Merthyr Town v Marine Preview

Match Preview from Mike Wray

We continue our festive schedule with a trip to Wales as we ring in the New Year, and a return game against the Martyrs on Monday January 2nd at the Met Coaches Community Stadium, Merthyr, kick off 3:00pm.

Merthyr Town 13th P20-W8-D4-L8 28pts

Marine 10th P19-W9-D3-L7 30Pts

A superb workman-like performance against North Leigh made certain that Marine returned to winning ways at the Webbswood Stadium on Boxing Day, but manager Lee Spalding will continue to take it one game at a time as he prepares his men for another tough battle come Bank Holiday Monday. Following the 2-1 win over North Leigh Spalding told Supermarine TV; “Merthyr away is probably one of the toughest games of the season for any team to be honest with you.“

“They’re good on their pitch, they know how to play on the 3G surface. They move the ball well, there manager, Paul Michael, got them very well organised and they’re in very good form at the moment, so it’s going to be a really tough afternoon and we’re going to have to make sure when we go there, we’re at our best.“

Indeed, going in to the festive period the Martyrs boss, who only joined the club from Yate Town back in April, was in fairly buoyant mood about his side’s progress as he recapped the first half of their current campaign. “There’s potential in the squad to improve our consistency in the league but we are not too far away,“ Michael’s told Martyrs TV. “We have to remember how quickly we’ve improved and I’m glad that expectations have increased but that doesn’t just happen overnight. So, let’s be positive, we’ve become really competitive in every game and now we need to be more consistent.“

And consistent he does, as following a last minute 3-2 home defeat at the hands of Gosport Borough back towards the start of December, the side didn’t play again until Boxing Day when despite having the run of the game, they played out a 2-2 draw at Yate and speaking after that match, he continued: “Two-two was probably a fair result, but it was a disappointing performance after the first thirty-minutes.“

“We have to be more clinical and we have to be more ruthless at both ends of the pitch. That’s two games now where we’ve created chance after chance, after chance, and we’ve conceded five goals in two games now as well, so there’s lots to continue working on, we’ve got to keep at it.“

Looking ahead to the game against Marine, he concluded; “It’ll be a tough game. They’re coming thick and fast and everybody is competitive in this league, from the top to the bottom and you can see that from some of the results on Boxing Day. We’ve just got to keep working at it, trying to improve our level, don’t get too high, and don’t get too low, and just try getting better and better game on game.“

Last Time We Met 29.08.22 - Marine 2 (Williams 2), Merthyr Town 1 (Rees)

Harry Williams celebrates his first goal when we last met in August
Photo © Rob Mashford Photography Match Album

Marine leading goalscorer: Harry Williams / 20 league goals

Martyrs leading goalscorer: Ricardo Rees / 10 league goals

Admission Prices - Adults £12, Concessions £9 and U16s £1

Coach Travel

Seats on the coach to the Met Coaches Community Stadium are priced at £10each with departure from the Webbswood Stadium at 11:00am. click to email Keith to book your seat.

Other Pitching In Southern League Premier South games on Monday:

Bracknell Town vs Hartley Wintney
Dorchester Town vs Yate Town
Gosport Borough vs Winchester City
Hanwell Town vs Beaconsfield Town
Hayes & Yeading United vs Harrow Borough
Metropolitan Police vs Hendon
North Leigh vs Chesham United
Salisbury vs Poole Town
Truro City vs Tiverton Town
Weston-super-Mare vs Plymouth Parkway

[Keeping up-to-date on game day:]

If you can’t join us at the game, you can follow the action via our official Twitter account @SupermarineFC, and we’ll have updates on our Facebook page and game highlights will follow on Supermarine TV.