Sholing boss Diaper rues lack of cutting edge in defeat to league leaders

But for the Boatmen, who have been glued in 17th spot in the aptly sponsored Evo-Stik South & West since late November, it was a useful dress rehearsal for the most important date left on their 2014/15 calendar – the Hampshire FA Senior Cup final on May 5.

Just as in their HSC semi-final win against AFC Bournemouth’s development squad, Sholing were compact, competitive, hard-working and organised against a side more blessed in the talent department.

And although it was not quite enough to prevent Ryan Prosser’s 13th-minute winner for the champions elect, it provided useful preparation for the big county showpiece against Conference South high-fliers Gosport Borough at Fratton Park.

“Today showed us how tough it’s going to be in the cup final but, as in the Bournemouth game, we worked hard to stop a top team beating us down,” said Sholing boss Dave Diaper.

“Considering the changes we had with no Dan Miller or Byron Mason, I thought we played really well.

“Merthyr could have played better than they did today and they seemed happy with a 1-0 providing they got the job done.

“But we looked organised and didn’t let them in behind us and it was certainly a lot different to when we lost 7-1 down there.

“It shows what we’re capable of and bodes well for the future.”

With defender Pete Castle returning from a quad muscle injury and new Gosport loan signing Lewis Blackmore making his home debut up top, Sholing’s determined start ensured Merthyr barely got a sniff at goal before they capitalised on the best move of the game.

Following a build-up down the right, the tall, bearded figure of Prosser carried the ball into the box where he exchanged passes with former Spanish under-19 international Guillem Bauza before slotting low past Matt Brown in the home goal.

Ryan Prosser celebrates his winner.

Merthyr again showed their quality ten minutes later when Ian Traylor turned sweetly inside the right of the area and delivered the ball across the six-yard box. It needed only a touch, but was fractionally too far in front of ex-Saint Kayne McLaggon’s outstretched boot.

Barring three occasions when McLaggon shot either high or wide from the left of the area, Sholing were rarely troubled by the normally lethal Martyrs who have buried 102 goals in the league and are now just three points away from the title.

In fact, had the Boatmen possessed someone as deadly as their former goal machine Lee Wort, Diaper rather fancies they would have won.

Tobi Adekunle conjured up a couple of decent efforts from distance and, after one flying run down the right, was unlucky to have his cross cut out by goalkeeper Tom Bradley before the onrushing Marvin McLean could capitalise.

Kev Brewster’s set-piece deliveries frequently tested the visitors’ defence and Merthyr were almost breached in the 61st minute when Castle’s header from Brewster’s corner hit the crossbar.

“I was a bit disappointed with Merthyr’s goal because we should have dealt with it before it got that far, but we played really well,” said Diaper.

“We just lack a goalscorer and, if we’d had one, we would have won.

“We had no real one-on-ones as such, but it’s all about movement. When you’ve got that, there’s always a chance of scoring.

“We made a bit of a statement today and sent out a message to other teams. Managers will have looked at this match expecting Merthyr to get four or five, but we’ve kept the scoreline down and hit the bar in the second half. We could have drawn.

“I said to the guys beforehand: ‘Let’s not make it easy for Merthyr and, if they get the three points, make sure they earn them’ and that’s what we did.

“There were some good performances out there. Jack Smith and Alex Sawyer worked tirelessly in midfield and TJ Cuthbertson did well alongside Pete Castle considering he’s a full-back not a central defender.” Following this Saturday’s trip to fourth-placed Stratford, Sholing entertain rock-bottom Bashley on Easter Monday (1pm).