Hengrove Match Preview

MERTHYR Town, in second place in Western League Division One, are hoping to bounce back tomorrow at Taffs Well against Hengrove Athletic (3pm) after their shock 1-0 defeat to mid-table Melksham last week.
Assistant manager Danny Carter was adamant that the Melksham result will not derail their promotion ambitions.
But he is looking for a big response tomorrow to put the club back on track.
“To be fair, Melksham were up for it and scored a cracking goal and than defended for their lives,” said Carter.
“That, coupled with a bad day at the office for our forward line, contributed to the defeat.
“We scored 60-odd goals before Christmas and this was the first time we had not scored a goal, so that tells you what kind of game it was.
“But tomorrow we face a hard side who are in the top half of the table.”
Carter added that a frank team meeting this week aired a few home truths.
“We have had a chat in the week about the defeat, that’s the entire team not just the strikers, and we know we can’t afford too many more slip-ups,” he said.
“We need to get that winning feeling back as soon as possible.
“We have a game in hand over the leaders Oldland Abbotonians.
“So it is very much in our hands and the next two weeks will be an important couple of weeks for us. We must stay focused and do what we do best.”
Merthyr lost their appeal to the league to return to their home ground of Penydarren Park for the rest of the season, but club officials are quietly confident of a return in time for the start of next season.
“Taffs Well have been superb to us this season, but I’m sure they will understand that we want to return to Penydarren Park as soon as possible,” Carter added.
“It is vital to the club and supporters that we play there.
“We need to generate an income flow of our own and the way we play lends itself to a bigger pitch where we can use our wide players.
“So, in an ideal world, we will play there next season having been promoted – fingers crossed.”

Hengrove have become a real Jekyll and Hyde outfit lately, Having held Oldland Abbotonians to 1-1 draw away, they then lost 1-0 at home to Gillingham Town, Hengrove will be without their centre forward James Dunn for the rest of the season after he suffered a double leg break in a five a side game! Which Hengrove side turns up tomorrow is anyone's guess, they've got a reputation for playing good football and feel they should be challenging harder around the top of the table.