Tuesday
17th November 1998
FAW PREMIER CUP

Merthyr Tydfil
Thomas
Evans
Needs
Lma
Abraham
Graham
Giles
Griffith
Williams
Shephard
Chiverton

Subs not used
King
Ramasut
Parker

Cardiff City
Hallworth
Delaney
Ford
Eckhardt
Young
Carpenter
Hill
Middleton(O'Sullivan 66)
Nugent (Roberts 66)
Williams
Allen

Sub not used
Lee Phillips

Merthyr 0 City 0
Att: 954 (looked more than that)
Est City: hard to tell as we were spread throughout the ground and not a lot
of noise but 300 or more.
Est average age of Merthyr fans: 5 and 3/4
Weather: Freezing in Cardiff but slightly milder in Merthyr thanks to cloud
(no chance to spot those shooting stars)
Pitch: Crap! Rutted, bad bounce, uneven, the surface at Ninian spoils us -
Man United would kill for a pitch like City's.

City Line-Up
Hallworth
Eckhardt Young Ford (C)
Delaney Allen
Hill Carpenter Middleton
Nugent Williams
subs
Roberts Phillips O'Sullivan

A quiet start to the match with City not playing brilliantly, the pitch not
helping good football at all and a physical Merthyr team trying to knock
Cardiff out of their stride.

From his prompting, Craig Middleton was put through but his shot was blocked.
A pass to Delaney saw a good run and centre hit hard by John Williams central
and on the edge of the area to bring a great save from Thomas, Merthyr's
keeper. Shortly after, Hill himself skipped past a couple of defenders to
bring another good save from the keeper.

Merthyr gradually fought back with Cohen Griffith looking dangerous and had
most of the few good chances in the rest of the game. From one Cohen run and
centre, a Merthyr player shot wide on the 6 yard box when it was easier to
score. Jeff Eckhardt then met another centre with a good shot but it was
saved by Hallworth. An attempted clearence seemed to be flying in for an own
goal.

Chris Allen wasn't playing well again prompting more abusive chants from the
Merthyr faithful - one of the few times I agreed with them. Hope he is not
automatically picked on Sunday just because he's a Premier player on loan.

Half-Time and off to Strikers Bar for a nice Caffrey's - Merthyr 0 City 0

The second half was worthwhile for two things - a good clash between the
players and management and another good clash between the players and
management!

After Merthyr's best chance when a City defender fell letting Sheppard clean
through only to hit his shot well wide, the real action started.

The first happened on the half-way line when Nugent seemed to be attacked by a
Merthyr player. All of a sudden, Billy Ayre unfolded his arms and charged
onto the pitch. Not sure if this sets the right example but great entertainment!
Billy was in charge tonight as Frankie was away and obviously wanted to show
he was boss on and off the pitch.

The ref showed signs of not knowing what to do as he booked Merthyr's no 11
(Chiverton), waited until Nugent had walked 30 yards away before flashing a
yellow card vaguely in his direction then going to Chiverton, forgetting he'd
already just booked him, and doing it again! City fans tried to shout out 2
yellow cards = 1 red card but it was in vain.

Almost from the restart, they were at it again! This time, a 50/50 collision
in front of the dug-outs resulted in a Merthyr substitute running onto the
pitch towards Jeff Eckhardt, who had his back turned and was walking away, and
shove him in the back of the neck. What a hard Merthyr man! All the players
charged in as did Billy Ayre again who seemed to be pushing Merthyr players
around. Another two were booked including Eckhardt - presumably for not
retaliating.

And then within seconds, Richard Carpenter was booked. After winning a tackle
and getting off the floor, a Merthyr player stood over him, pushed and held
him. Carpenter's offence appeared to be the same as Eckhardt's. Thankfully,
the game calmed down, just as well because the ref did not have a clue how to
control it.

However City never raised their game. Williams and Nugent were subdued, the
midfield despite Hill's play found it difficult to play on the pitch. Allen
was anonymous and I don't recall him sending a centre into the area all night.
O'Sullivan and Roberts replaced Middleton and Nugent for a little more sparkle
but few real shots. Roberts hit a couple of tame efforts and some dangerous
looking free-kick opportunities were wasted.

Merthyr had some chances and pressure without really forcing Hallworth into
great action. The one occasion he was beaten at a corner, Eckhardt headed off
the line.

The final whistle came as a relief to most who were there. Not a good game
but it's not a good competition either, is it?