| Rugby
Town 2-0 Merthyr Tydfil |
| BGB
Premier Division |
Saturday
17 February 2007
Attendance
| 264
|
Entertainment |
|
 |
 |
Chris
Tullin, who was switched to a central midfield
role, battles for the ball in the second half |
The
Valley put in a gritty performance to grind out
a victory against an uncompromising Merthyr side
on Saturday, with second half goals from Delroy
Gordon and David Kolodynski earning Town a fourth
straight success at Butlin Road.
With
both sides desperate for points to pull themselves
up and away from the danger zone, the first half
of the game was predictably a tight affair. In
fact more often than not, it was the match officials
who provided the main focus of attention, orchestrating
a series of events to interrupt proceedings.
Midway
through the half, over fussy referee Wayne Porter
firmly dug his heels in refusing Town skipper
Craig Herbert permission to return to the game
with a weeping wound, and in his subsequent frustration
manager Billy Jeffrey was then banished to the
stands by Porter for throwing the ball over the
dug-out, as frantic running repairs were being
carried out on Herbert.
Play
was again held up as the linesman was ceremoniously
- albeit accidentally - upended by a warming-up
substitute, with another delay following whilst
he regained his composure and the embarrassment
factor had waned.
On
the field of play, Jason Taylor did have a great
opportunity to open the scoring on 16 minutes,
but he blasted his shot into the advertisement
boards when he had time to apply a more measured
finish. Not long after, Taylor's neat flick released
Matt Gearing, but his effort lacked power and
conviction.
For
the visitors, Gary Shephard's header went dangerously
close, as did another headed effort from Gareth
Warton from a free-kick on the left.
The
game opened up a little in the second period,
and it was the Martyrs that had the better of
the early opportunities created.
Gareth
Phillips curled a 20 yard shot past the diving
Farhad Afandiyev, which fortunately cannoned back
into play off the post, and then a rare mistake
from Herbert saw young striker Craig Moses clean
through on goal with just Afandiyev to beat. Rugby's
player of the month for January pulled off a fine
low save however, and the score remained goalless.
On
66 minutes Town made the breakthrough when Delroy
Gordon just beat the substantial
frame of defender Warton to Gearing's swinging
free-kick, guiding his header past Wales Under
21 keeper Ashley Morris and into the net.
Shortly
after this, Gordon had another opportunity to
score when Herbert's head back fell invitingly
for him. Unfortunately he decided to once more
head for goal, when a volley probably represented
a better option.
With
the game nearing its conclusion, Aaron Stringfellow
then made two excellent goal-line clearances,
first blocking Darren Davies's effort away for
a corner and then throwing himself full length
at Craig Lima's close range shot after Afandiyev
had spilled a corner at his feet.
Stringfellow
then broke through at the other end, skipping
past a couple of Merthyr defenders, before curling
his shot just wide, before substitutes David Stone
and Kolodynski combined well to take advantage
of some sloppy defending - leaving David
Kolodynski to apply a cool finish
sliding the ball past Morris for Valley's second
with virtually the last kick of the game.
Report
by Jon Venner.
Links
>> Around
the League: Merthyr
>>
Previous
Meetings: Rugby v Merthyr
>>
Official
Merthyr Tydfil Website
|
