Merthyr v Dorchester

Merthyr 1 Dorchester Town 7
Manager Gavin Williams donned the goalkeeper's gloves for the second half after Lewis Webb was injured, clattered down by Luke Winsper on 25 minutes.
Down 2-0 at the interval after another lack-lustre performance with the lowly visitors looking sharper and faster, Merthyr struck back, got a goal after forcing several corners. Perhaps they could stage a comeback. But then the Dorset men ran riot, scoring at will against the stand-in goalkeeper to result in an embarrassing defeat.Play-offs? The Martyrs are nearer the drop zone as far as points are concerned.

Merthyr's score was an own goal from Sam Jackson on 61 minutes.
Dorchester scorers Luke Winsper, 8 mins, Thomas Blair, 45, Antonio Diaz, 66, Noah Keats, 80, Diaz 83, Keats 86, and Benjamin Seymour 90.
Attendance 294

I think the play-offs issue can be put on the back-burner for this season.

That performance was shocking, let's hope the poor run of results ends now because we are certainly heading the wrong way in the league.

I think that was a PERFECT STORM. What could go wrong,did go wrong. Plenty of ammunition for Boz.

First home game I've missed this season and it sounds like it was a hugely demoralising experience for all concerned. But maybe we shouldn't be too surprised, as we are suffering the consequences of an inadequate playing budget; chronic off-field uncertainty; too many players who have long-term injuries or have to turn out carrying knocks and therefore not fully fit; too many loan players and enforced positional changes making it hard to build a settled team and several of our most loyal and effective players now approaching the end of their playing careers.
In the light of all that, maybe we should be pleased that we are as high as we are in the table, and not draw too many conclusions from last night because a stand-in keeper, whoever he is, is always liable to be on the wrong end of a goal feast.
A friend of mine recently asked me why it is that Merthyr, with a reasonably large population and able to draw on a sizeable valleys catchment, is unable to do better as football club. He went on to name a string of clubs in the National League and lower EFL who have smaller populations to draw on. The answer must be that it's not about population but prosperity. If you live in an economically deprived area, and with no sugar daddy bankrolling the club, the success or even the continued existence of the local club will be just one of many indicators of that deprivation.

The latter post is accurate. And it must be borne in mind that the club went VERY close to folding- again- 15 or 16 months ago because of the debt which grew quickly after the nearly £2m funded new build. The players' wage bill is as it is because of the financial picture, and with two poor gates- Saturday and Tuesday-there were further problems re income. The job for Gavin Williams,manager, has therefore not been easy the past two seasons.
I estimate 20 directors have left the Board since October 2017 so the current again new Board faces a tough task just for survival of the club.
Prosperity? Merthyr Tydfil was heavily financed by a "sugar daddy" and ended up with huge debts, leading to liquidation. Thus we have a community club which because of its constitution, I believe, cannot again have a "sugar daddy" in that way.
The public interest in both Merthyr Town FC and Merthyr Rugby Club is low overall, and the Merthyr Football League has only nine teams, I understand, this season.Deprivation can be a key factor and means that only those who can afford to and are keen, actually support the club regularly, many of them from outside the borough.But with so many counter-attractions today, there seems (without being pessimistic) little chance of improved gates and so the playing budget has to be cut according to the cloth available.