st Neots Town v MERTHYR

Team:
Davies
Davies Tancock Wright Barrow
Reffell Evans richards
Traylor Prosser Jenkins

Subs:
Harris Patten Bowen Copp Bull.

1-0 Traylor shot deflected past keeper after 2 mins

One Ian Traylor....there's only one .....etc..

Boz

Twitter says 1-1

Boz

1-1 coming up to 15mins.

Our B side are losing at home to Banbury 1-0.

Boz

Twitter says 2-1 down to the Saints.

Boz

2-1 down just after the half-hour.

2-1 down HT

Cinderford hit the post against Banbury.

Someone Puritanical doesn't like us today.

Boz

Bull should be out there with prosser just playing behind him feeding the ball through,if fav doesn't change then this is another lost game

2-2

Jarrad 2-2 8mins to go

Get in.

Boz

3-2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GET IN THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Super....Ian Traylor 3-2

Boz

3-2 Traylor at the death! Get in!!

Won. 3. 2

F/t Won 3-2. Get in!!

Banbury won 2-1 at Cinderford

But:

Kettering 3 Slough 0
Hitchin 1 Chippenham 3

So we're now only 3 points behind both Slough and Hitchin. Getting interesting.

A home play-off is very much on the cards. The next 2 weeks make for very interesting viewing.

With a much better goal difference, that could be worth a point at the end of the season.

Match highlights are here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXlYbrxBAEg&feature=share

Merthyr played their get out of jail card by scoring 2 late goals to record a gutsy 3-2 victory at St Neots in a game that in reality we did not deserve to win in contrast to last week where Kings Langley scored 2 late goals to deny us a deserved win.

Still without the services of McDonald, McLaggon and Compton due to injury the same back 4 as last week of Davies, Barrow, Wright and Tancock lined up in front of Ollie Davies. Evans and Richards patrolled the centre with Reffell just behind Prosser, Traylor and Jenkins with the latter two dropping back as required.

Merthyr had a dream start when after Davies in the Merthyr goal had to react quickly to get down to make a good save at the feet of a St Neots attacker virtually straight from the kick off and he sent a long kick downfield which was allowed to bounce by the home defence and it eventually reached Traylor on the right thanks to a miskick by Herd and Traylor cut inside and his shot into the area deflected of the head of Parr past the bemused home keeper Archer at his near post and into the back of his net and after just over a minute, the Martyrs were in front 1-0.

St Neots hit back almost immediately and again Davies did well to make a good, low, safe catch in his area under pressure from Wilson. Jenkins was causing problems early on down the left and he raced past Norman and got in a cross towards Reffell but his header went high and wide of Archer’s left hand post. St Neots were largely under pressure at this stage and their clearances were falling to the Merthyr midfield but just couldn’t create a clear chance. St Neots did show that they had a long thrower in their side and from the first one taken by Herd a St Neots forward got there first but his header went wide of the Merthyr goal.

After the initial 10 minutes, St Neots did get into the game more and after Herd dispossessed Traylor he sent a ball up the line towards Brown who was challenged by Wright but he was still able to send a low ball across the area towards Bell-Toxtle who pushed it forward towards the right hand edge of the Merthyr area and Rogers got hold of it with his back to goal but he was allowed to turn by Tancock and sent an excellent shot across goal past Davies and it nestled in the corner of the net making the score 1-1 after 15 minutes.

Merthyr tried to restore their lead and Reffell headed down a long ball towards Prosser but his volley from about 25 yards went just to the right hand side of Archer’s goal. It was largely end to end stuff but St Neots seemed to have the edge although Jenkins did manage to get a shot away which went wide. St Neots the broke into the Merthyr half and Bell-Toxtle sent it left towards Rogers who sent in cross towards the far post which went over the heads of everyone and found Brown who sent in a good shot which struck the Merthyr bar and bounced out but St Neots failed to take advantage of the rebound. Then just after the half hour with St Neots in the ascendancy they gained a throw on their right which was punched out by Davies for another throw to the home side nearer the corner flag. Merthyr failed to heed the warning of Herd’s throws and he sent this one into the area and Clarke came steaming in and sent an unchallenged bullet header past Davies and into the roof of the net and St Neots were 2-1 up and on the recent balance of play it was not undeserved.

