Bitton v MERTHYR

Team:

Perry, Williams, Griffiths, Thomas, Welsh, Dorrian, Khalil, M Giffiths, Shephard, Prosser, Armitage.

Subs: Traylor, Leahy, Carpenter, Newall, Smith, Howe, J Thomas.

Great start - not: 1-0 down in 30seconds!

1-1 now, Shepy

Martyrs 2-1 A Griffiths

come on the merthyr !!

1-1, Shephard 33rd min after a mistake by a defender

2-1 up! Alun Griffiths with a drive from 20 yards into the bottom corner. 44th min

H/t 1-2

Taz has been stretchered off

Joe Perry sent off now, batten down the hatches and hope to win

84min. Perry sent off, second yellow card. Newall now in goal

2-1 win, well done Town, Wembley here we come

F/t 1-2. Phew!

excellent result hope tariq,s injury not to bad.

Yes - let's hope it's not too costly in terms of injury and suspension.

Where was Kris Leek tonight?

Looking at previous mid week matches it seems he is not available for these games

Tough game tonight a few scores to settle from saturday but a great performance from the boy's having been down to 10 men for the last 10 min's or so , two great goals from Shep and Alun Griffiths, hope Tariq's injury not to bad he looked in a lot of pain , good turn out of Merthyr fan's in a crowd of 248.

7 subs, back up keeper was there, but not named on the bench - SCHOOLBOY ERROR.

Great display from the lads last night. Apart from the error above, Garry Shep was class last night. He adds so much to the team when he is fit and on form.

Taz has a broken ankle - now in plaster

Brilliant! two games into the season and we've already got two players in plaster!

Does anyone know if the injury was accidental or resulting from a foul?

As usual we didn't make it easy for ourselves but it was a really good game and we deserved our win. A poor start, conceding what looked like another soft goal in the first minute but we gradually took control and Sheppy scored a really nice goal after a cross was miskicked by the centre half. He placed it well into the back of the net avoiding defenders on the line when a less experienced player could well have blasted it into one of them. We controlled the rest of the half and got our noses in front deservedly when Alun Griffiths popped up in the area to steer a shot wide of the keeper into the net just before half time.

I thought that in the 2nd half, playing downhill, we'd go on and win easily. We created chances and their keeper made a couple of good saves but we couldn't press home the advantage. Bitton seemed to come more and more into it without really creating anything but they did press us back. Joe got a second yellow card for either bringing down a Bitton player or handling outside the box - I couldn't really see as I was down the other end. After a delay, Badger took over in goal and as a result of good defensive cover he had very little to do and we came away with a deserved win.

It's a real shame about Tariq's injury. He's played really well this season and a broken ankle will keep him out for a while. A few of our players were slipping & sliding all over the place as the pitch was very greasy and that upset our rhythym. There seemed to be a shortage of studs around! We also collected about 5 more bookings. Leekie couldn't be there last night due to work commitments and with Matthew & Tariq's injuries he will be very important for us in the weeks to come. The Officials were a lot better than on Saturday but the refereee did seem to react to the girlish screams of the Bitton players when they were tackled.

An exiting game, a good win and it's great to win a cup game as Merthyr Town.

Tariq's injury occured after he won the ball in a tackle and turned and seemed to get his right foot stuck in the pitch.

Bitton 1 Merthyr Town 2
Western Mail

THE 10 men of Merthyr Town held on for a hard-fought FA Cup win at Bitton last night. The Martyrs had keeper Joe Perry sent off for a second bookable offence with 10 minutes left and had to send on central defender Jon Newall to take over in goal.

Bitton threw everything they had at Merthyr, but Newall and the players in front of him stood firm to see out the win. They survived the 10 minutes remaining plus a further 10 minutes injury time.

These teams drew 2-2 at Penydarren Park on Saturday and the Martyrs made the trip to Bristol for the replay, emerging winners thanks to goals from Garry Shephard, his third in two games, and Alun Griffiths. Merthyr Town now play Longwell Green Sports at home in the preliminary round on September 3.

But the evening was spoiled for Merthyr when former Cardiff City trainee Tareq Khalil was carried off during the second half with a knee injury. Merthyr then suffered another blow when goalkeeper Perry was sent off for a second bookable offence and he looks certain to be suspended for one game. Perry slipped as he ran out to collect a through ball and lunged to stop a Bitton player, bringing him down.

Because the Martyrs have made progress in the FA Cup they have had to postpone their scheduled league home game against Brislington on bank holiday Monday.

It was a big team effort against a big, strong team who are among the clubs fancied to mount a big title challenge.

Merthyr recovered from a goal down to go in 2-1 ahead at half-time. Home team Bitton took the lead after only a minute when the ball rebounded off a post and captain Jon Crowley fired home.

Scott Armitage set up Merthyr’s first goal when he beat a defender down the right and, from his ball inside, Bitton could only half clear and Shephard fired home to make it 1-1. Merthyr full-back Griffiths was booked three minutes before half-time and he responded by firing Merthyr ahead within 60 seconds. It was Ryan Prosser who set up the chance and Griffiths fired low into the corner from just outside the penalty area.

Wandering wrote:Because the Martyrs have made progress in the FA Cup they have had to postpone their scheduled league home game against Brislington on bank holiday Monday.

Why would we cancel a game on Bank Holiday Monday because of the progress in the FA Cup?

Surely that's incorrect?