Manager Gavin Williams and his Martyrs aim to maintain their position in the EvoStik Southern League play-off positions when they take on Poole Town at the MetCoaches Stadium on Tuesday (7.45pm).

Merthyr Town are fifth and could climb one place, although they would have to beat Poole and hope Hendon lose at home against Metropolitan Police.

The Met, who are level on points with Merthyr in the Premier and lie sixth place on  goal difference, would also jump above Hendon with a win this evening. 

Dorset club Poole come to Merthyr Tydfil lying ninth with games in hand and assistant manager ‘Taffy’ Richardson insists they can deal with the fixture backlog, “It’s not difficult. 

“We can’t use any of that as an excuse.

“You play football mainly because you love playing and want to play games. I have always felt that way. 

“Do you want to train on a Tuesday night hard for an hour play a game of football for an extra half hour? I would always play a match.

“Yes, you have to travel and it’s a bit of a pain getting off work if it’s an away game, but when I was a footballer and working I used to love preparing for a match.”

Visiting teams at the MetCoaches Stadium have found goals hard to come by. Only Taunton Town and Weymouth have played a similar number of games and conceded fewer goals at home. 

Martyrs’ most convincing performance of the season was the home fixture with Tiverton Town when they ran out 5-1 winners. 

Poole’s away form has been decent over the last six matches with two wins, two draws and two defeats.

James Constable, signed on loan from Eastleigh, is in a second spell with Poole and made his debut in a 1-1 draw at Beaconsfield on Saturday.

“We took a bit of risk because James hasn’t played many games,” said manager Tom Killick. “He is not match fit, but we knew he had the quality and experience to come straight in and do well, which was the case.

“He will just get better and better as his match fitness improves and it is the same with Luke Roberts. He has been out for seven weeks but I felt throwing him back in was the right thing to do because of the quality he has.

“The squad is getting more powerful. I looked at the starting XI on Saturday and it was strong. I then looked at the substitutes and we have people of the calibre of Richard Gillespie, Sam House, Jez Bedford, Carl Pettefer and Jake Smeeton.

“It bodes well because we did not have that strength available from the bench earlier in the season.”

Merthyr Town’s remaining fixtures in 2018 

November

December

Tuesday 11 v Poole Town (home)

Saturday 15 v Harrow Borough (away)

Tuesday 18 v Weymouth (home)

Saturday 22 v Chesham United (home)

Wednesday 26 v Frome Town (away)

Saturday 29 v Swindon Supermarine (away)

EvoStik Southern League fixtures this evening:

Tuesday: Hendon v Metropolitan Police, Merthyr Town v Poole Town, Staines Town v Dorchester Town, Weymouth v Gosport Borough.

LEAGUE TABLE: EVO-STIK LEAGUE SOUTH PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH – 2018/2019

	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	-Pts	Pts
	Taunton Town	18	13	2	3	49	20	29	–	41
	Weymouth	16	11	3	2	41	19	22	–	36
	Salisbury	18	10	4	4	45	28	17	–	34
	Hendon	18	9	4	5	36	27	9	–	31
	Merthyr Town	17	8	5	4	34	21	13	–	29
	Metropolitan Police	15	8	5	2	35	27	8	–	29
	Beaconsfield Town	17	7	7	3	34	27	7	–	28
	Harrow Borough	16	8	3	5	40	32	8	–	27
	Poole Town	14	7	3	4	29	15	14	–	24
	Tiverton Town	18	6	6	6	32	30	2	–	24
	Farnborough	19	7	2	10	32	43	-11	–	23
	Hartley Wintney	18	5	7	6	33	34	-1	–	22
	Kings Langley	17	6	4	7	25	32	-7	–	22
	Basingstoke Town	16	6	3	7	29	31	-2	–	21
	Walton Casuals	17	6	3	8	27	38	-11	–	21
	Wimborne Town	18	6	1	11	33	40	-7	–	19
	Gosport Borough	18	6	1	11	29	38	-9	–	19
	Dorchester Town	16	5	4	7	20	33	-13	–	19
	Swindon Supermarine	17	5	3	9	25	29	-4	–	18
	Chesham United	18	5	3	10	17	39	-22	–	18
	Frome Town	19	4	3	12	24	37	-13	–	15
	Staines Town	18	3	–	15	20	49	-29	–	9