MERTHYR v Cambridge City

Team:
Garner
Tancock Jones Baggridge Davies
Traylor Evans Wright Jenkins
Mclaggon Reffell.

Subs:
Hugh Scotcher Bowen Brown Prosser

1 up Reffell 40mins. Freak deflecton.

H/t 1 up

1-1 at start of second half.

2-1 up! McClaggon 61st min

"goal" chalked off for offside

Sub: Prosser on for Mclaggon 78mins

Sub Brown for Jenkins 90mins

F/t 2-1. 50 points!!

What a poor team cambridge were by far the worst team i reckon iv seen this season

Today's team:

Garner;
Tancock,Jones,Baggridge,Davies;
Traylor,Evans,Wright,Jenkins;
Reffell,McLaggon;

Subs:
Prosser for McLaggon after about 76 minutes
Brown for Jenkins after about 88 minutes
Hugh
Scotcher
Bowen

It was an unchanged lineup except for Elliot Scotcher being fit enough to return to the bench in place of James Bloom.

After kicking off we were a bit sloppy in defence from Cambridge's first possession but nothing came of it. But then a typical pacey run to the line by Corey Jenkins saw him get the ball across but it was just too far ahead of Kayne McLaggon.

We went on to enjoy most of the possession, with Cambridge looking a little ragged, giving the ball away and often being easily dispossessed, but couldn't gain any advantage.

After about 24 minutes after Keyon Reffell had won the ball he put Ian Traylor away down the right to cut inside and float the ball wide of the far post. About 10 minutes after that, following a corner Rhys Baggridge got in a shot from beyond the far post but it seemed to hit Corey Jenkins in a crowded goalmouth and went away. A couple of minutes later Glyn Garner had to make his first save, going down on the line to a shot after the ball was played across from the right.

But the breakthrough came on about 38 minutes when a right wing corner was challenged for on the ground by Keyon Reffell, and a defender in trying to clear hit the ball against him and it rebounded into the net from 10 yards.

It was a deserved half time lead against a poor side which on the balance of play ought to have been greater with a bit more composure in front of goal, Kayne McLaggon in particular hitting a couple of shots wildly off target.

So it was against the run of play when Cambridge equalised about 3 minutes after the break. A diagonal ball was sent into the area and as Glyn Garner went up for it he appeared to be fouled but play was allowed to go on and Ieuan Lewis put the ball into the net. And with a name like that shouldn't he have been playing for us?

We continued to not make the most of our opportunities, and on about 55 minutes a cross from Scott Tancock found Ian Traylor beyond the far post but he put a free header well wide. But we got things right about 3 minutes later, with Traylor the provider, putting a right-foot cross from the left into the 6-yard area for Kayne McLaggon to glance a header into the net.

We thought we'd made it 3-1 when McLaggon touched in a shot from Traylor but he was given offside. We still couldn't work another goal, and when Ryan Prosser replaced Kayne McLaggon after about 76 minutes we played more defensively, with Keyon Reffell mainly dropping back into midfield.

We did come close about 5 minutes from the end with a good build-up down the right putting Ashley Evans clear to pull the ball back to Ian Traylor in the area, and he floated a shot inches wide of the far post. About a minute later Cambridge weren't far away either, with a header wide of the far post after a cross from the right.

Jon Brown came on for Corey Jenkins for the last couple of minutes or so, and we were rather hanging towards the end, but when Ashley Evans was flattened in a challenge on the halfway line after a minute or two of treatment the referee blew for time as soon as the game was restarted.

Well, we made hard work of it against a poor side, mainly through not being able to finish them off much earlier. Man of the match for me was Jarrad Wright.

50 points in the league now should really be enough for us to relax now and concentrate on the Red Insure Cup, but Cambridge have now dropped to 20th and on today's evidence could be having to rely on other teams continuing to slip up if they're not careful. But it may depend on whether they can get some of their injured players fit. One of their central defenders went off injured today, and it'll be interesting to see if he's fit for Tuesday. They then had to put a midfielder back in defence, with only 3 players on the bench including a youth player and the assistant manager.

I can't believe how poor the match officials were to today,with the the exception of the Lino nearest the tunnel.The ref was never going to hand out a card regardless of how bad the transgression was.  An absolutely shocking display!
I'm yet again bemused why Ryan Prosser is being kept on the bench,especially when we struggled today at time against a decidedly mediocre team.
We will have to do a lot better on Tuesday if we want to win the cup.

2 poor sides, the league table does not lie, thankfully, Cambridge were poorer than us.

Tactically we were poor, most of the time it's just get it forward & hope for the best, with the pressure off now that we look safe from relegation hopefully for the remainder of the season we can play a more expansive/passing game but I doubt that will happen.

Roll on next season when hopefully Gavin Williams will be fit and with a few quality additions to our midfield we can start to play quality football on the deck once again.

yes quite agree on pross .
reffell offers nothing to be honest since his first game which was very good he has been a let down.
im still in favour off Clarke over garner mind.

Just uploaded some images from yesterday's game onto club website (FLICKR).