MERTHYR v Tiverton

Game delayed due to floodlight problems: K/o 8:30pm

Cutlan, Harris, A Griffiths, Thomas, Colbourne, Rewbury, Davies, Leek, Prosser, Newman, Traylor

1 down 28mins.

2-0 to Tiverton. Penalty in the 43rd min

so i take it, it should be half time now then

H/t 0-2

3-0 Tiverton. 59th min

62nd min subs. Harris and Newman off and Welsh and M Griffiths on

77th min sub. Leek off and Jones on

Full time 3-0 to Tiverton, Terrible performance from us and the ref

Att 337 - not a great advert to come back

another 8 quid down the drain their goalkeeper never had to make a decent save come on boys sort it out

Here I am, stuck in bloody Lincoln - of all places - to hear that we've been stuffed 3-0 at home. After the way we played last Saturday how did that happen? OK the ref may have been a disgrace but according to Stevie g we didn't seem to have a decent effort on goal and that can't be down to the referee. Why can't we do it at home? Is it the pitch? Is it the way teams set themselves up to play against us at PP? If it's the latter then we must seriously think about changing the way we play at home. Obviously the rest of the teams in our league know the way we try to play and plan accordingly and we don't seem to have the ability to break them down. If it is the pitch then we need to do something about it and quickly or otherwise a promising start to the season could be ruined by our home form. We have played well in every game away from home this season - except for the first halves in Totton & Bishops Cleeve which is why the away draw in the FA Trophy is probably a good thing.

Tiverton were the best Southern League team I have seen this season, to be honest. Two strong men up front and it was very hard to break down their defence.
True, there was controversy over their second and third goals but Merthyr didn't really deserve anything from the game and the second half produced little for us.
The referee received a hostile reception after the final whistle.
The gate improved from the two previous Tuesdays and then we lose.
Perhaps some people preferred a night out for Halloween on Wednesday- ghouls rather than goals!!
After such a good win at Wimborne, a disappointing result is what often transpires.
But I think Tiverton will stake a strong claim for a return to the Premier Division. They passed the ball well and were a giant of a side with the goalkeeper perhaps being the shortest and he wasn't a midget!
I think we will see a different performance against Didcot.

As stevie said we did not really have a strike on goal though the ball did not run for us at times.Their first goal was a cracker and cutlan had no chance.The ref was abysmal but we cannot make that an excuse.I was a little confused who was playing full back tubsy or harris or was it just three in the back it was not a success which ever way one looks at it.We need a striker who can consistantly score goals but if finances prevent this then i am afraid we will have more downs than ups in this league and our gates will undoubtly suffer;We had a decent gate for midweek and perhaps with nothing on telly and our results last weekend helped.We cannot continue with our home form which all the season as been hard work .If it is the pitch then put a roller on it and hope for the best .We played good football but we were out musceled by a decent tiverton side.It is imperative we get three points on saturday to stop the slide down the table.With the lights going out as well it was not the best of nights all round

Yes, we were poor - a gloomy night in every respect. Too many balls given away, too many overcomplicated moves which either broke down or allowed Tiverton time to pack their defence. Too few shots at goal and they were were weak or off-target. We couldn't even nick a consolation goal at the end, and barely looked like scoring. I assume Marcus didn't start as he isn't fully fit?
By contrast, Tiverton were strong, fast, incisive and grabbed their chances. The referee was also poor but his performance did not excuse ours. On the overall balance of play, maybe 0-3 flattered Tiverton a bit, but we couldn't have grumbled had it been 0-2. I wasn't at Wimborne, so I can't offer a theory as to why we are so Jekyll and Hyde at the moment.

Tonight's team:

Cutlan;
Thomas,Rewbury,Colborne;
Harris,Leek,Davies,Newman,A.Griffiths;
Traylor,Prosser;

Subs:
M.Griffiths for Harris after about 59 minutes
Welsh for Newman after about 59 minutes
Jones for Leek after about 75 minutes
Howe
Newall

On arrival at the ground it was seen that 3 of the lamps on the floodlights on one side weren't working. After it was announced that there was trouble with a fuse all the lights were switched off while it was worked on. They all came on then, but before long two of the lamps went out again, leaving a dark patch around the half way line on one side, however the game went ahead at 8.30pm.

