MERTHYR v Paulton Rovers

Updates here!

Cutlan Williams Harris Thomas Colbourne Rewbury Davies Leek Shephard Prosser Traylor.

Subs: Newman Griffiths A Welsh Howe Newall

I can't understand why Mattie Harris is playing left-back again when we've got Alun Griff and Jack Howe on the bench. I feel he is wasted there and should be in his usual midfield position.

Half time 0-0. We've had much the better of it, and Rewbury had our best chance with a header.

79th min sub. Davies off and Newman on

1 down 85mins

F/t 0-1. Att: 259.

Very poor show tonight.No disrespect to paulton but they are one of the poorest sides that have been to pp this season that is how bad we were.Like someone posted mathew is wasted as a full back and why danny did not put welshy on later in the second half in stead of shep is a mystery.Without marcus we do not have an able replacement it is such a shame that wearn and joe have left we do not have anyone any better at the moment.
any way think of poor newport they lost 3-1 to yate at home tonight in the fa cup Football is a funny game at times

Tonight's team:-

Cutlan;
Thomas,Rewbury,Colborne;
Williams,Davies,Leek,Harris;
Traylor,Shephard,Prosser;

Subs:
Newman for Davies after about 79 minutes
A. Griffiths for Thomas after about 88 minutes
Welsh
Howe
Newall

Kris Leek returned in place of Ryan Newman as we played the same 3-4-3 as in the first half on Saturday.

After about 7 minutes Ryan Prosser slipped past a defender and put in a good 25-yard shot that went a couple of feet over the bar.

The game had mostly been in Paulton's half, and their first threat came after about 12 minutes, and was due to a clearance by Giles Cutlan being headed back over his head from midfield, but Jamie Rewbury got back to clear the ball about 5 yards out.

We almost scored after about 15 minutes when a long throw from Kris Leek on the right was headed on for the keeper to make a point blank save from Jamie Rewbury.

After a good start we seemed to be running out of ideas as the half went on, and when we did get through the Paulton defence we couldn't beat the goalkeeper. Play had continued to be mostly in the Paulton half, apart from a corner and a couple of throw-ins near the end.

But it was almost the opposite at the start of the second half as we couldn't seem to get going, and Paulton maybe sensed that a goal for them would probably be enough to win the game (and so it turned out, but not until much later).

Then we began to press Paulton back a bit more, and Garry Shephard got free close to the line on the left, but his left-footed cross was straight to the goalkeeper at the near post. Then some pressure on the Paulton defence on the right of their area led to an Ian Traylor shot being easily cleared with the keeper out of his goal.

We were then well on top, with a series of long throws and some corners, but our final attempts on goal weren't good enough, with the goalkeeper not really being tested. Our best chance of the half fell to Ryan Prosser after Garry Shephard found him unmarked in the area, but he placed his shot just wide of the top corner.

With about 11 minutes to go Ryan Newman replaced Nathan Davies as we tried a more attacking lineup.

The game seemed to be heading for a goal-less draw, but a period of slack play by us eventually led to a corner which seemed to be headed straight in to give Paulton the lead about 3 minutes from the end.

For the remaining minutes Alun Griffiths came on for Andrew Thomas as we played 4 at the back, with Matthew Harris moving forward.

Very disappointing to lose to a late goal, as Paulton had hardly looked like scoring for most of the game. While we didn't deserve to lose it's arguable whether we deserved to win. We had a good chance in each half - in the first it produced a great save by the keeper, and in the second the shot was off target. There just wasn't enough going right up front, and I agree it was a bit surprising Jason Welsh wasn't brought on in the second half. Our best attacker was Ian Traylor, especially in the first half, but we seemed unable to get the ball to him for much of the second, so I'd make Kris Leek man of the match.

Also disappointing was the attendance of 259 - and this coming after a win on Saturday.

Our first league defeat at home since we lost to Larkhall in March.

Yes we were very poor tonight, and Paulton were even poorer, something must be done.
Off to Monmouth on Saturday to see them play TonPentre and to have another look at Dan Macdonald and hopefully another striker Elliott Ford a player with electric pace who is also scoring goals.
COME ON SHEP WE NEED A GOAL SCORER.

