MERTHYR v Hungerford

I shall be bringing up some fellow Jacks for tonights game. Cant wait.


(Apologies to Sollihul for starting his thread)

With Halloween due soon....will they be Jack o'Lanterns?.....Boz

SwanseaJack wrote:(Apologies to Sollihul for starting his thread)

NP!

Team: Bradley Jones Davies Evans Belle Baggridge Brown Wright Prosser Scotcher Jenkins.

Subs: Hugh Clarke Bauza Bowen Traylor
.

1 up 3mins - Jarrad Wright with a nice header from a corner.
K/o delayed 10mins due to Sockgate!

2-0 up! Wright again in the 18th minute

2-0 up! Wright again in the 18th minute

- sorry, having a Meurig moment!

- I said sorry...!

Half time 2-0. A much better performance than the last few games here

Sub at half time. Prosser off injured and Traylor on. Hopefully not too serious.

Possible groin strain for Prosser.

2-1 70mins

72nd min sub. Hugh on, Jenkins off

3-1 Traylor 75mins

Sub: Bauza for Brown 82mins

4-1! Bauza in the 90th min!

F/t 4-1! Get in!! Well done to the team and management!

SwanseaJack wrote:I shall be bringing up some fellow Jacks for tonights game. Cant wait.


(Apologies to Sollihul for starting his thread)

Any chance you can start the thread every game?!

(And you might want to invest in a spellchecker!)

Cracking result. 4 clear chances, 4 goals. Up to 11th in the table!

What a good night 4-1 win for the mighty Martyrs and £104 win on 50/50.

Tonight's team:

Bradley;
Jones,Belle,Baggridge,Davies;
Scotcher,Evans,Wright;
Brown,Prosser,Jenkins;

Subs:
Traylor for Prosser (injured) at half time
Hugh for Jenkins after about 69 minutes
Bauza for Brown after about 81 minutes
Bowen
Clarke

Gethin Jones made his return to the team at right back with Adam Davies moving across to the left with James Bloom not in the squad. Kayne McLaggon was present during the pre-match warm-up but not taking part in it.

Garyn Preen was in the Hungerford team, mostly playing down the left.

The game kicked off at 7.56pm.

After about 3 minutes Jon Brown did well down the right and his cross to the near post was cleared for a corner. Elliot Scotcher took it and it was headed straight into the net by Jarrad Wright.

It was all Merthyr then until Hungerford's first goal attempt after about 16 minutes when a cross from the left was headed straight at Tom Bradley. A minute later it was 2-0 when Adam Davies was fouled on the left inside our own half. The free kick was sent long into the Hungerford area and seemed to be missed by the defenders leaving Jarrad Wright able to turn on the ball and fire it into the net.

Hungerford had their best attack after about 23 minutes when Tom Bradley had to make a fairly smart save to a free header from Garyn Preen after a cross from the right.

We'd controlled the game until midway through the half but then Hungerford began to come more into it and looked useful going forward - probably better than we did - and won a few corners.

After about 30 minutes Corey Jenkins cut inside from the left and put in a shot which was deflected for the keeper to just get down to it at the near post.

The half ended with Huingerford still looking better than us at going forward, but we'd been able to hold them at bay.

Ryan Prosser had seemed to be struggling a bit and was replaced by Ian Traylor for the second half, with Jon Brown acting as the target man.

The second half continued as the first had left off, and after about 54 minutes Garyn Preen cut in from the left and Tom Bradley had to push away a shot at the near post. A couple of minutes later he was in action again, doing well to push away a low shot.

We came back into it a bit with Ian Traylor looking the most dangerous up front for us, and he forced the Hungerford keeper to beat away a shot when he cut in from the left. But a minute later Hungerford got the goal which had perhaps been coming. The ball was played across from the left and a cross shot was hammered in from the right of the area to give Bradley no chance.

A couple of minutes after the goal we made a change that was perhaps with an eye to protecting the lead. Chris Hugh came on for Corey Jenkins, and we changed to 3-5-2 with Gethin Jones in the back three, Adam Davies moving across to the right, and Ian Traylor as one of two up front with Jon Brown.