With Steve Williams injured Jamie Rewbury was captain.

We came close after about 12 minutes when a long throw from the right was headed on and Jamie Rewbury's header beyond the far post was cleared off the line.

Although Matthew Harris had started as right wing back, by midway through the half he and Kris Leek had swapped positions.

We came close to scoring again after abouit 29 minutes when Kris Leek broke into the area on the right. His ball across was put out at the near post by a defender. From the corner a loose ball resulted in another clearance off the line. But a minute later we went behind to Tiverton's first shot on target. There was a smart turn on the edge of the area by the attacker, and he hit a shot over Giles Cutlan and inside the far post..

About 5 minutes before the break a ball forward by Jamie Rewbury put Ian Traylor through down the middle. He took the ball on, but his shot was blocked by the keeper. It rebounded to Ryan Newman, but his shot was again cleared off the line.

After about 42 minutes an attacker won the ball from Jamie Rewbury to go clear into the area on the left and go down for what seemed to me like a dive as Giles Cutlan went down at his feet as he tried to take the ball round him. However, a penalty was awarded and scored from and Cutlan was booked.

In a sense the half time score of 0-2 wasn't a fair reflection on the half. On the other hand, Tiverton had two shots on target (including the fortunate penalty) and scored from them both, whereas we'd been unable to make our scoring opportunities count. It was also true that they'd looked sharper than us in midfield especially.

About 12 minutes into the second half the game was over as Tiverton went 3-0 up. Matthew Harris was beaten in midfield, and as the ball came across from the right an attacker failed with an overhead kick, but we failed to clear the ball and a shot went into the net.

There seemed to be complaints about the overhead kick being dangerous play, and Garry Shephard was eventually sent to the stand for complaining.

We then made two substitutions, Matthew Harris and Ryan Newman going off, with Jason Welsh coming on to play up front, with Marcus Griffiths on the right wing as we played with 4 up front.

We couldn't break through, however, and with 15 minutes to go Luke Jones replaced Kris Leek in midfield. He was involved our two most positive efforts in the remaining time, first being chopped down on the edge of the Tiverton area. Jamie Rewbury's free kick being cleared. And then Jones ran into the area on the left and squared the ball across, being caught by a late tackle as he did so. However, no penalty was given.

Well, the scoreline maybe flattered Tiverton, but whatever you think about certain incidents I think we were beaten by a side who were sharper than us in all areas. Things could have been different if we'd been able to put the ball in the net in the first half - Ian Traylor had our best chance of the match - but you have to say those clearances off the line were good defending. The penalty didn't help, of course, and as well as that I felt the ref was also conned in the second half into booking Jamie Rewbury.

But overall compared to Tiverton we were not good enough - sharp enough - in midfield especially, where no-one had a good game, with Ryan Newman, apart from his shot on goal, largely ineffective. Up front, it was as poor as I've ever seen Ryan Prosser play, on the ground or in the air, with our main threat, as usual, being Ian Traylor. The substitutes going up front in the second half made no improvement.

After those two seasons in the Western League this was maybe a good yardstick by which to measure ourselves against a good side from the level we find ourselves at now. Apart from a few blips last season, we were usually good enough to beat the top sides in the division as well as the more lowly teams. On the evidence of tonight my feeling is we've got some way to go to match the top sides at this higher level. Unless it was just a case of most of the team having an off day!

Old Sod wrote:Here I am, stuck in bloody Lincoln - of all places -

But City weren't playing tonight, didn't you know?.

It looked a Tivvy penalty from where I was but was told later that photographic evidence showed that Cutlan didn't touch the player. And there was controversy too about the third goal. But we failed to net anyway. I don't see the point in condemning the referee as that only reflects badly on the club.
Overall, Tiverton were the better side but perhaps not by 3-0.
Merthyr Town have come a long way in two years but the Southern League is not going to be an easy ride. A little patience is needed.

