross the line. Cinderford then went down to the other end and won a corner which saw a header at the near post which had to be smartly caught by Tom Bradley.

About 5 minutes before the break we took the lead when Corey Jenkins was fouled near the corner flag on the left. Gavin Williams took the kick which was headed straight into the net by Kayne McLaggon in the centre of the goal. Almost from the re-start we could have scored again when Cinderford gave the ball away in defence, but Ian Traylor put a shot straight at the keeper.

It was a deserved lead at half time as Cinderford had had just the one chance, while we'd had several half chances.

The second half started fairly uneventfully as had been the case for much of the first half, with Ryan Prosser replacing Matthew Harris just before the hour mark, presumably due to him carrying an injury. Prosser went up front as usual, with Kayne McLaggon dropping back and Kris Leek playing deeper.

Although looking very comfortable with the 1-0 lead we needed a second goal to relax, and that came after about 70 minutes. This time it was Kayne McLaggon who was fouled out near the left touchline, although further back than the free kick in the first half. But the result was the same, with Gavin Williams putting over a free kick for Jarrad Wright to head into the net from 15 yards and draw ahead of Ryan Prosser in the goalscoring charts.

Cinderford were never in the game after that, and after about 74 minutes it was 3-0 after Kris Leek ran a long way to intercept a pass on the right. He took the ball clear down the right, ran into the box and played it back for the unmarked Ian Traylor to sweep it into the net from near the penalty spot.

Gavin Williams was then given a rest, with Richard Evans making his debut in a straight swap, and with about 7 minutes to go Kerry Morgan came on for Corey Jenkins.

It was one-way traffic, and a demoralised Cinderford gave us a Christmas present of a fourth goal when the keeper kicked a clearance straight to Ian Traylor midway in their half. With a momentary chance of returning the ball straight back over the keeper, he instead played it through for Ryan Prosser to take the ball into the area and put it into the net from 12 yards and draw level with Jarrad Wright in the goalscoring again.

Well, after being a fairly even game at the start we made two dead ball situations count to give us a comfortable lead and that really knocked the - er - stuffing out of Cinderford. I must admit I'd expected them to provide more difficult opposition, but they only really had the one occasion when they came close to scoring and were pretty toothless going forward throughout. I don't know if that was because Garyn Preen was missing for them, plus the player I'd selected as one 'To Watch', striker Ethan Moore. As it was they looked pretty average.

It's worth remarking on the fact that Cinderford had only conceded 18 goals in 20 games before today (the same as us) and had one of the best defensive records in the division

Although I wouldn't argue too much with Kris Leek, the man of the match for me was Jarrad Wright for his work in defence and also when he stepped up into midfield as he often did. Plus he got the important second goal.

Well, we repeated what happened last Boxing Day except this time Cinderford never looked remotely like scoring 4 times. Also a great attendance of over 700 in dismal weather - which was a lot worse at 3pm than it was at 1pm.

Stratford lost 2-1

Looks like Taunton let in a last minute goal to Tiverton

Taunton were 2-0 up but finished 2-2

Brilliant results all round

up the Martyrs
up the Jacks, great win for my lot today too.

have a great weekend everyone!!

Rumour has it our old midfield maestro Dean Clarke was spotted in the crowd today. Being a Hereford lad perhaps he was with the Bulls fans attending todays game? Always good to see Deano back at PP...

... although reports that Clarkey was seen in the W**k Bank scything down Wanderin' with a mistimed tackle are believed to be wide of the mark - although sometimes old habits die hard!

yes dean Clarke was at the game today he stood behind me .Apparently he is still with Hereford but is involved with their under 18 and 19 sides who are not affected by the demise of the senior side as they are a separate identity

Just uploaded some images from today's game including one of the Chairman with ex player Phil Green.

PeterHarman wrote:Just uploaded some images from today's game including one of the Chairman with ex player Phil Green.

Wonder who has the most teeth?!!

An efficient and clinical performance yesterday and we disposed of Cinderford very easily without hitting top gear and to be brutally honest we didn't need to.

There was only going to be one result and when Kayne opened the scoring with a good header, in a way, that was that.  The Cinderford defenders and keeper were moaning that Kayne had pushed his way through to get to the ball but in reality he was just too strong for them.  Jarrad scored his customary goal just as Cinderford were having their best spell with another powerful header from an excellently taken free kick.  Leekie did well to intercept a wayward pass, get down the right and send in a perfect ball for Traylor to steer home.  The icing on the cake was Prosser's goal when he shot home powerfully after being put through by Trayls who had intercepted a poor kick out from Harris in the Cinderford goal.

Probably all 4 goals were preventable from a Cinderford point of view but they were just not capable of preventing them and their defence which had conceded the fewest number of goals in our division was left in tatters.

A good performance in front of a great crowd with other teams around us slipping up made it a perfect Christmas present for us all.

Onwards and upwards to Bishops Cleeve on New Years Day!