Bridport v MERTHYR

Updates here!

Perry, Williams, Griffiths A, Thomas, Hartshorn, Dorrian, Newman, Leek, Shepherd, Leahy, Traylor.

Subs: Griffiths M, Harris, Prosser, badger & Ley.

Congrats to Shep on his 300th appearance. Corner flag beware!

Kerry Hope has tweeted the following message: "come on the martyrs tonight!"

Matyrs 1-0 up, Joe Leahy.

1 up Leahy 38mins. Hint of offside.

2-0 up. Alun Griffiths 40min. 25yard, possible deflection.

2-0 up, Alun Griffiths in the 40th min.

H/t 2 up!

A tremendous first half for us.

2-1 now. Come on Martyrs, we want 3 points!

not Barnstaple all over again I hope! Come on lads!

2-1 47mins.

F/t 1-2! Phew. Hard second half. Played well. Essential 3 points - well done lads!

Great stuff.

Thanks for the updates - any news of any substitutions?

well done lads,thanks for updates.

We are now 5 points behind Bitton & Hallen with a game in hand. Still plenty of work to do. An unbeaten run to the end of the season would do nicely!

Willand 1 Bishop Sutton 1 was the other significant result tonight. We stay 5th.

Fliping heck! Close result, but a result! Well done. I have a feeling the team will have to dig in and grind out 3 point results til the end of season. Congrats for Cup result. League and cup double still on then boys. After tonights result we are the first club to get to 60 goals scored and we are back on top for goal difference on +34. PLENTY TO PLAY FOR.

Merthyr moved a step closer to the top two and ended the Bees recent unbeaten streak in a game where the hosts gave the visitors too much respect early on and paid for it.

Having arrived a scant 45 minutes before kick off, the Martyrs changed into their playing shirts on the pitch and then played like men possessed. Within the first ten minutes Kris Leek, Ian Traylor and Joe Lee all had attempts on goal, the latter two producing superb saves from Bees keeper Sam Filkins. Home striker Tom Richardson was a toe nail short of connecting with a through ball before Joe Perry in the Merthyr goal smothered the ball shortly aftrerwards. Traylor shot wide and player manager Gary Shephard produced a bicycle kick after 20 minutes all to no avail as the Bees either backed off or chased shadows. The pressure finally paid off on 31 minutes as Lee converted a cross from Steve Williams from close range. Seven minutes later it was 2-0 when an Alun Griffiths shot from 25 yards bounced in front of Filkins and into the goal.

With home fans fearing that the deficit might double or worse in the second half, Bridport started the period with a flourish. Richardson chased the ball down the right wing and held off a defender on the goal line, before pushing the ball back to the on-rushing Matt Condliffe to slam past Perry from an angle with the half barely two minutes old. A clearly shocked Merthyr found themselves on the back foot as first Dan Wise with a shot and then Shane Evans with a surging run failed to find the net. With an hour gone a clever free kick from Wise found Chris Luke but again Merthyr stood firm. Five minutes later a cross from Wise found Condliffe who couldnt hit the target. The Martyrs looked certain to score in a wild goal mouth scramble with seven minutes left but when the ball ran free it was hammered harmlessly wide. With Bees keeper Filkins up for a last minute corner, hoping to emulate his assist in the reverse fixture earlier this season, the outstanding Joe Charles headed over the bar with the Bees last attempt, enabling Merthyr to leave Dorset with three hard earned points.



FINAL SCORE:- BRIDPORT 1 MERTHYR 2

Merthyr Imp wrote:Willand 1 Bishop Sutton 1 was the other significant result tonight. We stay 5th.

And that completed Willand's home fixtures for this season.

Very strange banner headline and published score when you read the first sentence of the report!!!

Merthyr stay in promotion hunt after Bridport draw
Western Mail

Bridport 1-1 Merthyr

TWO first-half goals kept Merthyr in the hunt for promotion from the Western League Premier Division at Dorset based Bridport, although they had to work hard for the points after the interval.

Merthyr were on top for most of the 90 minutes and during the opening half the biggest surprise was just how long it took the visitors to go in front. Joe Leahy got the all-important finish at the far post on 27 minutes after Ryan Newman had delivered a teasing cross, even though there appeared to be a possibility that the scorer may have strayed offside.

Nevertheless, it was no less than Merthyr deserved and when Alun Griffiths fired home from 25 yards on 38 minutes to double their lead, the scoreline gave a fairer reflection of the action at the break.

Bridport hit back just two minutes after the restart with Tom Richardson turning inside Merthyr’s Andrew Thomas before firing low into the net.

Despite that setback, Merthyr continued to create chances with Garry Shephard denied by an offside flag whilst Newman and Marcus Griffiths were unable to convert opportunities.

Solihull Martyr wrote:We are now 5 points behind Bitton & Hallen with a game in hand.

And we play them both in the next few weeks.

so am i right in thinking that if we dont win the league, but, finish in the top2 infront of hallen we'll be promoted?

In my Western Mail the banner headline reads Merthyr stay in the promotion hunt with victory, the rest of the report is the same apart from giving the score as Bridport 1-2 Merthyr. Maybe a later edititon.

NP23 jack/martyr wrote:so am i right in thinking that if we dont win the league, but, finish in the top2 infront of hallen we'll be promoted?

As I understand it if we finish 1st we'd definitely be promoted.

If we finish 2nd, but above Hallen, we could be promoted but not definitely.

It's a bit complicated, but to try and simplify the situation - if the champion clubs in all the other leagues at our level were eligible for promotion they would fill all the places and finishing 2nd would be no good for us. But of course other leagues might be like ours and the club finishing top might not have applied for promotion, like Bitton, Larkhall, Willand, etc, haven't

Basically, I think if we finished 2nd and above Hallen we'd have to wait and see what happened elsewhere.