My first heartbreak by Chairman Mao
The Merthyr
team of the late seventies is often overlooked when the histories of our clubs
are debated but it could be argued that for a generation of fans it was Doug
Rosser’s lads who cemented our affiliation to the black & white (striped
then of course) colours at Penydarren Park.
1979 remains an
iconic year in history; Margaret Thatcher starts her reign of destruction, the
Specials release their first records, I’m in my first year at Vaynor &
Penderyn and Doug Rosser’s black & white army is fighting for promotion.
My dad took me
to Penydarren Park from a young age and as I’ve written in many articles over
the decades I spent most of my time running around the terraces, playing
football on the big grass bank and wondering if the club shop cabin would ever
open. I vaguely remember being bored and cold as we lost to Hendon in 1974 but
apart from that there’s not much to recollect, that is until the 1978/79 season
and the goals of Ray Pratt, Micky Dicks and Paul Caviel.
The spark for
this shuffle down memory lane was a chat with Ian Storey-Moore after a
Nottingham Forest game last season. Whilst the rest of the lads were enjoying
John Robertson’s tales of European Cup glory I was engrossed in Storey-Moore’s
time at Burton Albion and an amazing match on 1st May 1979 at Penydarren Park
which took me back to my first real experience of football heartbreak.
Merthyr Tydfil
AFC (it was always AFC in those days) had a great team back in 1979 led by our
gritty player-manager Doug Rosser. Ray Pratt was smashing in the goals, aided
by Micky Lenihan and Paul Caviel. Alan Sullivan was the midfield maestro
pulling the strings and the centre half partnership of Doug and Chris Holvey
were an uncompromising defensive duo. The final line of defence was the loudest
goalkeeper in the history of the game Don Payne.
I’d been
watching the Martyrs since a very young age. My dad brought me to Penydarren
Park with him and I enjoyed the wide open spaces of the old ground to run
around, eat sweets and play football with the other kids. I remember a few of
the big games such as Hendon but it’s not until 1979 that I actually took
notice of what was happening on the pitch.
Every campaign
up until then just seemed to meander through the months with no discernible
point to the games except as an escape from the mundanity of life in seventies
Wales.
Whereas 1979
means the arrival of Margaret Thatcher to most people it was the start of a
lifetime of football for me.
In the latter
part of the year the Martyrs went on a FA Cup run that ended with the infamous
matches with Chesham United in our glass ceiling of the 2nd round. Alan
Sullivan scoring one of my favourite goals in a tense 2-1 win over Maidenhead
United in the 4th qualifying round.
However it was
run-in to the previous season that cemented my love for the Martyrs as my newly
found heroes battled for the Southern League Division North title with Grantham
Town and Alvechurch. It was time for another of those realignments in
non-league football as the new Alliance Premier League was to be formed in the
next season as the pinnacle of the semi-professional game. Only the champions
would be guaranteed promotion at the end of the campaign.
I remember the
climax to the championship race as being all encompassing to this twelve old
schoolboy. The Football Echo was scoured every Saturday evening as every
Merthyr fan worked out the league positions as the games came thick and fast as
previous postponed matches had to be played alongside the scheduled games.
It was strange
to realise through researching this article that the Merthyr Express didn’t
appreciate or even convey the promotion chase as their match reports by John
Hughes are perfunctory at best. I remember John Hughes as a miserable prick and
his coverage of the Martyrs seems to confirm it.
On 7th April
the Martyrs returned from the long journey to Kings Lynn with both points after
a 5-2 win, Micky Dicks and Ray Pratt getting a brace each with Ian Docherty
converting a penalty.
The Easter
weekend was next as the three clubs continued to compete for the main prize.
Alan Sullivan’s
continued good form was the catalyst for two important wins as Enderby Town
were beaten 3-2 on a Good Friday evening with another brace for Ray Pratt and a
late goal by Barrie Thomas securing the points. Three days later and a 3-0 win
at Bromsgrove Rovers on an Easter Monday afternoon as goals by Ian Docherty
(penalty), Pratt and Dicks kept up the momentum for the Martyrs.
The title race
was still tight however and the visit to Gloucester City on 21st April was
vital so a 4-0 defeat due to a weak defensive display was a disaster and a real
set back to the club’s hopes for promotion.
The next game
was the visit of Corby Town to Penydarren Park and I remember the match very
well as for some reason I decided not to go with my dad, maybe the 4-0 defeat
in Gloucester had convinced me that all was lost in the race for glory, so my
childish decision not to keep the faith in the players resulted in me missing a
9-0 mauling of our visitors. I can
recall my Dad
relaying the score by just handing me the Football Echo that evening. I was
gutted. I’d missed seeing Pratt (4), Caviel (3), Docherty and Lenihan scoring
against the hapless Steelmen.
I was
determined to be at Penydarren Park on the evening of Tuesday 1st May for the
visit of mid-table Burton Albion. We had to win and after the previous
Saturday’s victory surely this would be a formality as a depleted Burton team
travelled to South Wales. Ian Storey-Moore remembered the game very well as
they had travelled more in hope than expectation with a game plan to defend and
rely on breakaways. I recall the game as being one-way traffic towards the
visitors’ goal but I was only 12 years old so how reliable were my memories for
that heart breaking evening.
Ian had no
hesitation in agreeing with me and remembered Merthyr laying siege to the
Burton goal but despite constant pressure we couldn’t get past the inspired
goalkeeping of Barry Alcock and to add insult to injury a solo run by Mick
Fletcher resulted in a match winning goal. It was a bad week for me as a
football fan, I’d missed a 9-0 win and then experienced how cruel football was
as my heroes’ efforts went unrewarded despite total dominance of the game.
48 hours later
and a chance to get the promotion chase back on track as Oswestry Town visited
Penydarren Park in one of those rearranged games. This time there would be no
mistake as Ray Pratt scored every goal in a comfortable 4-0 win.
Merthyr Tydfil
was still in the race but the next match was two days later and a trip to
London Road to face league leaders Grantham Town safe in the knowledge that
just a draw would give us the title if we then overcame Wellingborough in our
final league game. A large traveling support made the journey to Mrs.
Thatcher’s birthplace to support the team and at half time with no goals scored
it looked as if the Martyrs could pull off a result but a second-half hat-trick
by their top scorer Robbie Cook shattered our hopes and made Grantham
champions.
The trip to
Wellingborough was now meaningless and it’s not even covered by the Merthyr
Express in its sports section which brings me to the conclusion that John
Hughes hated the Martyrs for some reason.
In the restructure
of the leagues Grantham, Oswestry, Burton and Tamworth all headed to the
Northern Premier League whilst Merthyr Tydfil and the rest of the clubs moved
across to the new Midland Division where we were joined by the relegated
Bridgend Town. By the way Barry Town came 13th that season but no one cares
about that so let’s just remember a brilliant team that despite being top
scorers by a margin of 20 goals missed out on a Championship by a single point
on the penultimate day of the season.
Pld W
D L F - A Points
Grantham Town 38 21 10 7 70-45 52 pts
Grantham Town 38 21 10 7 70-45 52 pts
Merthyr Tydfil 38 22
7 9 90-53
51 pts
Alvechurch 38 20 10 8 70-42 50
pts
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