Martyrs In For The Long Haul On Road To Norfolk

Merthyr Town face a near 500-miles round trip to Norfolk to face the promotion chasing Linnets at the Walks on Saturday (3pm).

King’s Lynn are second in the EvoStik Southern League, just behind leaders Hereford, and have won five successive Premier Division matches.

It will take the Martyrs around six hours each way by coach to face a team who have netted 12 goals and conceded three in their winning run.

Manager Ian Culverhouse, a former Norwich City player who won a Uefa Cup winners medal with Spurs in 1984, and his players are intent on chasing down Hereford.

Owain Jones pictured after scoring for the Martyrs against Frome Town. Pic: Peter Harman.

Only the champions will be promoted automatically with the next four teams going into the play-offs.

Lynn won 1-0 at Merthyr earlier this season when Michael Gash, who helped Barnet earn promotion to the Football League three years ago, scoring the only goal.

“We have to impose ourselves on Merthyr and manage the game,” said Culverhouse. “It wasn’t the best of games when we won at their ground before Christmas, but we worked hard for the result and we’ll have to dig deep again.

“Performances are not the important thing right now. It’s just a results business and continuing to accumulate as many points as possible over the next three weeks.

“We’ll see where we are then.

“Merthyr will make things tough for us and we know what to expect.”

Merthyr Town’s Ian Traylor goes for goal, but this effort against Frome Town was blocked. Pic: Peter Harman.

The Martyrs led twice against Frome Town in their latest match, but were eventually edged out 4-3 at the Loadlok Community Stadium.

Owain Jones (11 mins), Ryan Prosser (29) and Jarrad Wright (55) were the Merthyr scorers, while Joe Raynes (14), Josh Brace (24), Marcus Mapstone (77) and Jon Davies (84) were the Frome marksmen.

The Martyrs were quick and impressive on the break, hitting the inside of a post when the match was goalless.

In the last few minutes, when the visitors were leading 4-3, Frome goalkeeper Kyle Phillips miscued a clearance and almost handed Merthyr an equaliser. Phillips was just able to get back and reclaim possession just before Martyrs players could get there.

Merthyr Town FC (v Frome Town): Ed Hewitson, Scott Tancock, Matthew Harris, Kyle Patten, Adam Davies, Ashley Evans, Jarrad Wright, Owain Jones, Corey Jenkins, Ryan Prosser, Ian Traylor. Subs: Miles John, Kerry Morgan, Craig Reddy, Harry Franklin, Lee Price.

Merthyr Town FC remaining fixtures 2017-18

April

Sat 7 v King’s Lynn Town A

Tues 10 v Chesham United H

Sat 14 v Kings Langley H

Sat 21 v Banbury United A

Tues 24 v Bishops Stortford A

Sat 28 v Redditch United H

The Martyrs have five home fixtures left this season. Admission is £10 adults. while concessions pay £8 (Over 65, Cardiff City, Swansea City, Newport County season ticket holders).

Merthyr RFC season ticket holders pay £5 and under 16’s £1

EvoStik Southern League 

Premier Division Table

# Team Pl HW HD HL AW AD AL W D L F A Diff Pts
1. Hereford 40 17 1 3 13 4 2 30 5 5 97 32 65 95
2. King’s Lynn Town 41 15 4 1 13 3 5 28 7 6 91 34 57 91
3. Weymouth 41 15 3 3 12 3 5 27 6 8 94 42 52 87
4. Kettering Town 38 16 2 1 9 5 5 25 7 6 97 43 54 82
5. Slough Town 39 14 4 3 10 4 4 24 8 7 95 43 52 80
6. Royston Town 40 14 1 4 7 3 11 21 4 15 75 57 18 67
7. Tiverton Town 39 13 2 4 8 2 10 21 4 14 66 59 7 67
8. Chesham United 40 10 6 5 8 5 6 18 11 11 77 52 25 65
9. Banbury United 38 7 6 7 10 4 4 17 10 11 78 50 28 61
10. Hitchin Town 39 9 4 5 8 4 9 17 8 14 60 54 6 59
11. Basingstoke Town 40 14 3 3 3 4 13 17 7 16 80 64 16 58
12. Frome Town 41 7 3 10 10 3 8 17 6 18 73 81 -8 57
13. Redditch United 41 10 7 4 4 2 14 14 9 18 66 64 2 51
14. St Neots Town 39 8 5 6 5 7 8 13 12 14 63 68 -5 51
15. Stratford Town 40 7 6 8 7 3 9 14 9 17 60 69 -9 51
16. Biggleswade Town 37 8 5 5 5 3 11 13 8 16 42 44 -2 47
17. Merthyr Town 40 8 5 7 4 6 10 12 11 17 66 86 -20 47
18. Farnborough 41 8 2 10 6 3 12 14 5 22 75 105 -30 47
19. Bishop’s Stortford 39 8 4 8 4 5 10 12 9 18 62 72 -10 45
20. Dorchester Town 39 10 2 8 1 7 11 11 9 19 58 76 -18 42
21. Kings Langley 41 4 8 8 3 5 13 7 13 21 52 83 -31 34
22. St Ives Town 37 2 4 11 5 2 13 7 6 24 47 88 -41 27
23. Dunstable Town 40 2 1 17 1 3 16 3 4 33 24 128 -104 13
24. Gosport Borough 40 1 3 16 1 1 18 2 4 34 28 132 -104 10

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