MERTHYR v Chalfont St Peter

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Team: Cutlan Wliiiams Newall Thomas welsh Harris Leek Griffiths Prosser Newman Jones.

Subs: Howe Leahy Traylor Davies Colborne.

H/t 0-0. Visitors with the better first half chances.

Sub at half time. Newall off and Howe on

57th min sub. Jones off and Traylor on

70th min sub. Leahy on and Newman off. Last throw of the dice now...

1 up og 92mins

F/t 1-0. Visitors can feel a little hard-done-by.

Yet another sub par performance at home,we are just not taking our chances and we had quite a few so did C..S P. mind you a couple of smart saves by cutlan kept us in the game and a goal line clearance by Matt. Harris helped us to stay in the game.They defended well and must be gutted to concede a own goal in injury time.Thought their number 9 give us problems all through the game.m.o.m for me today Giles Cutlan.

I agree Cutlan kept us in it and played well.There seems a lot of pressure on the team at home.However we hit the crossbar at least twice and the Post also any of these could have been goals.The boys didn't give up and WON AGAIN and they must have been knackered after the last couple of weeks...

Today's team:

Cutlan;
Williams,Thomas,Welsh,Newall;
Harris;
M.Griffiths,Leek,Newman,Jones;
Prosser;

Subs:
Howe for Newall at half time
Traylor for Jones after about 56 minutes
Leahy for Newman after about 69 minutes
Davies
Colborne

The formation was a new one on me - with Ryan Prosser the lone striker, Matthew Harris playing deep in midfield, and Ryan Newman breaking forward.

The first 15 minutes or so we had most of the play, with a few corners, but not testing the Chalfont keeper. But then Chalfont came nearest to a goal when the no. 9 was put through the middle, but Giles Cutlan made a good block and the ball was cleared.

About 4 minutes later a Chalfont attacker was put clear end evaded Cutlan, but Matthew Harris was able to get back to clear a shot off the line. After about 22 minutes a ball across from the right eluded everyone as Chalfont were looking the more dangerous side.

Our first real effort on goal came after about 25 minutes when Ryan Newman put a shot just over the bar. 7 minutes later he also put rather a tame shot wide of the far post following a mis-kick by the keeper. And about 5 minutes before the break Andrew Thomas headed a corner just wide of the post.

In the first half, although we'd applied a certain amount of pressure on the Chalfont defence we'd hardly tested their keeper, and they'd come the closest to scoring. The trouble seemed to be a tendency to over elaborate when we got near their area. Plus neither of our wide men were getting to the line - you wouldn't expect it of Luke Jones on the left, but Marcus Griffiths on the right always seemed to be cutting inside.

For the second half Jack Howe came on for Jon Newall, I can only think the latter must have taken a knock or been carrying an injury, as he'd done well in the first half.

After about 52 minutes there was good work from Kris Leek on the right, putting over a cross to Ryan Prosser right in front of goal, but his header hit the bar, possibly turned onto it by the keeper.

About 4 minutes later it was no surprise to see Ian Traylor come on for Luke Jones. About 5 minutes after that there was a great block by Giles Cutlan after a Chalfont attacker got free on the right of the area.

With just over 20 minutes to go Joe Leahy replaced Ryan Newman as we threw 4 men forward.

On about 75 minutes the Chalfont keeper had to make two point blank saves as we couldn't get the ball into the net. A couple of minutes later Andrew Thomas had to clear the ball away from the Merthyr goalmouth after an attacker got the better of Jason Welsh on the right of the area.

About 10 minutes from the end Ryan Prosser put a header on the bar with a header from beyond the far post from an Ian Traylor corner.

After about 84 minutes Joe Leahy had the chance to win it when he was put just clear of the defence, but delayed his shot and the keeper forced him so wide he could only hit the side netting from a narrow angle. But on 90 minutes Leahy won the ball on the half way line and put it out to Marcus Griffiths on the right. His ball into the area was blocked, but Kris Leek stuck out a boot and lobbed the ball towards the far post where it went into the net off a defender with Ian Traylor in close attendance.

I wasn't convinced by the formation we played for most of the match - maybe it needs more practice! And we could easily have been behind at half time, whereas in the second half we were doing everything but put the ball in the net - and of course it was a defender who did it for us in the end. I would choose Giles Cutlan as man of the match for a good performance as it was difficult to select any of the outfield players. Attendance of only 241 according to the Southern League website - evidently the early rounds of the trophy don't capture people's interest.

So the cup involvement continues, making a total of £14,100 in prize money from both competitions so far. The next round of the Trophy is on 27th October when we were due to visit Hungerford in the league.

yes wouldn,t argue with that R.R.

A 92nd minute OG was probably a fitting end to today's game where neither side really did enough to win. We did hit the woodwork a few times but Chalfont also had some clear chances and maybe a draw would have been a fairer result. Thank God a goal did go in as another midweek replay would have been murder. The lads still looked a bit tired after their heroics of the last few weeks and I think that had a big say in our flat display. Chalfont looked decent going forward and had some quick, skilful attackers. They were not strong at the back and had we been on our game today we'd have scored a few. We seemed to overpass the ball and didn't threaten a great deal but to not play well and win shows that we are a decent outfit. A win is a win no matter how it's gained. Gilo was my MOTM today as well and hopefully the lads can have a quiet restful week and come back raring to go next Saturday.

