Rovers back on top after lively encounter

It was second versus third at Winterfield Road as Paulton Rovers took on Merthyr Town and an outstanding team performance saw Rovers head back to the top of the table.

The match certainly lived up to all the hype as Rovers came flying out of the blocks and in the first minute Nick McCootie hit the bar after Ben Lacey whipped the ball in. To the relief of the Martyrs defence the linesman raised his flag for offside.

The fast pace continued and the deadlock was broken on 4 minutes when a misplaced pass gave Rovers a throw in which started the move for the goal. Mike Perrott flicked the throw in to the path of Ben Lacey who pulled the ball back for James Billing to give Rovers an early lead.

Rovers continued to dominate the early exchanges and a minute later McCootie was fouled 25 yards from goal and Brandon Barnes whipped the free kick around the wall and forced Morris into an excellent save.

Merthyr started to get hold of the ball as the game settled down but after some neat passing they lacked that final pass and the Rovers defence was tidying up well. Rovers’ next chance came from a long free kick taken by Scott Brice who picked out Lacey who headed straight in to the keepers arms.

James Billing was once again showing some excellent form as he continued to win the aerial battle between striker and defence. His flick on nearly released McCootie who was just beaten to the ball by a well placed Morris in the Merthyr penalty box.

Dan Bowman on loan from Bath City was making his home debut for the club and showed some great intelligence as his clever chip over the defence found Perrott in space who in turn found McCootie who couldn’t quite engineer a finish.

It was Merthyr who showed their attacking threat next as Traylor got in behind the Paulton defence to deliver a wicked cross in to the box but there was no one on the end of the cross to finish.

On 24 minutes Merthyr were forced in to an early substitution as Jamie Rewbury had be replaced by Paul Keddle after he sustained a heavy knock to the head.

As the half went on neither team could quite find that killer pass and both defences’ were calmly mopping up the scraps.

The final chance of the half came when Cleverley tackled well and laid the ball of to Reaney who released McCootie but Jack Howe covered across well to clear for a corner.

Half time – Paulton Rovers 1 Merthyr Town 0

The second half saw Merthyr come out like a different team and there early pressure was soon rewarded when Traylor raced through the Rovers defence to equalise 5 minutes in to the second half.

The game entered its most crucial stage with all things level and Ben Lacey picked up the ball on the half way line, beat four defenders and then coolly slotted past the keeper from the edge of the box.

The lead barely lasted a minute when Keddle found himself onside on the Rovers goal line to tap in to make it 2-2.

The next goal was a vital one for Rovers and in the 57th minute McCootie beat Keddle to the ball and neatly set up Billing for his second of the game.

This put the spring back in to the Paulton players step and 2 minutes later a Barnes corner was met by Price who headed narrowly wide.

A double substitution was made on the hour mark and Jack Howe and Nathan Davies were replaced by Dan Summerfield and Marcus Griffiths.

Billing once again was showing his power as held off the defender to lay the ball off to Cleverley who in turn released Lacey who bursts in to the box and delivers the ball to Billing who finds his shot well blocked by the advancing Merthyr defender.

Phillips was called in to action mid way through the half as he excellently saves from Leek but the referee blows his whistle for a foul on Billing in the box.

Rovers extended their lead with twenty minutes to go when Morris found himself in no mans land and McCootie nips the ball from him to slot home to give a two goal cushion.

The goal spurred Rovers in to another gear and Perrott and Lacey were starting to cause the tiring Merthyr defence more problems as their direct running drew last ditch challenges from the Martyrs defenders.

The few chances Merthyr created were well defended by the Rovers back four and as the clock ticked down it was looking like Rovers who were more likely to score again.

Dean Evans came on to replace McCootie with ten minutes to go and he almost had an immediate impact as he found himself one on one with Morris who made a superb double save to deny Rovers their 5th.

Rovers didn’t have to wait long for that 5th goal as from the resulting corner Ollie Price found himself unmarked at the back post to tap home and surely secure the points for Rovers.

Josh Klein-Davies replaced Ben Lacey with 5 minutes left of the half and he nearly extended the lead when Bowman slotted through the Merthyr defence only for his shot to go just wide.

An excellent performance by James Billing was rewarded as he was named man of the match.

Starting line-up: Phillips, Bowman, Price, Brice, Reaney, Barnes, Cleverley, Perrott, Lacey (Klein-Davies), McCootie (Evans), Billing
Subs not used: Jeffries and Clift

Att: 215