Football: Tiverton take Martyrs to task

Jan 3 2008 by David Williams, Merthyr Express

Tiverton Town 3-2 Merthyr Tydfil

AFTER a year of upheaval on and off the pitch, the Martyrs began 2008 exactly the way they didn’t want to.

Garry Shephard and Danny Carter, in their first season of management, must be tearing their hair out as Merthyr suffered a 3-2 reverse just three days after they had beaten Bedford Town by the same score at Penydarren Park.

Now the team lies 17th out of 22 teams in the BGB Premier Division - just two points off a relegation place after picking up eight points from six games over the Christmas and New Year period.

The January transfer window could prove to be the key factor in Merthyr’s fortunes and couldn’t come quicker.

Supporters, while hoping to see fresh faces at Penydarren Park, know the club’s purse strings have been severely tightened in the last six months with wage cuts and the loss of several first team squad members including Tareq Khalil, Rhys Carpenter and Kris Dimond added to the manager’s own injury lay-off.

Rumours among fans as to the futures of two key players, keeper Ashley Morris and centre back Jamie Rewbury has also soured the optimism at the club which, as Chairman Wyn Holloway revealed at the end of last year, is free to a good home.

The latest set-back for the Martyrs was the 3-2 loss at Tivvy.

As has happened too frequently this season, early goals – two for Tivvy’s Tom Young – were conceded and just when a way back into the match looked likely through Darren Griffiths, a third strike by Tom Gardner virtually guaranteed defeat for the visitors.

However, for the second game running, the unusually prolific marksman Dale Griffiths netted – he and his brother have now scored in consecutive matches for the club.

So what will 2008 bring for Merthyr?

The next few weeks, with three away matches on the trot – against Bedford, again, Bromsgrove Rovers and Halesowen Town, who sit second in the division – and the opening of the transfer window, will play a huge and possibly decisive part in the club’s season and test the managerial skills of Messrs Shephard and Carter and the resources of the young first team squad.

Let’s hope for a better next 12 months.