MERTHYR v Wells City - 1pm K/O

Updates here (hopefully!)

Perry, m griff, howe, welsh, willo, dorrian, greening, newman, prosser, leahy, traylor. Subs davies, hitchcock, a thomas, hartshorn, leek.

Good to see a strong line up for this cup tie, come on Martyrs.

End to end stuff at the Park, both sides have hit the crossbar in the first 10 mins!

Wells have a goal disallowed, couple of mins before H.T Still 0-0.

0-0 half-time @pp. If it's a draw at full time it's extra time & pens, NO REPLAY. Come on Martyrs lets win this one to celebrate Steve Williams 300th appearance for the club.

YES! Martyrs 1-0 up, scorer to follow.

cliffyboy wrote:YES! Martyrs 1-0 up, scorer to follow.

Newman?

Yes, Ryan Newman scored on his debut! Sub Hartshorn on for Prosser.

Oh! it's 2-0 now

Lee Hartshorn scored the second.

3-0

Jason Welsh netted the 3rd goal.

Full Time 3-0 win. Draw for the next round?

Probably Brislington next then.

Today's team:-

Perry;
M.Griffiths,Williams,Welsh,Howe;
Traylor,Greening,Dorrian,Newman;
Prosser,Leahy;

Subs: Hartshorn for Welsh (injured) at half time
O.Davies for Dorrian after about 72 minutes
Hitchcock for Traylor after about 72 minutes
A.Thomas
Leek

There was a presentation to Steve Williams before the kick-off to mark his 300th Merthyr appearance.

I think it had been rather expected that Lee Hartshorn would be given a start as we rested a few first choice players, but Steve Williams was in the middle of the defence with Marcus Griffiths at right back. He has filled in there before, but I think this may have been his first full game in that position - I just wonder if the plan is for him to play there when Steve Williams serves his forthcoming suspension?

We started with a 4-4-2 formation, with Ian Traylor wide on the right and Ryan Newman on the left, but before long it was 4-3-3 with Newman in midfield.

We almost scored after about 10 minutes when Joe Leahy played the ball on to Ian Traylor near the penalty spot. He knocked the ball up and volleyed it against the bar, the ball bouncind down then out.

After about 24 minutes Jack Howe and Ryan Dorrian combined inside the area, and although a defender slid in on the latter penalty appeals were waved away.

There was good work on the left by Ian Traylor after about 32 minutes when he did well to collect a pass and take it into the area. His driven cross-cum-shot just missed the far post with Joe Leahy not quite able to get a touch on it.

Wells ought to have scored after about 40 minutes when Steve Williams lost the ball midway in his own half to leave a Wells player clean through. As Joe Perry came out the ball was played to a team mate who slotted it into the empty net, but as he had been ahead of the ball it was disallowed for offside. Apart from that incident Joe Perry had hardly been in the game and Wells were fortunate still to be on level terms at that stage.

Ryan Prosser had suffered what seemed to be a blow to the ankle or foot after about half an hour and he didn't come out for the second half, Lee Hartshorn replacing him as Jason Welsh moved up front.

We continued to press Wells back and the breakthrough came after about 62 minutes. Joe Leahy lobbed the ball forward for Ryan Newman to beat the offside trap and lift the ball over the keeper from 12 yards.

4 minutes later it took a brilliant save from the keeper to deny Troy Greening as we played our way through the Wells defence. From the corner Wells were unable to get the ball downfield, and with Lee Hartshorn still forward he made it 2-0, heading in a cross from Marcus Griffiths.

Just a couple of minutes later, on a break forward Jason Welsh put Ian Traylor through, but with the keeper closing him down he put the ball just wide of the post.

We were able to bring on the two Youth team players about 18 minutes from the end - Owen Davies replacing Ryan Dorrian and Lewis Hitchcock on for Ian Traylor.

About 10 minutes from the end we gave the scoreline a realistic look when Lewis Hitchcock, on the left, fed Jason Welsh on the edge of the area. He sidestepped a challenge and put his shot under the keeper.

There were some cheers when the Wells City manager brought himself on - and louder ones 5 minutes later when he got the ball midway in our half after Steve Williams slipped. and with Joe Perry off his line put a long range lob about 20 yards wide.

