So there we have it, a first campaign for Merthyr Town in the National League North is over. To say it has been a rollercoaster is a bit of an understatement which has had the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. Could it have been better!? Yes. Could it have been worse? Much much worse.
Following on from my mid year review, it has surprised me how quick the campaign has gone, which I will partly put down to the outstanding first half of the season from the lads. Yes it has been a bit bumpy post January but I think we need to remember at times this is our first season at this level. Did any of us really think we would finish the season just outside of the playoffs? Aside of a speculative bet I put on at the beginning of the season for us to win the league at 250/1!
Yes we didn’t make the playoffs after finishing with a 4 – 2 defeat to Fylde, but it isn’t that game that was the defining moment. It has been the form over the past 2 months which has ended the playoff dream. It was interesting to hear Paul Michael in his Fylde post match interview saying that if we had kept hold of our leads this season, we would have finished on 107 points!
Points thrown away against Macclesfield, Southport, Hereford, Darlington, Spennymoor, Chester, Alfreton and Chorley (plus others and mostly in injury time) are what has unfortunately let us slip out of the playoffs. But it’s not to be understated, we are the 8th best team in the National League North at the first time of asking!
However, we have had some superb games this season that will long live in the memory. There are things you just won’t forget like Jarvis’ goal and Livermore’s tackle against South Shields, a sold out PP for Hereford, Cox’s hattrick on a 5 – 3 win away to Worksop, Kieran Evans solo goal against Kings Lynn, Twamley’s 30 thunderbolt at Buxton, Handley’s multiple screamers against Macclesfield, Jarvis’ last minute equaliser against Chester. You could go on and on. This is what we wanted from National League North and let’s hope we have more of the same next season.
I have enjoyed this season even more than I thought I would have – bar the nonsense of the new security at PP which the club needs to get a grip of pronto.
Loan Signings
Biggest question from not only Martyr fans but the rest of the league was can we continue our blistering start without Ricardo. That was compounded by Newport County swooping at the very last minute to prize Cole Jarvis to Rodney Parade which was a huge loss. Sambu, Smalley, Lewis and Churchley all moved on over the course of the season with Jordan Garrick, Jacob Maddox, Kiban Rai, Tate Xavier-Jones and Jac Thomas joining the club on loan, whilst Will Spiers returned from Cardiff City.
I think it is fair to say that these loan signings have had varying degrees of success. We could never replace like for like but lets be honest, the majority haven’t been able to replicate (or even strengthen) us from the beginning of the season.
Will Spiers and Jac Thomas – both have been fantastic signings, with the signing of Jac slotting in comfortably in the absence of Noah through injury, whilst Will was a massive coup after returning after his very short spell at Eastleigh. These are two players I would love to have back next season (fingers crossed!) – lets hope Cardiff can do us a favour.
Jacob Maddox – this is another I hope would be able to bring back next season. Technically on the ball he is great and considering he has been coming back from a long term injury, I have been impressed (most of the time). I think Yeovil may have other ideas but who knows.
Tate Xavier-Jones – the first singing through the door post Ric. I think we can say it hasn’t really worked out for the Luton youngster and found himself on the bench with Cawley or Kiban taking the left hand side of a front 3.
Jordan Garrick – has failed to live up to the hype from fans across the leagues. We were crying out for a goal scorer and he has returned 2 goals & 1 red in around 13 appearances (and those 2 goals were in the rout against Bedford). Think we can agree this hasn’t worked out for either party.
Kiban Rai – bit of a strange one for me. Was excited to see him return to PP after his loan spell last year & he has had varying degrees of success with 3 goals, along with a spell on the side lines injured. Has it improved us? The fact you can speak to different people and get a different answer says it all. Not sure we will see him next season at PP as his contract runs down at Aldershot but who knows.
Summer Player Changes
I think this summer will see the biggest turnover of players we have seen for at least the past 4 / 5 years. We have been lucky enough to keep the same squad together who have had tremendous success but I think we may be forced into some moves for a variety of reasons. Most importantly, we need to keep the management team in place (which I have no doubt will stay).
Goalkeeper – easy. Cogman is class and hopefully he is ready to repeat it again next season.
Defence – an area of the pitch that we can all agree we need reinforcements. Who knows what Matty Harris will decide to do – does he fancy another crack or look to hang up the boots? Jay Williams has been good once he has had a run of games and Calum Ryan-Phillips is a solid 8/10 every game. Regardless, I personally think we need a big nasty CB who can bully the sides that come to us – we have missed that badly at times.
I think depending on what happens with Will Spiers will dictate what Tom Handley wants to do over the summer. They seem to have pushed each other but Will seems to have the edge in terms of squad position – does that mean Tom looks elsewhere? Who knows. I would like to see Smerdon back next season, even if we are lucky enough to get Jac Thomas back through the door.
What we can’t legislate for is conceding 86 goals over the course of the season. Only 3 teams have conceded more and they were all relegated! Defending is for the team as a whole, but we have to shore up the back as a priority.