A poor showing. A goal-less draw would have been fair. It appeared, however, that there was a foul on Cutlan when Paulton scored the winner.
I agree that Harris would be more valuable in midfield.
We bossed the first half but didn't really look like scoring. Then in the second half it was more even overall but we seemed to lose out in midfield.
We have ridden our luck in some games this season so perhaps we have had our share of luck.
There were difficulties with Marcus Griffiths unfit. It did appear that only the introduction of Welsh might have turned the game.
The gate was POOR. It seems that for a variety of reasons, lots of fans will turn out on a Saturday but stay away in midweek. And it was, for a change, a dry and mild night.
Afterwards, the Candac Suite was sparsely attended when it is fairly crowded on a Saturday.
It makes you wonder what the people want------when you consider how hard the Board work to keep the club going! Yet people can turn up from Bristol to watch Merthyr on a Tuesday night!
Our unbeaten league run is ended but it's nearly the end of October so that's not a bad achievement. And a couple of hiccups for Poole Town mean that we are only a Bournemouth stick of rock away from them and with a match in hand!
If we don't draw at Wimborne, it's Tiverton next Tuesday and they should be a better side than Paulton. Maybe that will suit us!

I thought we played quite well first half last night and had Rewbs scored with the chance he had, I think we'd have gone on to win the game. I agree with other posts regarding Matthew Harris, why we're playing him at left back when he's a naturally right footed midfield player seems ridiculous, especially as we have Jack Howe and Alun Griffiths who can slot into that position very easily. I also can't see the point in pushing Rewbs into midfield after half time, as, like Saturday, we lost control of that area when it happened, he was hardly involved at all and the game just seemed to pass him by. For most of the second half we seemed to stop playing football and were just banging the ball long to Prosser or Shep, and while I thought Shep did well for 75 minutes, a change with Welsh would have been sensible.
First time I've said it this season, but I thought the ref had a decent game.

JUST FOR THE RECORD Wearn scored 2 goals to take Ton Pentre through in the Welsh Cup!!!

I know it is a bit galling to hear of strikers we have let go scoreing goals for their new clubs when we are in need of a good striker, but what is more galling is the fact we have not signed any replacements, two strikers gone and one player in a (midfielder) with no real goal scoreing credentials.
There are player out there in the Welsh League i.e. Macdonald and Ford of Monmouth and Luke Prosser of Goytre (gwent) they are all scoreing for fun. Come on Shep get them watched.

A poor performance from The Town last night. I can only think of 3 attempts on goal and only one of them on target. Not sure about Rovers goal.There was alot of Merthyr's defence pushing and shoving each other! Mind youPaulton only had one shot on goal and they scored.

I think we'd all agree Matthew Harris should be in midfield rather than left back, it could be that Alun Griffiths is not fully fit yet, but there could be an interesting debate here - assuming all players are fit and available what would be Merthyr's best team?

If Alun Griffiths is in the team and Matthew Harris in midfield who would you leave out? Of the team that started last night, Nathan Davies? Or would you play three midfielders - Davies, Leek and Harris? If so, you either have to leave out one of the three central defenders - Andrew Thomas? - or one of the three attackers. And we've GOT to have Ian Traylor in the side, so do you play him as one of just two up front? If so, would a front two of him and Marcus Griffiths (current leading scorer) work? Or if you play Griffiths, Traylor and A.N.Other up front, it comes back to leaving out either a midfielder or a central defender.

There are various permutations that could be made in midfield and up front if we play four at the back, but having the three central defenders has worked well for us so far this season so it's difficult to advocate changing it, which means a choice of having two in central midfield and three up front, or three in midfield and two up front.

One other observation about the team that started last night - it didn't have a single left-footed player in it, yet there were three on the subs bench.

Well, we can all pick a team, but I wouldn't like to be the one who has to actually do it!

"The gate was POOR. It seems that for a variety of reasons, lots of fans will turn out on a Saturday but stay away in midweek. And it was, for a change, a dry and mild night.
Afterwards, the Candac Suite was sparsely attended when it is fairly crowded on a Saturday.
It makes you wonder what the people want------when you consider how hard the Board work to keep the club going! Yet people can turn up from Bristol to watch Merthyr on a Tuesday night!" tim drummond

i havent posted for a while on here but have been keeping an eye on your fortunes, i must say that i was a little surprised at the gate last night also. now may be a good time to share my recent experiences.

i started posting on here last season, saw around half a dozen game last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. there were often discussions about support, etc, and one of them i posted a lenghty contribution to how a club need 'people in the ground, or income streams' and that during the summer i would look to find a way to provide this on a personal level. i can remember tim at the time thanking me for the contribution.

