Poole Town FC Preview

Match notes
Surprisingly the Dolphins remain pointless after the first two home games of the new season. The loss to Tiverton was followed up by a 3-1 reverse to Weston-Super-Mare last Saturday.

Our away form is rather better, a win at Winchester on the opening day and a valuable point against Truro gives us four points from our first four games.

This Saturday it will be an early start as we make the 132-mile trip to Penydarren Park to play Merthyr Town FC. The Martyrs have six points from their opening four fixtures with wins at home to Tiverton and the 1-0 win at Plymouth Parkway last Saturday in front of a crowd 613.

This will be the second time that many of the Merthyr supporters have watched Poole Town this season. They were on their way to their opening day fixture at Gosport Borough when their coach broke down. Not wanting to waste the day they headed for the nearest football match which happened to be at Winchester. They are sure to be less neutral this weekend!!

The Martyrs had a difficult time last season finishing one place ahead of relegated Wimborne Town and conceding 94 goals. They won just six of their 42 matches.

The club have responded by bringing in Paul Michael as their first team manager from Yate Town where he enjoyed much success. He has wasted no time in going back to his old club to recruit Ricardo Rees the journeyman centre forward who has turned out for many of the clubs in the Bath and Bristol area. It appears to have been a shrewd move as Rees has scored in Merthyr’s last three matches, most recently scoring the 83rd minute winner at Plymouth Parkway.