Merthyr were demonstrating little cohesion and were struggling to get into the game and any threats came from set pieces and from one, Barrow sent a long free kick into the St Neots area which was headed across goal by Tancock and Prosser sent a header over the bar from about 4 yards. Barrow then had another free kick after Evans was fouled about 25 yards out from Archer’s goal in a central position but his effort came off the wall and eventually St Neots cleared. Shortly afterwards Mr Forrester brought the half to an end.

Merthyr kicked off at the start of the second half and almost immediately they should have got the equaliser. Evans received the ball from the kick off and sent the ball left where it was headed on by Prosser to Reffell who found Richards who advanced forward and sent a ball through to Prosser who had run into the area but from about 12 yards he sent his shot wide of the goal under pressure from Parr. Merthyr were having more of the play in the early stages of the half and from a long throw by Barrow the ball reached Traylor on the right and after his initial cross was blocked it came back to him and he sent in a good low cross into the area which Tancock went for but Clarke cleared the ball off the line and the danger was cleared. St Neots were still looking dangerous on the break and Hyem sent a good ball down the Merthyr left and Davies came rushing out of his goal and caught Brown but only received a yellow card as the offence was committed well out of his area in a wide position and other defenders were in attendance. The free kick was sent far post and beat everyone and away for a goal kick.

With no sign of a break though coming manager Williams made a triple substitution on the hour with the labouring Prosser leaving the field along with Tancock and Jenkins and were replaced by Bull, Copp and Patten. Patten lined up in the back 4 with Copp slotting into midfield and Reffell moved further forward to join Bull upfront. A long ball into the St Neots half found Reffell on the right and although his cross was partially charged down it fell to Bull who hooked it towards goal with his right foot but his shot lacked power and Archer went down to his left to save. Shortly afterwards Wood managed to get a shot away after a St Neots corner was only partially cleared but it went over the Merthyr bar for a goal kick. Bull was starting to cause problems for the home defence and Barrow sent a long ball into the area and Bull latched onto it and came inside, beating a defender in the process and got it across and it came off a defender and Archer made a save near his right hand post. St Neots retaliated and a long ball into the Merthyr half resulted in challenge between Wright and Wilson and the ball came off the former for a corner. The kick came in and Norman got his head to it near the far post after it was allowed to bounce and the ball went just wide of Davies’s right hand post.

St Neots almost sealed the game when Archer sent a long kick downfield which was picked up by Brown who sent it forward to Rogers who went unchallenged and he sent in a shot towards goal and Davies did well to get down to his right and he punched the ball wide of his goal and away for a corner. Roger’s corner was defended but only at the expense of a corner and that one was met by Wood but eventually went out of play for a goal kick.

Then a good ball into the St Neots box by Evans came off Herd and away for a corner. Barrow took it and he sent it high into the area and Wright jumped above everyone and powered a header towards goal which was save by Archer but he was clearly a couple of feet over the line and with about 7 minutes left Merthyr had equalised and pushed for another goal. Copp had a good effort from about 18 yards which was well saved by Archer and then St Neots retaliated and got the ball into the Merthyr area and Rogers sent a shot across goal and Davies did really well to get something on it and the ball went away for a corner which was well fielded by the Merthyr custodian.

With time running out Barrow took throw on the Merthyr right roughly in line with halfway inside the 18 yard area. He hurled it near post where it was allowed to bounce by the St Neots defence near the 6 yard line and headed on by Bull (I think) and Traylor was on hand to send a low shot from about 8 yards which seemed to come off a defender and Archer and into the back of the net and the Martyrs had scored 2 goals within 5 minutes to sneak into the lead much to the delight of the 40 or so Merthyr supporters in attendance. Merthyr saw the game out easily and secured a hard fought 3-2 win.

Well it wasn’t a vintage performance and in many ways we were incredibly lucky to win and I can imagine that the St Neots connections were absolutely gutted just as we were last week in Kings Langley when they scored 2 late goals but at least we gained a point. We lacked cohesion and struggled to find each other and again we demonstrated similar defensive frailties as we have done in recent weeks. In fact Ollie Davies made a couple of great saves once before we equalised and once before we got the winner. However we did fight until the end and none more so that our captain, Ashley Evans who was magnificent throughout and fully deserves to be my MOTM.

Great report Ancient Turf.

I have been itching to read about the game and the Imp highlights look as if we got away with one which could prove vital in the final run in .....

Boz