anyway during the summer i decided i wanted to buy 2 half season tickets which would have been around £150 in total. unfortunately these were not being advertised for this season, so i looked at other options. it was convenient for me to part with the money at the time as different times of the year, different commitments, etc. i decided (rightly or wrongly) to contact the club, and offer to purchase for the club £200 worth of equipment of their choice (fans and fans groups had done this at swansea city in the past and this was something that appealed). i received a reply from (steve lloyd is it?) acknowledging the email and suggesting a meeting / conversation. i then replied to this accordingly, and subsequently received no further response on the matter. after 3 weeks of no response, i decided to enquire about half season tickets on the off chance (realistically i could only attend 5/6 games a season). i emailed meurig to which i received a prompt response informing me he'd look into it and get back to me, then a further response telling me the club (for whatever reason) the club didnt wish to take me up on the offer. i dont know why half season tickets are so difficult to implement/administrate but the communication was very cordial and it was left at that. frustrated at this point, and over 3 weeks since my offer to purchase £200 of equipment for the club had been left unanswered i then sent steve lloyd a final email saying that i would not be pursuing my offer any futher, and would take it to a grass roots type level where it may be more relevant, i received no reply to this.

now i talked the talk, and i was prepared to walk the walk, and put my money where my (sometimes big) mouth is, with absolutely no ulterior motive. unfortunately, it was deemed twice (inconvenient, undesirable, derisory, patronising) whatever, even though as i've already stated i know of individuals or parties at swansea city who have similiar things for similiar amounts.

around the same time there was 'a methyr thread' on a cardiff city message board. a lot of positive responses to your recent success, but one poster basically described mtfc as an insular, private members type club. now that may grate a few people on here and they may counter accordingly, but from my recent experience i'm inclined to agree with that poster.

259 would probably have been 260 last night, maybe even 261. i dont know if there's any others out there like myself (well there's at least one). the £200 level would have been a regular yearly commitment barring unforeseen circumstances, hopefully in time may have increased. i havent been to a game this season. i may well still pop over occasionally to see a game, i wish you nothing but good fortune. however, the club chose not to take me up on my offer/s to develop a relationship, so for the most of the time i'll keep my distance likewise.

finally, as i've said already, i wish you nothing but good fortune, nobody can please everybody

Poor all round from the Town last night, plenty of possesion and sideways passing but very little end product.

We seemed really flat, and as happened Saturday when Nathan Davies went off the momentum swung against us as we had little or no protection in midfield and our defence started to get exposed.

Where I think tactical changes from Shep and Danny have won us games in the past, I think it cost us a bit last night as we ended up with a centre half (Rewbury) in centre midfiled, a central midfielder (Harris) at left back, and a winger (Traylor) as a central stirker chasing the game against a very average side, in additional to this I think we only had 1 shot on target (a header from Rewbury first half).

Our attacking threat was almost non existant in the final third, we had some promising moves and chances to deliver the ball into good areas but there was nothing doing, I will defend Sheppy here though because the awful form of our strikers (Marcus aside when he is selected), and the unwillingness of others to stay at the club and fight for their position has meant he, a 36year old has had to come out of I suppose semi retirement to bolster the forward line.

I think we need to desperately sign an additional forward, maybe this highlights a quality not quantity issue as weve said we have plenty of midfielders and we had 3 left backs on the bench last night, maybe we need to make some tough desisions player wise to make funds available to bring someone in, maybe Newport have someone down there, or even maybe a player thats not getting paid at Llanelli.

Its frustrating because we have a very good squad and have the potential to finish right up the top end of this league, but this striker issue is choking us at the moment.

Anyway, roll on Saturday...

UP THE TOWN

a total waste of 8 quid not bad in the first half but clueless in the second

Echo nearly all the sentiments in this thread about the game. Disappointed to lose as I think we deserved a point, if not more, as it felt like Paulton offered very little throughout the game. We played some nice stuff at times and linked up well, just didn't create enough chances in front of goal.

Despite that, it was my first game at the park since North Leigh at the start of September, so I enjoyed the evening regardless. Can't beat a game under the floodlights!

Quite agree with most of the comments,as cf48 says we are overloaded with defenders but short of at least one if not two strikers.It wasn,t working up front for us last night but how could you change it with all defenders on the bench,i personally dont see welsh as a striker,when he as been tried there it didn,t work for me.Re.the crowd there was a couple of games on t.v. last night which didn,t help only the hard core supporters turn out.Paulton didn,t offer a lot but their defence held firm and won the aerial battle on all the corners and throw ins which rained in on them and they went away with three points.

