Merthyr Town 5, Gosport Borough 0

Merthyr Town are facing a crucial spell of fixtures in their bid to stay in touch with the leading teams in the Southern League Premier.

The Martyrs produced a five-goal display against Gosport Borough and now face three away matches in their next four fixtures.

Manager Gavin Williams travel to Weymouth on Tuesday and then go to Hitchin Town next Saturday. Stratford Town visit the Loadlok Community Stadium on Tuesday, October 24 before Merthyr travel to Redditch United for their first match in November.

Those three away fixtures in particular will be a test of character for Merthyr.

Curtis McDonald and Stuart Fleetwood returned to the Merthyr starting line-up and they went ahead after only 33 seconds.

Elliot Richards scored that goal from a Corey Jenkins cross, while Ian Traylor made it 2-0 with five minutes gone.

Ashley Evans headed in a cross by Adam Davies (18 mins) and Merthyr went in at half-time leading 3-0.

Jaye Bowen almost added a fourth before the break after Fleetwood set up the shooting chance, but his powerful shot hit the bar.

Jenkins scored from Traylor’s cross just after the hour and Merthyr added their fifth after 73 minutes.

Taylor scored his second of the game when he controlled a McDonald pass and slotted home.

This win was the ideal reaction by Merthyr after their dramatic 4-5 defeat to second placed Slough Town. The Martyrs led 4-0 at half-time, but slumped to a devastating defeat.

Five goals against struggling Gosport was exactly the lift Merthyr needed and now they focus on Weymouth away on Tuesday.

Goalkeeper Oliver Davies and his defenders can take great satisfaction from the clean sheet after Merthyr conceded 10 goals in the previous two fixtures.

Merthyr Town: O Davies, A Davies, K Patten, C McDonald, J Wright, C Jenkins, J Bowen, A Evans, E Richards, S Fleetwood, I Traylor. Subs: S Tancock, R Patten, K Copp, K Morgan, M Touray.