Waders wobble as Welsh win with ease

The five game winning run that saw Waders creep into the play-off places of the Southern League Premier have been consigned to history.

Defeat at lowly Paulton Rovers has been followed by back to back home setbacks against Hungerford and now Merthyr.

The Waders suffered a bad run post-Christmas last season which led to an uncomfortable last few weeks towards the foot of the table.

This time around that recent winning run has put Town in a much stronger league position, well clear of the drop zone. They are just seven points from the play-offs – but results will have to improve dramatically if they are to make a serious tilt at a top five finish.

Three moments of quality divided the teams in difficult conditions at the Carlsberg Stadium on Saturday.

It all started so badly as Biggleswade fell behind after two minutes from a looping header from Corey Jenkins and they never recovered from this early setback.

The only meaningful home effort of the first period came from Chris Marsh whose placed shot skimmed the outside of the far post. A cold wind blowing left to right kept the game in the Waders’ half for most of the 45 minutes.

Although kicking with the wind after the break Biggleswade were unable to penetrate the visiting defence, lacking fresh ideas how to get past the team they beat on their own patch back in October.

Midway through the half a loose pass collected by Merthyr’s Ian Traylor on the edge of his own box saw him run the length of the field to place a shot past debutant keeper Garry Malone who wondered why no meaningful tackle had come Traylor’s way.

A change in formation saw Forsythe and Merson replace Effiong and Marsh but it made little impression.

With 85 minutes gone Keyon Reffell flicked in a cross from the right to complete a miserable afternoon for the home side and delight the 70 Merthyr fans in the 200-strong crowd.

There’s two league games on the road now. On Saturday Biggleswade head to Poole Town while on Tuesday they face Chesham United.