FA Cup - 3rd Qualifying Round
Merthyr Town 0 Vs Hampton & Richmond Borough FC 1

Merthyr disappointingly exited the FA Cup to Hampton & Richmond despite a dominant performance in front of an expectant crowd at Penydarren Park.

Paul Michael made 4 changes to the starting XI from the heavy defeat to Radcliffe, with Jarvis, Lewis, Williams & Smalley starting in place of Livermore, Smerdon, Harris & Cox.

It was the home side who started the brightest, having early success down the left hand side with Rees and Lewis causing numerous problems for the Hampton defence. Merthyr were continually probing the back four, with Rees going close early on after good work by Jarvis down the right, who was able to drill a ball across the face of the goal to the incoming Rees. A few moments later, a deft flick from Rees allowed Twamley to whip a ball into the back post, which Lewis caught with a powerful header which went straight at Holden. A let off for the away side.

It was Lewis again who found himself through, playing the offside line perfectly from a freekick and attempted to put the free header back across goal, which allowed the away side to clear their lines. There was only one team in it at this time, with Merthyr’s high press causing Hampton to continually lose possession from loose passes.

Jarvis was dominating the midfield area, which allowed Twamley space to cause Hampton problems, picking the ball up from deep and driving through the gaps across the middle of the park. Just before half time Twamley was unlucky not to break the deadlock, cutting back inside just outside of the area, curling a shot over Holden’s top right hand corner.

At half time there was one team in the game, with Hampton offering very little up until that point. Merthyr would be disappointed to be going in level, whereas Hampton would have no doubt been the happier of the two teams.

It was role reversal to start the 2nd half, with Hampton stepping up a gear and starting to get a foothold into the game. Silva and Fasanmade were starting to use their pace with balls over the top directed to them, making Ryan-Phillips and Williams wary of their high press. The away side had also started to press/hassle/niggle at Twamley which had disrupted Merthyr’s dominance in midfield.

Despite this, on 52 minutes Handley chased down a long ball down the right which O’Keeffe tried to shield out. Handley was able to get around and stab the ball back to Smalley in the area, who was taken down. Penalty. Up stepped Rees for the spotkick, which was well saved by Holden down to his right.

This seemed to give Hampton another boost with Fasanmade combining well with Gardner, his shot being cleared off the line by Handley. It only felt like a matter of time before one of the sides scored, and unfortunately for the home side it was the visitors. Handley was put under pressure deep on the right hand side and played a loose ball across the middle. Silva was on it like a flash, playing in Fasanmade who made no mistake with a point blank shot against Cogman. 1 - 0 Hampton & Richmond.
Despite some late changes for Merthyr with Sambu, Cox & Bourne coming in, Hampton were happy to see the game out, with Bourne going closest in injury time but the home side were unable to get the equaliser.

Very much felt like a game that got away, especially with such a dominant performance at times. That is the FA Cup over for another season, with the Martyrs back in league action away to Chester on Saturday.

Gavin Burns