Agree with the waste of £8 .. They bullied us in the air and kept strong defensively
Really need another option or 2 up front, someone who can run in behind the defense

Paulton rovers website





Rovers turned the form book on its head as they claimed their first away win of the season at previously unbeaten, Merthyr Town.

In truth the home side had much the better of the first half as Nathan Davies sent a long range effort just wide and Ryan Prosser shot just over the bar in the opening exchanges. However it was Rovers who came closest to breaking the deadlock early as James Billing won a race for the ball with Town keeper, Giles Cutlan, but the header didn’t have quite enough power on it and central defender, Gary Colbourne was able to clear the ball off the line. Rovers were once again indebted to Kyle Phillips as he produced a fine save on 16 minutes from a header by Jamie Rewbury after Kris Leek’s long throw from the right had been flicked on at the near post.

Rovers hard pressed defence was forced to reorganise when, on 25 minutes, Marcus Mapstone was forced to leave with a shin injury and moments later Phillips did well to get down and claim a deflected shot from Leek. With 10 minutes of the half remaining Town were relieved to see the referee only brandish a yellow card for a bad challenge from Leek on Charlie Rich. After withstanding considering pressure in the later stages it was Rovers who almost went into the interval in the lead as Brice got in a header from a Rich corner but Cutlan saved comfortably.

The second half was more even but both defences continued to dominate although on 54 minutes an excellent passing move down the left ended with Billing being brought down 20 yards out in a central position only for Ben Osman to send the free kick high over the bar. Rovers then had an escape on 58 minutes as having just made a save from a narrow angle from Gary Shephard, Phillips raced from his line to clear a through ball only to see it land at the feet of Ian Traylor but his 25 yard shot was cleared off the line by Brice. Both sides had half chances, the best for Rovers coming on 67 minutes after a great run from Ben Lacey set up a shooting chance for Craig Loxton but the ball bobbled (a problem both sides faced all evening) and he completely miss hit his shot.

As the game wore on the Town plan seemed to shift from quick, neat passing and using their undoubted pace to throwing high balls into the Rovers’ box where Brice and fellow defender Stuart Pearson were outstanding. However Town’s best chance of the night came on 77 minutes when a right wing corner was cleared only for a speculative ball back into the area to be headed on by Shephard to Prosser who sent his right foot volley just past the far post.

It proved a critical miss as with only 5 minutes remaining Lacey did extremely well to go past two defenders and earn a corner on the right, Rich’s left foot sent the ball over Cutlan to the far post where somehow Brice was able to bundle it over the line.

It was a bad day at the office . Paulton weren't, the best but came for a point and got three. Yes, there was a foul on cutlan missed by the whistleblower but the team needs to be settled. Prosser will come into his own but only once he gets service from two quality wingers on at the same time-top scorer marcus and the best dribbler we have in Traylor. Sheppy should have worked out by now his best team at home which is cutlan willo colbourne , Rewbury, Alan griffiths Newman leek Harris Marcus Traylor and Prosser 4 3 3 it is easy to pick as it is the same team as my ps3 team lol...in the event of injuries or suspension in tubbs Howe Davies and co....a 20 goal a season striker is already at the club but he needs service from our most creative players Harris Traylor and Marcus. A settled side is a winning side....we have lost a skirmish with paulton we now need to win the war. Sheppy is a great servant of our club and it is hard to hang up the boots...but save him for cup games...we need pace upfront which Marcus and Traylor have in abundance....Prosser and sheppy lack pace....they were both beaten in the air all night ....that is why we lost...but we are good enough to go up where we belong....we need to go on a run and give Prosser a headed ball to attack crossed from the beeline...it is easy to go forward than peddle backwards....league please ....cups runs are good revenue but nothing else

Your best team selection i agree with but the problem is we do not have the replacement in the forward line when marcus is injured.We have more than enough of midfield and defenders to fill in but the forwards with wean and joe gone is non existant.To be fair to shep for him to make an impact after being out so long in my opinion is asking a lot.I was dissapointed on losing the treharris boy to ton as he had the potential to be successful with us.perhaps he might come back if he thought he would have a fair run out in the side.It is time now to look for one or two fresh faces to liven up the attack from the lower leagues because as someone as already mentioned we are basically a good side but it needs some fine tuning