Worksop Town are defeated in eight-goal thriller
Worksop Town failed to overcome high-flyers Merthyr Town at the weekend after being beaten 5-3.
Town started brightly and went 2-0 up before they were eventually beaten as a good chance for points went begging.
“I’m still trying to wrap my head around the game, it was a mad one," said boss Craig Parry.
“There’s no doubt that South Shields are one of the best sides in the league, and these are probably better attacking-wise than South Shields. That said, we started the game really well and had full control of the game in parts.
“We found ourselves two-nil up, but we took our foot off the gas and conceded three sloppy goals, which we can probably put down to individual errors.
“We found ourselves 3-3, had chances to get back into the lead, but then you can’t give the best attacking side in the league the chances we’ve given.”
The Tigers made a bright start and opened the scoring in the 14th minute when an in-swinging corner from Luke Waterfall was flicked on by Vaughan Redford, who finished from the back post. The lead was doubled just five minutes later as Martin Woods delivered a curling cross into the box, allowing Redford to glance another header into the net.
Merthyr Town responded quickly and pulled a goal back through Cawley Cox, who latched onto a long ball and calmly placed his finish into the bottom-right corner. The visitors then drew level inside the opening half-hour when Cox struck again, capitalising on a rebound that Lewis Forshaw was unable to keep out.
Just before half-time, Merthyr completed the turnaround. A corner found left-back Noah Smerdon, whose powerful header flew into the net to give the visitors a 3–2 lead at the break.
The Tigers came out strongly after the interval and were back on level terms six minutes into the second half. Woods delivered another dangerous cross, which Aaron Martin headed goalwards, with goalkeeper Jaime Cogman only able to parry the ball into the top corner.
Merthyr continued to press and regained the lead when Lewys Twamley arrived in the box to roll his effort past Forshaw. Frustration grew late on for the Tigers, with Aaron Martin sent off for violent conduct.
Cox completed his hat-trick in the 90th minute to seal a dramatic victory and secure all three points for the visitors.
Worksop bounced back on Tuesday as they beat Dearne and District 3-1 to advance to the Semi-Finals of the Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup. They return to league action on Saturday against Kidderminster at Aggborough.