Nigel Preece was at Merthyr last night for the game against Hereford.
There was quite some hype around this fixture. Living in South Wales the attention on the upward progress of Merthyr Town FC hasn't gone unnoticed; their unexpectedly successful form in their first season at this level since they were Merthyr Tydfil several decades ago has been hitting the press for some time.
A part time squad, a mix of local and other players and a positive attitude (it can be done) has taken Merthyr into undreamt of nose bleed territory with comments voiced like they could be playing Newport (struggling at the bottom of the EFL) next season.
They've always been a bit of a second team for many South Wales valleys football fans, even their best known fan, Jonny Owen is a Nottingham Forest fan (allegedly the Forest chairman was in attendance for this) and their crowds and comparative success over the years have often been in contrast to that of Cardiff City in particular; when the latter were struggling with only a few thousand diehard regulars in the late 80s, early 90s Merthyr had, similar to now, a good side playing enterprising football. They spent several years in the Conference (I went several times) as it was then before a fairly typical crash and burn. In passing, while I may be gently ribbing their floating support, I'd just like to mention their number one fan; Mark Evans, of Dial M for Merthyr fame, FAW fixer, a real Merthyr footballing legend in my eyes.
Welsh club football is a political minefield of course and Merthyr are the last of the non EFL clubs to resist returning to the Welsh pyramid, even turning down a supposed multi million pound FAW bribe recently. I doubt there would have been such a clamour for tickets if they'd been playing Bala or, even, Barry in the Cymru Prem. Their opponents certainly helped the hype, many middle aged South Wales football fans, whether Swansea, Cardiff and or Merthyr remember their regular encounters with Hereford United.
Enough of my attempt at scene setting, other than to compare recent records; Merthyr 10 wins out of 11, in contrast to our 1 league win in a similar time frame, so only one winner likely. Football, thankfully, is not always so easy to predict.
I had a couple of beers in Cardiff before catching the train up. A pint in the Winchester (yes, the jokes were made about staying there until it's all blown over) and it was off to Penydarren Park. A fine, compact, very hemmed in football ground, though those unlit steps up towards the entrances felt rather like an accident waiting to happen.
We were on the open terrace again, thankfully a dry (albeit cold) evening, some facilities seemed improved since our visit in the Southern League. Home terraces were pretty packed in places but plenty of room in others (those furthest away from the entrance and the bar, I guess).
Our line up was Richardson, Skinner, Quansah, Howkins, Hudson, Mafuta, a welcome return for Richards, White, Edwards, Hamilton and Williams.
I was anticipating with no lack of gloom our normal slow start as we defended the goal at our end, but we had the first effort, an Edwards shot into the side netting. Nevertheless, Merthyr were seeing plenty of the ball, they looked confident (not surprising) and zipped the ball from side to side probing for openings without creating much. Richardson made his first top save of the evening after around 15 minutes off the impressive Twamley and I was starting to feel a home goal was inevitable.
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| First Yellow Card Of The Game Was Shown After A Poor Tackle On Richards |
Annoyingly, when it did come it was from our own error. A hopeful punt was headed by Hudson back to Howkins and, in turn, back towards Richardson, we could see what was coming from behind the goal before our back line did as goal machine Ricardo Rees nipped in to open the scoring.
It could have got worse, some poor finishes and more Richardson saves kept us in it but like other recent games we gradually started to get forward more often and to better effect; Hamilton wriggled through but his shot wasn't crisp enough to beat Cogman before he then hit the inside of the post (we thought we had scored etc).
The queue for the half time loo was ok, not sure i can say the same for the catering by the looks of it. The mood was predictably glum, though not without some hope (the standard football fan's lot perhaps?).
Merthyr started the second half on top again, a deflected cross looped onto the bar, a long range shot smacked against the post and Richardson was again called into action. A second home goal would probably have been decisive but, with Osborne on for Edwards, gradually we started to look the more likely.
10 minutes or so into the half we found an equaliser. A corner was laid back to Hudson about 12 yards out and his crisp shot was too sharp for Cogman to keep out. This was followed by a wave of Bulls’ attacks, Williams and Osborne having decent efforts along with more corners.
The many neutrals (sort of) in the home areas of the crowd would have been enjoying the open nature of the game, while I felt we had more territory, the home side's passing and movement when they had the ball was quicker and sharper than ours, understandable given the respective levels of confidence stemming from our form guides I suppose. It was from such play that Merthyr took the lead again; a couple of first time passes, an early cross and a header well attacked by Jarvis from around 10 yards that gave Theo no chance. Looked a bit too easy perhaps from the away end, but it was quality football played at pace, a good goal.
D'Ath had come on for Richards and, after the goal, Campbell for Mafuta as we desperately searched for an equaliser. I felt if a goal was to come it would be for the home side on the break (I'd gone for a 3-1 loss in the prediction league), thankfully I was wrong.
A succession of game slowing subs by the home side perhaps lost any momentum they may have had but it was still a very pleasant surprise when we snatched a late leveller. Four of the minimum six minutes of injury time were up when a free kick was swung in hopefully towards the penalty spot, the home keeper came rushing out, got nowhere near the ball and Kyle Howkins’ uncontested header floated into the unguarded net.
No post match lock in and I was able to escape fairly quickly, though those steps really aren't great. A friendly chat to a couple of slightly disappointed but gracious locals before I located my lift back down the A470. Home by 2230 after an evening game is most unheard of!
The relief of a point was somewhat tempered by dropping another spot to 23rd and the news of the loss of Sterling-James (we knew) and Osborne (had been rumoured). On the past two showings, Hamilton needs to encouraged and given a run in the side but clearly reinforcements are needed.
COYB
Nigel Preece
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