Whether it was meant defensively or not the substitution paid off in an attacking sense after about 74 minutes. The ball was won well - not sure if it was by Jarrad Wright - and Chris Hugh was sent away down the left. He did well to slip past a defender to go clear, then picked out the perfect ball across for Ian Traylor to slide it into the net from 6 yards.

After about 81 minutes Jon Brown, who had worked hard up front, was replaced by the fresh legs of Guillermo Bauza in a straight swap.

With about 3 minutes to go Tom Bradley kept the score at 3-1 with a great flying save to keep out a free kick from 25 yards.

Then, with a couple of minutes to go, the pressure that Ian Traylor and first Jon Brown them Guillermo Bauza had been putting on the Hungerford defenders throughout the second half, chasing them down at every opportunity, paid off with a fourth goal. Traylor and Bauza combined on the edge of the area, with Traylor playing Bauza through amid Hungerford appeals for offside for him to fire the ball into the net from 12 yards.

To be fair, on the balance of play over the whole game, 4-1 rather flattered us, but it was a great win against a side 6th in the table, and just what we wanted after the two away wins as it moves us up 7 places to 11th thanks to our goal difference as one of six teams on 22 points. The division certainly is wide open at the moment.

The first 20 minutes or so were as well as we've played for quite a while, with Hungerford not in the game at all. The main thing was we had two goals to show for the dominance, albeit both came from dead ball situations. After that Hungerford showed they were a good side going forward, but we maintained the lead until half time which was important, and despite one or two sticky moments in the second half we restricted them to just the one goal, partly thanks to some great saves by Tom Bradley.

We did look more lively in attack when Ian Traylor came on and he and Jon Brown gave the Hungerford defenders no time to dwell on the ball.

Man of the match for me was Jarrad Wright

And I thought it was a lucky rabbits foot not a gopher one....I will bring my nail clippers Saturday Gordon in the hope of some of your good fortune becoming contagious.....great result ....great write up too Imp.....Boz

Last night was possibly our most accomplished ninety minutes of the season.

The perfect start that brought us a two goal cushion and a very disciplined second half, when we did our most effective work without the ball. The two varying styles were equally productive and for a side which has had its struggles at both ends of the pitch in recent weeks, it was a very encouraging all round ‘team’ effort.

We come out of the blocks in such a way that we had momentum from the very first whistle.

In the second half, we couldn’t get near the ball as much as we would have liked but we worked so hard without the ball and it took some last ditch defending and blocking to keep Hungerford out.

Unfortunately we didn’t have Prosser after half time to ease a little bit of pressure as an outlet. The work he put in, holding off defenders, winning headers in the first half was very impressive.

In the end Hungerford were exposed as they pressed for an equalizer and they had no real answer. A classic counter attack involving Chris Hugh really killed off the game as Trailor was in the corridor of uncertainty to side foot home from close range. Chris Hugh delayed it until the perfect moment to make Trailor’s task relatively straight forward.

It was quality, effective football from the whole team. Straight into 5th gear early on, crack in the goals, then organized control.

Although we all adore the slick passing, attacking with verve and scoring lovely goals, the defender in Steve Jenkins must have been delighted with the way we kept them out in the second half.

I thought Hungerford were the best side I've seen at the park this season, the early goals gave us confidence to push forward, prosser was what we've missed up front ,holding and flicking the ball on, the back line looked much more disciplined and midfield more creative, Trailor look somewhat of his old self confusing the defense with his runs, it was brilliant to watch balls being passed at speed along the ground,the third goal was a classic !!!!!
The Boys put a full shift in never stopped running, against a very good side, Hungerfoad to be fair pushed the ball around at speed and in the second half for 20 plus minutes we could not put our foot on the ball, but we fought through that and increased our lead, last night was perhaps the turning we needed our confidence is back and that all important bit of luck was going our way, brilliant performance onwards and up !!!!! Will done S J and his team.

Agree Doug. Hungerford were the best visiting team I've seen at PP this season.
If somebody came in to watch the second half not knowing who were playing in what colours, they would have assumed that the team in red were the Home team, especially for the first twenty minutes of the second half.

I reckon dunstable have been the best up the park