It was an easy win with a less than full strength side, but it's difficult to read too much into it without knowing whether Wells were also not at full strength. You certainly wouldn't expect their manager to be playing many games unless really necessary! Joe Perry had little to do throughout, and although Wells defended well for much of the game, with some good goalkeeping, they were almost embarrassingly poor going forward the more the game went on.

So although I thought Troy Greening and Ryan Newman both had fairly good games it was difficult to judge against this opposition. Marcus Griffiths did a lot of good work going forward but was never really tested in defence. Man of the match for me was Jason Welsh, who often made it look easy in defence in the first half and did well up front, deserving his goal, in the second. Ian Traylor caused Wells lots of problems, and was our best attacker in the first half.

Attendance of 163 is probably what we could have expected in this competition, and might have been less in poor weather.

well there i am thinking it was 3 1 i went for my coffee when they scored i didn,t know the ref.disallowed it,i think a few more will be surprised it was actually 3 0,but a good performance by everyone only for the keeper we would have had at least 6 or7

rustic wrote:well there i am thinking it was 3 1 i went for my coffee when they scored i didn,t know the ref.disallowed it,

That incident rather summed up the standard of Wells's attacking performance - with the attacker clean through against Joe Perry his supporting team mate managed to be ahead of the ball when it was passed to him.

I thought that Wells, who were a big side, made it a fairly competitive first half but Merthyr totally controlled the second half.
As stated, their goakeeper, excelled. And he was making his debut.
A very poor attendance. I know there is not much interest in the league cup but it was a first-team game.So where were the missing fans?
However, some fans might have gone to see Wales v Norway, some may have been working And did some of the Merthyr subs, who were working earlier, arrive at half -time? Perhaps some supporters were caught out by the early start.
I know at least one fan arrived thinking it was a 3pm start.
Anyway, progress in the competition, the last Cup we are involved in this campaign.

Well done team. 3 - 0 is a good result. Congratulations to Steve Williams on his 300th and his presentation. Given the very disappointing results and manner in which we went out of all our other cup games it would be nice to win this cup and do the League and Cup double. Let's go for that then. I'm quite sure the boys can do it if they put their mind to it.

Tim Drummond wrote: Perhaps some supporters were caught out by the early start.
I know at least one fan arrived thinking it was a 3pm start.

The moral of the story is to always buy a copy of the match programme and study it carefully. Those who did so at the last home game would have read: 'Next at Home - Wells City - Saturday 12th November at 1.00pm'

I enjoyed todays game after the attrician of last week. It was played in a good spirit and Wells didn't resort to clogging which realistically was their downfall. As Sheppy said last week we tend to boss teams that try to play a bit of football but find it difficult against the more direct teams who are prepared to stop us by any means.

We scored 3 good goals today and could have had more. I think Archie's was probably the best - there's nothing better than seeing a centre half outjumping his opposite number and nodding an impossible to save header into the back of the net. Both the Newport lads did well and I was tempted to nominate Troy as my MOTM but after consultation I think Marcus stole the show for us today. Nominally playing full back he terrorised the left side defenders so much so that the left back was substituted at half time. As has been said he wasn't really tested defensively but should we ever decide to play a back 5 - which we could do with any 3 from Willo, Tubbsy, Archie, Welshy & Jamie in the middle - he would be a great choice as a wingback as he seemed to have more room coming from deep. The poor bugger looked knackered towards the end though and may not thank me for suggesting that!

Report on the Wells City website:-

http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/wellscityfootballclub/s/match-report-36639.html?official=0&fixture_id=932405

Can't say as I noticed the 'travelling Blue Army'.

a tad wide with his shot he nearly hit the corner flag,the blue army must have gone on manouvers elswhere.l

I saw about 6 Wells fans sat in the main stand.

Yes, the Blue Army seemed to consist of people sitting in the grandstand in the area for visiting officials. I don't know if they had complementary passes.
However, the team and the "Army" travelled in a coach. Some teams this season have arrived at Penydarren Park in a mini-bus!
It was a poor attendance even with the Blue Army!!!