FARNBOROUGH 2 MERTHYR TOWN 2

A MUCH-changed Farnborough team shorn of some recently-departed legends shared the spoils with their Welsh visitors in a scrappy affair.

A competitive first half was devoid of incision from both teams, play slowly simmering but never quite reaching the boil.

The deadlock was broken on 68 minutes when Boro’s Connor Calcutt ghosted across the goal and with keeper rooted, placed a deft header just inside the right stick.

Shortly thereafter, Calcutt and Jarrad Wright saw red for some unsightly handbags and from the restart Merthyr put some colour in an otherwise monochrome performance by storming down the pitch, Ian Traylor lobbing the on-rushing Aiden Upward when left one-on-one.

Traylor doubled his tally five minutes later: bursting through the Boro defence from the left, running half the pitch and rolling the ball home from just inside the area.

But parity was restored again when a sublime control and finish from Dan Walker three minutes from the end – a low drive to the right from just inside the left of the box – levelled the game again to set up a tense finish.

Both teams sniffed the win and only a despairing diving header off the line from Farnborough defender Luke King denied Traylor a hat-trick while Spencer Day’s Boro had a goal disallowed for offside as the game saw a dramatic finale. STAR MAN: Ian Traylor (Merthyr Town) ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★