By Pete Martin
Salisbury’s run of 2 wins was brought to an abrupt halt as they were beaten 5-0 by second from bottom side, Merthyr Town. Due to a combination of injuries and Covid, the Whites were only able to name 2 substitutes including goalkeeper Pat O’Flaherty.
Salisbury made a fairly bright start in the first 5 minutes and were the first side to threaten although Abdulai Baggie’s weak shot was easy for home keeper Jaimie Cogman to gather. Any chance of capitalising on this bright start was soon shattered after 7 minutes when Merthyr opened the scoring through Matthew Harris. There was far too much space in the Salisbury midfield for Merthyr to bring the ball forward out of defence and when it went out wide, Curtis Hutson was given time and space to cross the ball in for the unmarked Harris to power a header home. Merthyr continued to look the brighter side and both Harris and Lewis Powell had shots from distance with neither able to properly test Marcus Beauchamp before on 20 minutes the Whites best chance of the afternoon arrived. Devon Arnold was able to spread the ball wide to Charlie Davis on the right-hand side and his subsequent ball in came to Dan Fitchett just 6 yards from goal, with Cogman making a fine stop to deny the Salisbury striker an equalising goal. That was about as good as it got for Salisbury in the opening half and although Merthyr had additional half chances through Joseph Woodiwiss and Keyon Reffell it wasn’t until time added on that they got a 2nd. The ball was crossed in from the left and Powell was able to beat Beauchamp to the ball to head home and double his sides lead.
The start of the 2nd half was much the same and saw Merthyr dominate the possession and the chances. Beauchamp had to be alert to deny Hutson before Powell got his 2nd and his team’s 3rd on 57 minutes. A good driving run into the box saw him angle his shot across Beauchamp and into the net to pretty much seal the win for the home side. Further chances for Alex John and Ismail Yakubu came and went before a good header from a corner saw Powell bag his hat-trick to really start to put some gloss on the scoreline. The misery was complete for Salisbury on 86 minutes when Yakubu was given plenty of time and space inside the box to lash the ball home and send the Whites home deservedly beaten and thoroughly humiliated.
Salisbury will try to bounce back on Tuesday when they face a tough trip to Hayes and Yeading who sit just 3 points off the top of the league.
Team: Beauchamp, Davis, Heal, Knowles, Roberts, Wakefield, Mullings, Baggie, Diaz, Arnold, Fitchett(Ashton).
Unused subs: O’Flaherty
