Radstock Media Watch

Martyrs march on with push for promotion
Celtic Sport

AFTER banging in nine goals in the last two home fixtures, the Martyrs are aiming for more success when they face their third successive match at Penydarren Park on Saturday.

Bottom-but-one side Radstock Town, one of the oldest clubs in Somerset, are the visitors in The Toolstation Western League Division One (3pm). The team are known as The Miners, Radstock having been a mining area up to 1973.

The club, who are based between Bristol and Bath, succumbed 3-1 at Barnstaple at the weekend and the previous game saw them crash 5-4 at home to Bridport despite having led 3-1.

Radstock have won twice, drawn once and lost seven times on the road this campaign. Gary Shephard’s charges returned from there with a 3-0 triumph in December.

Bitton now top the table after a 2-1 win at Odd Down in Bath. Previous leaders Willand Rovers went down 2-1 to a shock setback at home to Brislington. Bishop Sutton are now third and the Martys moved up to fourth spot, gaining momentum in their promotion drive. Larkhall slumped to fifth after sharing the spoils 1-1 at home to Bristol Manor Farm.

Merthyr are now six points behind Bitton, having played two fewer games and are four points behind Willand with two matches in hand. They are a point below Bishop Sutton and with a game in hand. Hallen lie in sixth place with 37 points from 20 games.

And only Hallen and Merthyr have applied for promotion to Step Four in the pyramid. There is just one promotion spot and a club must end up top or second. Penydarren Park is to be inspected by FA officials to discuss ground criteria.

After the points were secured against Wells City, Merthyr co-manager Danny Carter told Martyrs TV: “We are going to give promotion a good go. I hope that the teams around us know that we are coming. And we have to keep on winning games.”

He added that with five home matches on the bounce, the club would have settled for four wins and a draw. So far, they have won three and drawn one and are therefore on course. Carter was pleased that the side extended their unbeaten home run to 10 and that they are still without a league loss on home soil in this campaign.

There must be major doubts about Saturday's match going ahead. Temperatures have been below freezing all week and Penydarren Park, of course, is high up and the ground is always hard in bad weather near the grandstand side.
Snow forecast for Saturday and later turning to rain.
We could do with a game to keep up the promotion challenge in the run of home fixtures but I think the weather may have the final say. And the youth team's game was off last Sunday. It's been even colder since!

Yeah, forecast not good. Someone in work mentioned possibility of snow on weekend, and forecast to be well below zero on Friday night. This was likely to be my only game in Feb too, can't make the Bitton game due to other commitments, off to the horse racing that weekend, so hoping for a change in weather but it don't look likely.

3AM. Very cold and ground hard!!

At 8.30am at least part of the lake at Cyfarthfa Park was frozen over.

Haven't seen the pitch, but I would guess it's been frozen solid for 2 or 3 days now. The forecast at the moment seems to be for less cold weather tomorrow morning, but I think it would need to be a lot less cold and for longer than just the morning. But we'll see.

No it's not looking good at all.

On-song Merthyr out to hit right note again
South Wales Echo

MERTHYR Town have made a storming unbeaten start to the new year, firing 14 goals in their first four matches of 2012. The Martyrs are fourth in the Toolstation Western League, one point behind Bishop Sutton, and aim to extend their unbeaten 11-match record at home to Radstock Town tomorrow (3pm).

Only Merthyr and Hallen have applied for promotion from the Western League but must finish in the top two at least to realise that ambition.

Ryan Prosser (2), captain Steve Williams and Alun Griffiths scored in Merthyr’s 4-1 win over Wells City last time out.

“It was an excellent performance and we are on course to achieve the target we set ourselves,” said defender Williams. “When we started a block of five home matches we were set a target of four wins and a draw as minimum. “We have earned three wins and a draw going into the Radstock game. Everybody is satisfied with that but we will keep pushing for more. We all believe we are good enough for promotion but right now we’re not looking beyond Radstock.”

The Martyrs could jump to third place with a win tomorrow as Bishop Sutton visit leaders Bitton while Larkhall Athletic, in third, entertain Longwell Green Sports.

It was minus 5 degrees when this was taken earlier this morning.



The forecast for tonight is minus 6, with snow tomorrow and rain in the early evening.

If we have another clear night with freezing temperatures I would be extremely surprised if the game actually goes ahead tomorrow.

There will have to be a morning inspection to prevent Radstock setting out on a fruitless journey.
The ground is hard down the Valley and Penydarren Park, being higher, must be worse. And with the weather forecast as it is, I would think that the chances of the game being played tomorrow are about nil.
But, of course, watch this space tomorrow for official confirmation of ON or OFF.
It coud be a good day to do some early Christmas shopping!!!
By the way, yesterday it was 74 degrees in South Carolina!

Notice that Radstock Manager Terry Moore resigned this morning - Assistant Manager Jason Holt in charge at Merthyr if ON which I doubt!

martyrant wrote:Notice that Radstock Manager Terry Moore resigned this morning - Assistant Manager Jason Holt in charge at Merthyr if ON which I doubt!

Any reason given Ant?

PMS (Pretty Much the Same) here in the midlands. Just got in & the car dial showing zero. Solihull's trip to Blythe Spartans already off (glad we're not up with the in-laws this weekend). Can't see Highgate v Tipton Town (my choice of an afternoons entertainment!) surviving.

Still, theres a bear festival on in one of the localish pubs. 3 miles along the towpath, then a skinful of real ale. Not a bad alternative!!

Solihull Martyr wrote:

martyrant wrote:Notice that Radstock Manager Terry Moore resigned this morning - Assistant Manager Jason Holt in charge at Merthyr if ON which I doubt!

Any reason given Ant?

From Radstock's website:

'Terry has told the club and players that he is desperately disappointed with a return of only four league wins this season and feels that a change of manager and tactical emphasis could be the catalyst that sees the team achieve the results that their quality of football deserves.'

http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/radstocktownafc/news/manager-steps-down-501842.html