By Pete Martin
For the 2nd successive season, Salisbury went down to a 5-0 defeat away at Merthyr Town. Manager, Brian Dutton made 2 changes to his lineup, including a change in goal with new loan signing Toby Steward replacing Gerard Benfield who dropped to the bench. The other change saw Nessum Kherbouche return to replace Dinesh Gillela.
Despite the Whites looking bright in the opening minutes, it was Merthyr who opened the scoring after just 4 minutes. The ball was played back to debutant, Steward and, under pressure from forward Ricardo Rees, his attempted turn saw the Martyrs striker rob him of the ball and slot it into the unguarded net. Almost straight from kick-off, Salisbury could have hit back, Merthyr keeper Jaimie Cogman getting down sharply to save from Brandon Goodship after he burst into the area from the left-hand side. The game settled down with the Whites seeing plenty of the ball, albeit without causing alarm to the home side’s backline and Merthyr looking dangerous every time they came forward. Shortly after the quarter-hour mark, there was a blow for Salisbury with Kherbouche pulling up with an injury resulting in a reshuffle and Josh Carmichael slotting in at centre half.
On 20 minutes the home side doubled their lead and it was another goal that Steward will not look back fondly on. A loose ball was picked up by Curtis Jemmet-Hutson and from 20 yards out he drove it goalwards and saw his tame shot burst through the hands of the young custodian and into the back of the net. Just 5 minutes later it became 3 with Rees grabbing his 2nd of the game. The striker played a quick one-two in midfield with Frazer Thomas and found himself in on goal; Steward getting down well to save his initial effort but when the ball ballooned up it was Rees who was quickest to react and nod it into the net. A nightmare 10 minutes for the Whites was compounded on the half-hour mark as the home side grabbed a fourth goal; defender Thomas Handley reacting quickest and firing home from inside the box when a corner couldn’t be cleared by the Salisbury defence. There was no further damage in the rest of the 1st half, Salisbury finishing it stronger but still unable to test Cogman and the Merthyr defence.
The second half saw Salisbury improve and Merthyr look to keep hold of their clean sheet, meaning there was little in the way of real goal action in the first 20 minutes of the half. It was on 65 minutes that a poor clearance from Cogman was picked up in midfield by Calvin Brooks but the keeper was well-positioned to hold onto the subsequent shot at goal from just outside the area. The Whites 2 best chances of the match arrived within a minute of each other with 15 minutes remaining when Cogman made 2 good saves to help safeguard his clean sheet. Firstly, Sam Roberts’s shot from the edge of the area was tipped over and from the subsequent corner, the Merthyr keeper was at full stretch to tip Josh Sommerton’s header onto the post and wide. Five minutes later however it was 5 for the home side when Cogman’s goal kick went the length of the pitch with Lewis Powell nipping in behind Roberts to slot home low to Steward’s left. As the game entered time added on the Whites again went close to a consolation goal but Goodship saw his close-range shot blocked on the line by a Merthyr defender before the loose ball bounced agonisingly wide off the leg of Seung Yang to pretty much sum up the Whites day.
The Whites have a quick chance to bounce back as they welcome Gosport Borough to the Ray Mac this Tuesday 31st Jan, for a 7:45 pm kick-off.
Team: Steward, Brooks C, Roberts, Kherbouce(Lawrence), Sommerton, Carmichael, Yang, Brooks M, Tomlinson(Lee), Goodship, Fitchett(Arnold).
Unused Sub: Benfield.
