MARTYRS UP TO THIRD AFTER BOXING DAY WIN
MERTHYR Town ring in the New Year with the last of their run of five successive home fixtures against Redditch United on January 2 (3pm ko).
The Worcestershire side were founder members of the Alliance Premier League, the forerunner of the Conference, now the National League and they have had a spell in the Conference North.
They are still nurturing hopes of a play-off spot in the Evo-Stik Southern League Premier Division although they have been outside the main contenders’ places. They were home to close rivals Banbury United on Boxing Day. In their previous match, they snatched a 1-0 win at full-timers Basingstoke who crashed to their fourth successive defeat.
Among the players to impress for the Martyrs this season has been front-runner Keyon Reffell who sets up plenty of chances for his colleagues by keeping possession, getting past defenders and delivering some telling crosses. He signed during last season and was a target for ambitious Hereford in the summer. He went there for some close-season training but decided he wanted to stay with Merthyr.
Redditch’s squad includes striker Dior Angus, a former Solihull Moors and Kidderminster player.
Up to December 18 Redditch had won 12 games, drew five and lost 10, 40 goals for and 41 against which suggests their defence may be there for Gavin Williams’ team to exploit.
Merthyr will need to step up a gear in the second half of this season, having drawn too many games but they are wellplaced for the play-offs. A second or third place finish will mean a home game in the play-offs while the fourth and fifth teams will be away.
Merthyr have to adjust in defence after Neathborn central defender Rhys Baggridge signed for rivals Chippenham Town, as reported last week.
Merthyr manager Gavin Williams said: “Obviously Rhys wants to play, and with the squad I have I could not guarantee him the playing time that he wanted. It is always disappointing when you lose players, but you can understand when players want to move on to play, and everyone at the club would like to thank Rhys for his service.”
Merthyr fans were disappointed at the player’s exit, saying he had improved since joining Merthyr. The Wiltshire club had recently released two of their players. A BUMPER Boxing Day crowd of over 700 saw the Martyrs move up to third place in the league table with a comfortable home win by a scoreline which flattered visitors Cinderford Town.
With Curtis McDonald suspended Jarrad Wright dropped back to play in midfield, with Eliot Rich- ards coming into the side to take his place in midfield.
The Cinderford line-up included four ex-Merthyr players in the shape of Jaye Bowen, Cameron Clarke, Shane Parry and James Bloom, but the Martyrs were spared from facing Cinderford’s leading scorer and former Merthyr trialist Gethyn Hill who had been sold to National League South side Weston-super-Mare a week previously.
Looking well on top in the early stages, Merthyr took a deserved lead after eight minutes when Adam Davies played the ball down the right to Keyon Reffell. He picked out a cross to find Ian Traylor who glanced a header inside the far post. Not long afterwards there was another chance with a header when a long cross from Davies found Ryan Prosser at the far post but he couldn’t keep the ball down and it went over the bar. Cameron Clarke was twice in action for Cinderford, blocking a shot to the near post by Kayne McLaggon and then making a fine save to a goalbound effort from Prosser.
But another goal was on the cards, and it came a couple of minutes later after McLaggon and leftback Scott Barrow combined for the latter to fire the ball across the area for Ian Traylor to put it past Clarke from beyond the far post.
There were further shots at goal from McLaggon and Traylor as Merthyr had been in complete control of the game in the first half, with Cinderford, whenever they did gain possession wasting it with some poor balls forward. However, after the break the visitors came into the game more, although without managing to trouble Oliver Davies in the Merthyr goal.
Ian Traylor had a great chance to complete his hat-trick after combining with Kayne McLaggon to get in a shot from 12 yards, but he put it wide of the post.
It was four minutes from the end of normal time before Oliver Davies had his first save to make, getting down to push away a shot from Cinderford midfielder Lewis El- lis, the clearance being completed by Scott Tancock. Merthyr were close themselves when Scott Barrow cut in from the left to fire in a right-foot shot which appeared to be going in until Traylor got his head to it to divert the ball over the bar.
The nearest Cinderford came to a goal was in added time when Adam Davies sent a cross-field ball straight to a Cinderford player, resulting in a long-range shot from striker Matthew Thomas which came back off the bar.