As other people have posted on here, Tiverton looked a useful side, very well organised at the back, and they never allowed our defence or midfield to settle, chasing and putting pressure on us all the time. I can only recall their keeper having one save to make, that was when Traylor was through and he should have scored, taking one touch too many - he has lots of supporters on here but he fades out of games for long periods and his crosses rarely beat the first defender. That's a common factor with us, our dead balls and crosses are awful, either hit too short or long, though Marcus put over a few decent corners when he came on.
With regards to the referee, he let an awful lot go last night, mainly to our advantage. Leek committed 3 fouls in the first 25 minutes which should have resulted in a yellow then a red, and Rewbury was also lucky to stay on. Saying that, their 3rd should have been a free kick to us, though Cutlan dashing out at the forwards feet was always going to result in a penalty for the 2nd - at least the ref used common sense and only gave a yellow, despite the efforts of the Tiverton 5 who ran 60 yards to get him sent off.
Another argument between Cutlan and a defender, it's apparent there's some issues there, and he was again beaten by a low shot, lacking pace, to his left.
A good midweek crowd, but another poor performance.

I thought we played better all round last night than we had done against Yate & Paulton the previous midweek home games, but Tiverton dug in and snuffed us out, parked the bus if you like, like most teams do which must compliment us.

I thought first half hour there would only be one winner as we started well, created chances and had Tiverton on the back foot even at 1-0 I thought we would win the game, but the penalty has killed us, and the harder we seemed to try the worse it got, with too many misplaced passes poor delivery into the box.

We hardly had a sniff second half, plenty of possesion but we had no-one really gripping the game by the scruff of the neck, it was all abit hopeful and flat to be honest.

Weve had a fanstastic run and last night was chalk and cheese compaired to our showing on Saturday at Wimborne which was full of energy, movement, zip and quality, it must drive Shep and Danny mad that we have this good game, bad game thing going on at the moment, but we were still pushing on in the 90th minute so we kept going regardless.

We seem to be creaking at the back and are conceeding some poor goals which is something until recently wasnt happening.

Much to ponder, but roll on Saturday, after all this is only our 4th maybe 5th defeat at home in 3 season.

Its time to take stock, be cool, as we have not become a bad team over night.

UP THE TOWN...!!!!

When the referee "lets things go" to our advantage, the Merthyr fans don't complain. Vice-versa, and the referee is branded "a cheat."
Tiverton were in any case the better side on the night. That can happen!
It was a pity that the midweek crowd improved only to see a third successive Tuesday night defeat with six goals conceded and not one scored.
But stepping up to the SL was always going to be difficult.
I don't know why the away performances are better. You can't blame the ground as it doesn't seem to affect the visitors.
The floodlights problem? It goes to show new lights are needed and that is why there are plans for a 3G pitch, with new lights included in the project.
We have to be aware of the long-term future of Merthyr Town FC and not just looking to promotion every season.
We had gates of 700 plus for the last two games of last season. Most of those fans we have not seen since. It's a long ride; don't get off at an earlier stop!!

Merthyr Imp wrote:

Old Sod wrote:Here I am, stuck in bloody Lincoln - of all places -

But City weren't playing tonight, didn't you know?.

And I came all this way too! I was talking to a taxi driver whose son used to play for the Imps so I did manage to get a bit of Lincoln City football talk in. He's very gloomy about their future.

As far as we are concerned it's another day and another game on Saturday and I hope we can get back on the winning trail. As has been said we haven't become a bad side overnight and on our day I'm confident we can beat any team in our division. It seems that consistency is our problem and trying to make progress against teams who park the bus. I suppose it's a compliment to us but it still doesn't make watching it any easier.

The things the ref"LET THINGS GO"were not in positions of threat to Tiverton,the things he didn't act on against us influenced the game..eg the foul before their 3rd goal!I didn't shout cheat at the ref but I thought he was generally very poor.......Sorry to say that but also I don't go to PP to support Tiverton/Yate/ or anyone else only MERTHYR I agree we were below par last night that's the way it goes but I FEEL OTHER ISSUES CONTRIBUTED TO OUR DEMISE.

Park the bus they scored three goals so they must have pushed the bus forward,didnt anyone see the two handballs and the barge on scouser in the box.They bullied us from the off and got in our faces didnt let us settle into our normal passing game and it seems we dont have the answer.Our midfield and forward line had a poor night Nathan Davies i thought being the exception,yet again opposition players complaing about the ball and the ref.having to call for the ball to be changed it was more like a rugby ball bobbling about.What we must not forget though i think that was our 21st game and not out of october.After all that i will still be there saturday because all in all we are doing pretty well but the doubters maybe thinking twice after three home defeats.Come on lads shut us all up Saturday.