MERTHYR v Shortwood

Updates here (fingers crossed!)

Team: morris Willo Howe Rewbs Colborne Davies morgan leek Prosser Misbah Traylor. Subs Summerfield Cutlan Keddle harris Marcus

1 up og mix up in box 7mins

1-1 in the 33rd min

Solihull Martyr wrote:1-1 in the 33rd min

Thanks for the updates lets hope we can take a lead again.

H/t 1-1

Prosser and misbar off griffiths and harris on

2-1 up leekie

2-1 up 86th min. Kris Leek with a piledriver from outside the box

88th min sub. Kerry Morgan goes off injured and Keddle comes on

F/t 2-1!

Full time, 2-1 to us. It was a very tough game for us played in constant rain but Leek's winning goal was brilliant into the top corner

Great, thanks so much for the updates. Another 3 points on the board then. I don't think we could have hoped for a better start to the season.  

Mountain Ash wrote:Great, thanks so much for the updates.  Another 3 points on the board then. I don't think we could have hoped for a better start to the season.     

touch wood we seem to be doing well in the league so far outstanding start  

great result lads, up to 2nd spot , big game vrs Paulton Saturday

Not convinced by the 6ft 3" brigade upfront, more of a Thompson Webley scenario for me.

2-1 win hard game, got out of jail at times, game played in horrible conditions.

Crowd 175. Our lowest so far this season. Possibly a combination of the weather, and the magnificent Red Devils playing in the Champions League - or, as L*******l fans call it: Tuesday! !

Not a good performance but a valuable three points.
Shortwood striker (No 9) was Duncan Culley, their top scorer this season.
I have seen him quite a number of times when he was with Pontypridd Town.

Actually, the gate was 145. There were a few fans from Shortwood. But it was an awful night. Eighteen supporters on the coach run by the club at the special price of £6. A lot made it by car, including some of our Bristol contingent, so well done to the intrepid Martyrs

Tonight's team:-

Morris;
Williams,Rewbury,Colborne,Howe;
Traylor,Leek,Davies,Morgan;
Prosser,Misbah;

Subs:
Harris for Misbah after about 60 minutes
M.Griffiths for Prosser at the same time
Keddle for Morgan (injured) after about 88 minutes
Summerfield
Cutlan

With Andrew Thomas still unfit, Jamie Rewbury was available again so Steve Williams reverted to full back with Dan Summerfield on the bench. Craig Morris was also back in the side instead of Giles Cutlan.

It was an attacking formation for the Martyrs with two wingers and only two in midfield.

After a fairly uneventful start we took the lead through an own goal after about 9 minutes. Kerry Morgan was fouled on the left, swung in the free kick himself, and the goalkeeper fumbled it against a team mate and the ball went into the net.

We looked good for a time then, and it was about 20 minutes before Shortwood's first real attempt on goal after Jack Howe played a loose pass into midfield which was intercepted. Shortwood worked the ball out to the left, but a poor shot came in off target.

Craig Morris was in action after about 30 minutes, having to make a fairly comfortable save to another shot from the left. But a couple of minutes later it was 1-1 following a run down the Shortwood right ending with a shot across Morris inside the far post.

After about 40 minutes another Kerry Morgan free kick on the left was headed over the bar by Gary Colborne, which was really about the nearest we'd come to scoring again.

It was a fairly even first half overall, but too many of our passes forward were going astray, or the ball wasn't being held up, with Ryan Prosser looking well out of touch and Zaki Misbah not much better.

In the second half there was no improvement, in fact we were finding it difficult to get much in the way of possession at all, and when we did could do nothing going forward. It was no surprise after about an hour of the game when Ryan Prosser and Zaki Misbah were both taken off and Marcus Griffiths came on to play down the middle, with Matthew Harris strengthening the midfield as we went back to the more usual 4-3-3.

A couple of minutes after the substitutions Kris Leek fired in a shot from 20 yards which the keeper couldn't hold, but Ian Traylor's follow-up shot rebounded off him and over ther bar.

We continued to look out of sorts, with Shortwood generally on top in all areas, but some good defending just about kept them out without Craig Morris being seriously troubled. About 5 minutes from the end we did have an opening when Kris Leek put a first time shot wide of the post when Kerry Morgan played the ball in from the left. Then a minute later, very much against the run of play in the second half, it was Kris Leek again, producing a moment of quality which won the game for us. The ball was played over from the right, and he put in a cracking shot from the right hand edge of the area which flew into the net.

Kerry Morgan when went down injured and Paul Keddle came on to run about up front for the remaining minutes. The goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of Shortwood, and we were able to play out time without too much trouble.

