Evo-Stik Southern Premier

Merthyr Town 3 Cirencester Town 0

MERTHYR TOWN, featuring two former Centurions in goalkeeper Glyn Garner and defender Gethin Jones, proved too strong for Cirencester Town as they moved into third place in the Southern Premier table.

The Martyrs started strongly and opened the scoring in the 16th minute. Ryan Prosser had an effort cleared off the line by James Coates but the ball was then crossed in by Corey Jenkins and Ian Traylor finished past Harvey Rivers.

Cirencester responded immediately and Ross Langworthy was unlucky when his strike from the right side of the penalty area came back off the angle of bar and post.

Merthyr assumed control again although Cirencester were competing, soaking up the pressure and counter attacking occasionally.

However, Merthyr increased their lead a couple of minutes before the interval when a left wing corner fell to Rhys Baggridge and he drove the ball into the roof of the net from just outside the six-yard box.

The Martyrs pressed after the interval, winning a couple of corner kicks, and Cirencester replied with a James Mortimer-Jones shot that was blocked on the line.

Midway through the half Merthyr scored again when Keyon Reffell pulled the ball back from the right corner to Jon Brown who picked his spot and fired into the bottom left corner.

In the final minutes Cirencester pushed for a consolation goal and Langworthy had a header tipped over the bar by Garner who also saved a strike from Mat Liddiard at the resulting corner, tipping it on to the bar and over.