4th October 2025
National League North - Matchday 10
Attendance 2,268


Cole Jarvis scored a 90th minute equaliser to complete a second half turnaround for Merthyr, after trailing 2 - 0 on a blustery day at the Deva Stadium.

Just the one change from last week's loss to Hampton & Richmond, with Smerdon slotting into his usual LB position for Morgan Lewis. Merthyr were no doubt looking to carry on their performance from last week (forgetting the result), in front of the large following from South Wales.

With Merthyr facing into the strong wind, they had the worst possible start 6 minutes in, with Murray slotting a through ball in between Ryan-Phillips and Williams to Zanzala, who used his pace to be through on goal and slide his shot past the advancing Cogman. This set the tone for the majority of the first half, with Chester winning the second and third balls in midfield, which allowed them to continue putting pressure onto Merthyr’s defence. Bainbridge went close with a drilled shot from 25 yards out, which had beaten Cogman but was just wide. Next it was Roberts, who picked up a deflected clearance on the edge of the box and again put it wide.

Due to the strong wind, Cogman’s goal kicks were continually being held up in the air, so Merthyr started to play out from the back, predominantly to Handley and Williams on the right. Chester’s high press meant that the ball was lost 9 times out of 10 and kept coming back to a busy defence. It was all one way traffic and Zandala had the ball in the net on 37 minutes, but was correctly ruled offside. Two minutes later the ball was again in the Martyrs net, after a long throw was put into the box and Handley was unfortunate to head the ball into his own goal.

Merthyr’s closest (and probably first) chance came after good work from Twamley, after his shot was blocked, but was able to play the rebound to Jarvis who was overlapping on the right. Jarvis flashed his shot past Murray-Jones’ post - the first real threat from the away side.

For some reason, Merthyr continued to want to play out from the back (presumably due to the wind) but continued to get caught out, which couldn’t have been summarised better than when a ball that came into the box to John, who decided to chest it down to Jarvis instead of clearing his lines. Zandala was sharp and got ahead of Jarvis, who took him out. No arguments on the penalty and one that was unnecessary to say the least. Not for the first (second or even third) time this season, Cogman pulled off a fantastic save from the spotkick, denying Jones to his left.

2 - 0 Chester at half time and in all honesty it could have been 4 or 5. A lot to do to get back into the game in the second half, but the majority of the talk at half time was having the wind to our advantage.

Any thought of a strong start to the second half quickly disappeared, with Chester starting as they finished the first. A mix up at the back allowed Zandala to get a shot away, which was blocked and he crashed his rebound off the post. A let off for a player who was causing numerous problems.

This seemed to wake up Merthyr, who started to win the second balls and play it wide. John was brought down on the left, with his subsequent free kick tipped over by Murray-Jones. It was at this point that Paul Michael had seen enough and made a triple substitution, with Sambu, Cox & Lewis coming on for Smalley, John & Smerdon.

It took Sambu all of 1 minute to make an impact, with a long throw to him in the box, he chested the ball out to the edge of the area to the incoming Handley, who caught it on the half volley and it nestled into the top right hand corner. Absolute screamer (again!). Game on.
The Martyrs continued to push for the equaliser, with Rees coming close not long after and Twamley coming within inches after cutting in from the right hand side and curling his shot agonisingly wide.

Despite this successful patch of the game, Chester again found themselves causing problems, with Murray continuing to pick up the loose balls and put in a number of dangerous set pieces despite the wind now being against them. Zanzala had another opportunity, but was unable to put his free header on target.

A late double change with Handley & Williams being replaced by Bourne & Harris as they continued to search for an equaliser. In the 90th minute, good work on the right by Bourne and Twamley allowed them to recycle possession to Jarvis, who was able to pass the ball into Cox in the box, with Jarvis collecting it back and shooting high past Murray-Jones. Cue limbs in the away end, a scuffle in the net and Craig Reddy munching on a mars bar donated by the Chester fans.

Credit to the Martyrs for continuing to battle until the end and come away with a great point away from home. It doesn’t get any easier, Spennymoor Town up next in a couple of weeks.

Gavin Burns