It's almost difficult to know how we managed to win that match. As they say, we'll play better and lose. Shortwood must wonder how they managed to lose (partly it was thanks to too many shots off target, especially in the first half), and for most of the second half it seemed just a matter of time before they scored and I was thinking we'd do well to get away with a draw.

I was going to say Kris Leek was man of the match even before he scored, but there was no doubt about it after that goal. Craig Morris looked very secure, although he wasn't really stretched in having to make difficult saves. We did quite well in defence, and needed to in the second half.

We'll need to do a bit better in the top of the table clash on Saturday.

Tim Drummond wrote:Actually, the gate was 145. There were a few fans from Shortwood.

There were one or two from Cinderford as well. Someone near me was getting updates from their match at Bridgwater (ended 1-1, Lewis Sommers scoring) and it seems both sides had two men sent off. And this not long after the Taunton v Bridgwater game a couple of weeks ago when Bridgwater had two sent off then as well (plus three from Taunton!).

Should be a few suspensions on the way.

How the **** did we win that last night.  Shortwood must have had 80% of the game and we were poor.  Pross & Zaki did absolutely nothing upfront.  They rarely won a ball in the air and could not hold onto the ball, or lay it off successfully for Trayls & Kerry and as a result our midfield 2 of Leekie & Nathan were under pressure constantly and both worked extremely hard to get the ball back only for our front 2 to lose it again.

Kerry sent in a really good free kick for our first.  It bounced in the 6 yard area just in front of the keeper who elected to punch it, rather than try to smother it on the greasy surface.  Luckily for us, the ball rebounded off one of the centre half's and into the net.  Our defence did well throughout the game but parted on our left hand side to allow for Shortwood's equaliser which on the balance of play they deserved, although apart from that, they created little.  We did have chances - one being a bullet header by Log from another Morgan free kick which he couldn't direct on target and the 2nd was when the ball came out to Prosser who was positioned near the D and with the goalkeeper off his line he tried to chip it in but it went high over the bar.

The 2nd half was worse from our point of view and I haven't seen us play so poorly since the game in Corsham the season before last.  Yes, the surface was greasy but even the simplest 5 yard pass was going astray.  We did perk up a little bit when Mutt & Jeff went off but even Marcus & Matthew seemed to get sucked in to the plethora of mediocrity we were displaying.  Leekie's goal was worthy to win any game as it was a beautifully struck shot from about 20 yards, high to the keeper's right giving him no chance at all and as Malcolm said you could see the Shortwood players' heads drop and it was virtually all over.  Kerry seemed to suffer a calf injury and Keds made a nuisance of himself upfront, causing the Shortwood defence more problems than they faced most of the evening.  I think we won more balls in the air after our initial front two were substituted largely because their replacements were able to get their feet off the ground and jump for the ball.  Just because you're over 6 foot doesn't mean you're not allowed to jump!  Leekie was my MOTM last night, not just for his goal but for the fact that he was our only real threat throughout and apart from the one lapse our defenders did really well, particularly Log & Rewbs, in keeping Shortwood at bay.

Some would say it's a sign of a good side if you play poorly and win but I don't subscribe to that view.  Last night were were very fortunate and when our luck does run out we'll be punished unless we perk up.  Shortwood deserved at least a draw if not the W and must be heartily sick of us.  We played them 4 times last season, winning 3 and drawing once and each game was close and we managed a late winner @ PP when Traylor's shot was palmed into his own net by the keeper and Pross scored a very late equaliser at their place in the Cup.

We've a difficult game at Paulton coming up on Saturday and a repeat of last night's dismal display will mean we'll come home pointless whereas an improvement could leave us at the top of the table.  Such are the fine margins in football and I hope we do play better.

We are now second to Paulton on goal difference but we certainly didn't look like a top side last night. The ball was given away far too often through individual errors and the approach from Prosser and Misbah seemed so casual. It may have seemed strange taking both of the big boys off but you can see why the decision was taken and it paid dividends.
Shortwood were a busy side but our defence fortunately didn't allow them to create many direct chances They tried to ring the changes late on with a fresh pair of legs, bringing on ex-Evesham player Kevin Slack for their top scorer, Duncan Culley, ex-Pontypridd Town.
If it had been a draw,I would have thought we were lucky but to take all three points was extremely fortunate.
Perhaps the surface after the rain didn't help matters but then we will have plenty of adjusting to do when the players get used to the 3G pitch when we get back to base.
Was that intentional when the music over the PA played Take Me Back Home by Slade??

Or perhaps considering the people who made the effort to travel to Cinderford on a shocking night, Slade's Mama, We're All Crazee (sic) Now would have also been appropriate!