Midfield – An area for us where we have 6 quality options and luckily for us, there hasn’t been many times where all 6 have been fit so playing time has been managed. We have suffered with a few too many injuries and I think this may factor into who comes back next year. Livermore has been a massive loss at times as he brings something different – but he has been injured so much does that impact next year? Same with Kieran who when fit is a fantastic player. Alex John’s playing time has been limited – does he look elsewhere? It will be interesting to see what we do in this area.
Forwards – Cawley Cox has been one of the standouts for me, particularly post Ric due to both his work rate and the one player (along with Twammers) where you can expect a goal. I hope he is back next year to build on this season.
Garrick, Xavier-Jones and Rai will move on (I expect) which leaves us some significant gaps that will need to be filled.
One player who I think will move on up through the leagues in Lewys Twamley (and deservedly so). 16 goals and 17(ish) assists have put him in the shop window and I don’t think anyone could begrudge Twammers a move. What a player and he has got better and better since his return from Yeovil. Will be a huge miss if he does move on – another player who is near impossible to replace…….
It has been a real positive to see some cameos from the youth lads like Charlie Caswell & Jayden Bourne. Hopefully they continue to get gametime and push for a regular slot next season.
Goal of the Season
Good luck with this one. We have been blessed with some unbelievable goals this year and I genuinely don’t know how you even pick a winner. If I am leaning to one I think it is Twamley’s long range effort at Buxton in November.
Some goals that spring to mind (in no particular order);
Handley vs Macclesfield (a) – Free kick from 5 yards outside the box, crossbar and in
Handley vs Macclesfield (a) – Freekick no 2 to secure his hattrick. Right side of box, whipped into top left corner
Handley vs Macclesfield (h) – screamer from 25 yards out
Handley vs Chester (a) – volley form the edge of the box to get us back into the game
Twamley vs Bedford (h) – edge of box, touch, bang into top right corner
Twamley vs Oxford (a) – ran the length of the pitch to slot in
Twamley vs P’Boro Sports (h) – edge of the box, pulled back past defender to ping in top corner
Twamley vs Buxton (a) – A screamer into the top corner from 30 yards.
Kieran Evans vs Kings Lynn (h) – solo effort from own half, took on 5 players before scoring
Jarvis vs South Shields (h) – rifled it into the roof of the net for the all important 3rd goal
Rees vs Alfreton (h) – let the cross bounce, paused & then lobbed the keeper into the far corner
Player of the Season
This is a two horse race between Cogman and Twamley and I have bounced back and forth before deciding. Twamley’s skill and goals or Cogman’s shot stopping and bravery.
Twamley has produced some pieces of magic that I doubt we will see on PP for a long time. His highlight reel this season is something else and he has scored some stunning and absolutely crucial goals. Every time he gets the ball you expect something to happen which shows how dangerous he is – to the point that he has been double marked out of a few games by the opposition such is his influence. I have enjoyed watching him no end this season and I would love to see him in a Merthyr shirt again.
However, for me Cogman pips it (just), which I am sure people reading this will disagree. Cogs has been absolutely superb in nearly every (may even be every!) game this season. An absolute unreal shot stopper and how many times has he kept us in games? I’ve lost count of the amount of times a player has broken the line and I expect to concede, only for Cogs to pull off another top class save.
A number of moments stand out for me this year but none more so than injuring his shoulder ligaments in the challenge at Kidderminster away, staying on the pitch and playing the best part of 60 minutes injured for a huge point on the road. We have conceded 86(!) goals this season – just imagine how many it would have been without him. And to think I thought we should have kept Will Fuller instead a couple of seasons ago. Shows what I know……
Overall Verdict
Taking a step back I think we can all agree that this has been a very successful season (to put it lightly). This has been the management and players first time at this level so of course there will be bumps in the road as they learn on the job. Mistakes have been made, learnt from, which then create different problems to solve. We are in a league with some real big clubs and I think we have held our own pretty well so a huge credit to Paul, Smudge, Craig and the players. We as fans have packed out PP and travelled thousands of miles across the country enjoying the hospitality of a number of old and new clubs.
The goal was always to stay up and to have more or less secured that prior to the beginning of the year was huge. It hasn’t felt like that since around mid January where we have huffed and puffed our way through fixtures which I think has been a combination of tiredness, lack of like for like replacements and teams finally working us out.
We have essentially been a victim of our own success – to have been in the playoff positions for so long and drop out after a poor run of form is very disappointing of course and I am sure that none of us are happy with that – but I can’t sit here and say that is from a lack of effort from the players and management.
I have compared ourselves to Bedford this season who were also promoted last year and have a small budget like ours. Yes they have kept hold of Marsh & his goals but they have essentially been looking over their shoulder at relegation for the majority of the season and been fighting for their lives, staying up on the final day of the campaign. I thought our season would be like that – so let’s take our medicine, build over the summer and come back stronger. Remember what happened last season after the disappointing end of 23/24…….
It’s easy for us fans as we can have a rest over the summer break, but I am looking forward to next season already (which I hope continues in the North) and what moves the club decides to do over the summer.
UP THE TOWN
Gavin Burns
