MERTHYR v Leamington

Team:
Garner
Tancock Jones Baggridge Davies
Traylor Evans Wright Jenkins
Mclaggon Reffell

Subs:
Bloom Hugh Bowen Brown Prosser

1-0 down 14th min. Free header from a corner

Half time 1-0 down. Not a classic!

73rd min sub. Prosser on and McClaggon off

2-0 down 76th min

85th min subs: Brown and Bowen on, Jenkins and Traylor off.
Possibly too little too late...

Today's team:

Garner;
Tancock,Jones,Baggridge,Davies;
Traylor,Evans,Wright,Jenkins;
McLaggon,Reffell;

Subs:
Prosser for McLaggon after about 73 minutes
Brown for Traylor after about 80 minutes
Bowen for Jenkins at the same time
Bloom
Hugh

It was an unchanged side from last Tuesday night.

We put some pressure on Leamington early on, including a shot from Ashley Evans that was deflected wide. At the other end Glyn Garner had to get down to a shot heading just inside the post.

But after having the better of the play, with two or three corners which came to nothing, Leamington took the lead after about 13 minutes when their first corner of the match was headed straight in by Jack Edwards.

After about 18 minutes Jarrad Wright went on one of his surging runs down the middle, but under pressure his shot at the end of it didn't really trouble the goalkeeper too much.

With Leamington content to defend and contain us in midfield there was little of note for the rest of the half. They were doing quite a bit of moaning at the referee, especially the goalkeeper, although it was the no. 6 who eventually got a booking.

In the first of only two incidents when we came close to scoring in the second half, after 55 minutes a free kick close to the corner flag on the left was sent low into the area by Ian Traylor and hit the near post to cause something of a goalmouth scramble, but we couldn't turn the ball into the net.

Then on about 64 minutes Adam Davies had a shot from the edge of the area deflected onto the post.

Otherwise, we could get nowhere against a defence that was just too sharp for us, and who won just about everything in the air. Ryan Prosser was brought after about 73 minutes to perhaps make a difference to this (but didn't really) in place of Kayne McLaggon - although any of the four attacking players could have gone off.

Since the Leamington goal Glyn Garner had been virtually a spectator, but on about 75 minutes he had to be alert to field a shot at the near post from the former Kettering player Courtney Baker-Richardson. But about a minute later the same player was able to lob the ball over him from the right of the area.  

And that was it. We had little chance of pulling two goals back against a side even more content to settle for just containing us and we grew ever more ragged going forward, with the last ditch substitutions on about 80 minutes  of Jon Brown and Jaye Bowen for Ian Traylor and Corey Jenkins making no difference.

There were very few incidents to describe - my usual scribbled notes generally run to 8 pages or more, but they came to less than 6 today.  Leamington have one of the best defensive records in the division and we could see why today.  We've played worse this season, but as I've said, we looked less and less likely to score as the game went on. Everything played into Leamington's hands for putting in the kind of performance to get a very competent away win.  On today's showing our only chance of getting something from the game would have been not to let them take the lead so early on and so give them something to defend, and/or get a lucky break in attack - which on two occasions we didn't.

Man of the match for me was Adam Davies.

For those who know anything about football tactics won the match today. They came to spoil, harass and time waste from the start and the early goal gave them all the more incentive and it won. Put this game to bed and on with making sure we stay in the league and perhaps success in the cup.

That's exactly right, OWNES. Leamington supporters will have enjoyed the match, but it's not one that will be remembered by home or any neutral spectators.

why put Prosser on to give us a bit of height in the middle(he should have been on much sooner than he was) then take off the two wingers who put in the crosses into the middle just can't see the logic in that move

stevie g wrote:why put Prosser on to give us a bit of height in the middle(he should have been on much sooner than he was) then take off the two wingers who put in the crosses into the middle just can't see the logic in that move

Well, I don't think either wide players got many crosses in throughout the second half, so it was perhaps to try something different.

It was noticeable that during the time he was on Jon Brown didn't get a single decent ball out to him on the left, so by that time it didn't really make any difference who was playing there.

Personally, I would have kept McLaggon on and taken Corey Jenkins off to bring Prosser on, and moved Keyon Reffell out wide as he was winning nothing in the air in the middle.

Merthyr Imp wrote:

stevie g wrote:why put Prosser on to give us a bit of height in the middle(he should have been on much sooner than he was) then take off the two wingers who put in the crosses into the middle just can't see the logic in that move

Well, I don't think either wide players got many crosses in throughout the second half, so it was perhaps to try something different.

It was noticeable that during the time he was on Jon Brown didn't get a single decent ball out to him on the left, so by that time it didn't really make any difference who was playing there.

Personally, I would have kept McLaggon on and taken Corey Jenkins off to bring Prosser on, and moved Keyon Reffell out wide as he was winning nothing in the air in the middle.

What the hell is the point of a club having a big strong target man,and leaving him to languish on the bench. The logic is totally beyond me.
Prosser coming on with 15 minutes to go when the game is already lost is sadly becoming a regular occurrence.Reffell tends to run out of steam quickly towards the end of the game,and he can't hold off big defenders on his own. And as for yet another goal keeping howler

I generally like Leamington - albeit I think they are a bit of a bogey side for us. Decent bunch of fans. However I've never rated their manager, Paul Holleran - ex-Solihull.

Wrong subs kayne should have stayed on reffell is starting to be a liability in my opinion not 1 ball won today and adds nothing to attack .
our set pieces were awful.
adam had a good game again yet again how.many more before he gets snapped up !!!

When is Steve Jenkins finally going to give Cameron another chance, yes he has the semi final game on Tuesday away at Northwood but will he get dropped again after that? Glyn garner seems to be giving away goals with his experience he shouldn't be. But different team proformace from Tuesday to that today. Hopefully a win Tuesday and a cup final to look forward to.

Just uploaded some images from yesterday's lack lustre performance on club website.