Martyrs’ coach Dean Clarke has achieved a landmark 500th match for the club – after 20 years on and off the pitch.

Assistant Clarke, 41, has been involved in 500 games for Merthyr when they defeated Chesham United 1-0 at the MetCoaches Stadium.

He will take that total to 501 when Merthyr travel to play Frome Town in an EvoStik Southern League match on Boxing Day (3pm).

Hereford-born Clarke made 372 playing appearances over four spells with the club, while he has been on the coaching staff for 128 fixtures. 

He also played again last season, responding to a plea from manager Gavin Williams.

That appearance, against Royston Town, came when the Martyrs were short on players. It came more than two decades since Clarke made his club debut.

His playing career started at home town club Hereford and he also played for Cheltenham, Newport County, Hereford, Barry Town, Bath City and, of course, Merthyr.

Clarke played a major role for Merthyr in their Toolstation Western League title-winning season, which earned them promotion.

He made his first team debut on the last day of 1993-94, before moving on to Cheltenham Town. He first joined Merthyr in 1998, making four appearances before moving to Newport County.

Over the next 10 years he had spells at Barry Town and Bath City, but kept returning to Merthyr.

He was loved by Martyrs fans because of his total commitment, non-stop, aggressive approach and encouragement of fellow players.

“Dean has been a fantastic servant to the club,” says Garry Shephard, who was Merthyr player-manager when Clarke retired.

“He never shirked a challenge and put his body on the line game after game, which is why the fans love him.”

Clarke works alongside manager Williams and first team coach Ashley Thomas for Merthyr and the three men have played a massive role in stabilising the club during difficult seasons.

Merthyr are in sixth place, just outside the play-off places, while Frome are a team making good progress after slipping into the relegation places. 

They have produced a run of form to lift them up the table, winning 2-0 at Hendon in their last fixture.

“That’s seven points from the last four games,” said manager Danny Greaves. “We will head into the three games between Christmas and New Year in good spirits, but also knowing the hard work starts now with a number of difficult games to come against Merthyr, Tiverton and Salisbury.

“All of them have promotion aspirations.”

Southern League Premier South Boxing Day fixtures: Beaconsfield Town v Staines Town, Chesham United v Kings Langley, Dorchester Town v Weymouth, Farnborough v Hartley Wintney, Frome Town v Merthyr, Gosport Borough v Basingstoke Town, Harrow Borough v Hendon, Poole Town v Wimborne, Swindon Supermarine v Salisbury, Taunton Town v Tiverton Town, Walton Casuals v Metropolitan Police.

LEAGUE TABLE: EVO-STIK LEAGUE SOUTH PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH – 2018-2019

	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	-Pts	Pts
	Taunton Town	20	14	2	4	53	24	29	–	44
	Weymouth	18	11	4	3	44	24	20	–	37
	Salisbury	19	11	4	4	47	29	18	–	37
	Metropolitan Police	17	10	5	2	40	29	11	–	35
	Harrow Borough	19	10	4	5	47	35	12	–	34
	Merthyr Town	20	9	5	6	35	26	9	–	32
	Hendon	21	9	4	8	38	36	2	–	31
	Beaconsfield Town	19	7	7	5	36	31	5	–	28
	Hartley Wintney	20	7	7	6	40	38	2	–	28
	Kings Langley	19	8	4	7	33	33	0	–	28
	Poole Town	16	8	3	5	34	19	15	–	27
	Walton Casuals	20	8	3	9	36	41	-5	–	27
	Swindon Supermarine	20	7	4	9	35	33	2	–	25
	Tiverton Town	19	6	7	6	34	32	2	–	25
	Basingstoke Town	18	7	3	8	33	37	-4	–	24
	Farnborough	21	7	3	11	34	49	-15	–	24
	Gosport Borough	20	7	1	12	32	42	-10	–	22
	Dorchester Town	19	6	4	9	27	39	-12	–	22
	Frome Town	21	6	3	12	27	37	-10	–	21
	Wimborne Town	20	6	2	12	34	44	-10	–	20
	Chesham United	19	5	3	11	17	40	-23	–	18
	Staines Town	21	3	–	18	22	60	-38	–	9