Match report

There were goals galore in South Wales as Merthyr Town beat league rivals Truro City 5-2 to progress to the FA Cup second qualifying round. It is the first FA Cup game that The Martyrs have won since 2019, while Truro have not lost at this stage in each of their last seven seasons.

Two goals from Lewis Powell were added to by Ricardo Rees, Ismail Yakubu, and an own goal for Merthyr; while goals from Simeon Okoro and Dan Sullivan proved to be mere consolations for the Cornish side.



Story of the match
A fast start to the match saw Truro carve out the first half chance of the game in the second minute, Dan Sullivan breaking through on the left side before his cut back narrowly missing the boot of Stanley Anaebonam.

Almost immediately, Merthyr struck the first blow of the game. Ricardo Rees showed strength and power to wrestle past two defenders, showing moves that the WWE roster based at Clash at the Castle down the road would be proud of to find himself through on goal. His shot was well saved by James Hamon but the rebound was borderline comically sliced into his own goal by the unfortunate Jordan McCarthy.

This seemed to spark Truro into life, as they dominated the rest of the half. First, Sullivan tried his luck from range to see his shot over the bar, only to be followed by his teammate Okoro in the 19th minute only to see his fierce shot tipped over the bar by Will Fuller.

Fuller can count himself lucky to have not conceded in the 29th minute as his loose clearance up the pitch was intercepted by the lively Anaebonam only for his shot to be well blocked by Tom Handley.

An astute defensive performance came undone in two minutes just before the interval. First, Dan Sullivan saw a marauding run stopped brilliantly at first, only for the loose ball to be lashed home by Anaebonam. Then, a fantastic team move saw the ball land at Sullivan’s feet on the edge of the box where his shot was deflected past the stationary Fuller in the Merthyr net. 2-1 half time to the Cornish team.

The second half could not have been more different from the first as Paul Mitchell’s men rallied to produce an almost perfect attacking half of football to kill the game. It started with the excellent Ricardo Rees; the former Bristol City man benefitting from some lovely build up play to unselfishly square the ball for his strike partner Lewis Powell to tap into an empty net to level the game.

Everything went through Rees, with his crosses and shots causing problems for the Truro backline. It took until the 61st minute for Merthyr to retake the lead with Adam Davies crossing once again for the expectant Powell who wriggled free of two defenders before calmly slotting the ball into the Truro goal.

The White Tigers seemed to lose control from here on in. Tackles and challenges were coming in late and a flash point saw both sides and benches involved in a scuffle; the resulting free kick was floated over which Hamon couldn’t claim allowing Ismail Yakubu to head home and double The Martyrs’ lead.

Any chance of a Truro comeback was firmly put to bed by the star man Rees who burst clear and calmly rounded Hamon to finish off what was a superb individual half from him.

The score line could have had some more gloss to it; Yakuku finding himself inches away from poking home a second for himself.

The victory sees Merthyr Town in the hat for Monday’s draw which sees sides from the Vanarama National League North and South added to the draw. Merthyr and Truro will meet in the Southern League Premier once again next Saturday; one that could be one to watch if the quality matches that seen in this match.

Star Man: Ricardo Rees