Extremely cruel conclusion for the visitors. We were very fortunate to have won yesterday, even though we managed to hit the crossbar twice through Ryan Prosser.

I suspect that they watched the replay against Fleet in the last round and probably also saw the draw at Hungerford. Fatigue, injuries and suspensions have played a big part in the performances over the last few weeks but don't forget we are still unbeaten so far this season and the desire and team spirit was there in abundance yesterday.

We are more prolific in front of goals away from home (12 goals in 7 games) but it is up to us to break sides down when they travel to Penydarren Park.

The defence and Giles in particular have now kept 7 clean sheets in thirteen games and this is probably the main reason why we still had the chance to win the game as time ran out.

We are in the draw for the next round as the cup runs continues, I am sure much to the delight of the Trust Board!!

Merthyr Imp wrote:For the second half Jack Howe came on for Jon Newall, I can only think the latter must have taken a knock or been carrying an injury, as he'd done well in the first half.

Badger looked as though he strained himself when he stretched awkwardly for a ball on the halfway line with about 5 minutes left of the first half. I think that he may have had a slight niggly injury from some earlier games so this may have been aggravated.

All the comments spot on,looks like a difficult game for us next saturday with Totton beating Bideford 2--0 but us on our game we are capable of beating anyone.up the town.

Yes I agree, cruel luck on Chalfont who really should be going home in the hat for next round.

But at the end of the day they came up against a defence and keeper in Cutlan who is on top form as he pulled a few decent stops, the sprawling save 2nd half from a vicious shot was the pick of the bunch, the clean sheets speak for themselves.

Even when the defence was breached Matthew Harris showed commitment in racing back from midfield to clear off the line, this typifies the desire in the squad for me.

Top of the list though would be another striker to start gobbling up these opportunities so we can rubber stamp our authority on these games without having to hang on till minute 90 to snatch wins, but to be honest I don't care how we win as long as we do..

I also agree with all the comments tough on Chalfont.
I also agree with CF48 regarding another striker and one that comes to mind is Dan MacDonald of Monmouth, I told Garry about him last season, he scored 44 for Monmouth last year in div 2 of the Welsh league dispite 3 mouths on loan at Camarthen, and this season he has 14 already 11 in div 1 Welsh league and 3 in cups (top scorer in Welsh league). He is certainly worth a good look at.

His name has been discussed before but he doesn't drive and that's the major problem.

Hr struggled at Carmarthen and he could be like Graham Evans, who is only comfortable in his local surroundings.

The fact he doesn't drive is a problem but not insurmountable, as for struggling at Carmarthen he played in a very poor Carmarthen side.

We have got two young strikers in Ryan&Joe and good as they are a fit Sheppy with his experience would certainly help them.

GordonTheGopher wrote:The fact he doesn't drive is a problem but not insurmountable, as for struggling at Carmarthen he played in a very poor Carmarthen side.

If he's based in Monmouth & doesn't drive - how did he get to Carmarthen?

Regarding strikers, don't forget Marcus Griffiths, who's played over 200 games for the Martyrs.

Taken from the Chalfont site -

Merthyr Town 1 Yala 90+2og

Saints 0

FA Trophy First Round Qualifying (Saturday 29 September)

As matches go this was one of the best, an action packed game which could have had a multitude of goals but it only had the one at a time when everyone was expecting a replay next Tuesday.

The first 15 minutes was a time when both sides tested out each other. Saints then settled down and in a 12 minutes period Saints missed three easy chances first by McLeish then Hughes and Fitzgerald. Only they know why the ball did not cross the line.

For the rest of the half both teams battled to take the lead with Merthyr's custodian Giles Cutlan in excellent form.

The second half was as nail biting as things can be with posts, crossbars and last minute kicks off the line becoming the norm.

The clock ran down past the ninety minutes and still no score. Two minutes later a shot on the Chalfont goal hit unfortunate Glenn Yala and dribbled into the corner of the net. A disappointing result for Saints as the Merthyr officials were kind enough to say.

Can't argue with that but most of the woodwork was hit by us.

The Saints were a useful side and created a number of chances. Matthew's timely clearance off the goal-line helped together with a good performance by Giles.
But with the Martyrs extending their unbeaten run, I think the players deserve much credit especially after a couple of tough weeks with long midweek journeys for Cup replays.
We do, however, seem to be lacking someone who can finish off our opportunities in the box.
I was disappointed with the gate as we seem to have lost nearly 300 fans from the game with Hungerford. I don't really understand how some fans pay scant regard to The FA Trophy.
We are unlikely to get to the final but if we did, I feel sure there would be more than 241 from Merthyr at Wembley.
I appreciate that for various reasons, some fans can't make every home match but it would be interesting to know where the supporters were yesterday who saw the Hungerford game at the Park. And you would have thought that the public would have wanted to turn up yesterday in appreciation of the side's excellent replay victory!
Reduced gates equal less income but the club's outgoings do not change. I appreciate that you cannot budget for Cup games because you don't know how far we are going to progress so every Cup game is effectively something extra.But a bigger gate does make for a better atmosphere.
It was good yesterday too to keep a clean sheet, Thomas and Welsh doing well and we still were without Rewbury, sitting out his suspension, and Colbourne on the bench!