Merthyr Town 2, Chippenham Town 2

The two highest scorers in the Southern League Premier went head-to-head at Penydarren Park.

Chippenham’s Bluebirds, from Wiltshire, took their league goals tally to 50, while Merthyr’s Martyrs are now on 46 in the 2016-17 season.

Merthyr were outstanding in the first half and it was a major blow when they lost a two-goal lead and had defender Curtis McDonald sent off.

Merthyr opened their 2-0 lead thanks to burly centre-forward Ryan Prosser, whose big, bushy beard has earned him a hashtag which accompanies tweets when he is mentioned.

Fans add #FearTheBeard to those tweets and Chippenham learned to their cost he can be a fearsome attack leader.

The Martyrs produced an excellent first half performance and Prosser struck twice in the first half an hour.

He headed in after seven minutes following a flowing passing move and made it 2-0 on 30 minutes.

Ian Traylor had a big chance when he went through one-on-one with goalkeeper Darren Chitty, but could not find the finish he needed.

Soon after half-time former Newport striker Andy Sandell struck with a goal to give his Chippenham team new hope.

It was 2-2 after 77 minutes when Sandell, the Premier Division top scorer, took his goals tally for the season to 20 with his seventh penalty success..

This was the second of five consecutive home League fixtures for Merthyr. They play St Neots at home on Saturday (3pm), while bottom of the table Cinderford Town visit Penydarren Park on Boxing Day (1pm).

Their first match of 2017 is also at home, against seventh in the table Redditch United on Monday, January 2 (3pm).

Merthyr are fifth in the table and right in the hunt for a place in the play-offs at least.

Merthyr Town: O Davies, S Barrow, C McDonald, S Tancock, A Davies, A Evans, J Wright, K Reffell (B Watkins), K McLaggon (C Jenkins), R Prosser, I Traylor (E Richards).