Honest Leigh

LEIGH Robinson has called for a positive reaction from his players in their two home games next week following a "wholly embarrassing" opening day defeat at Merthyr Town.

The Tiverton manager saw his side slayed 6-0 by the Martyrs, from whom Ricardo Rees and ex-Yellow Kane Simpson both scored hat-tricks, as their Pitching In Southern League Premier Division South campaign stalled on the starting line.

Two two-goal bursts from the home side either side on the interval inflicted irreparable damage on Tivvy before two more late goals finished them off.

Leigh said: "If I’m being honest, that result was coming and I hope a defeat of that magnitude so early in the season was what we needed.

"For the first 30 minutes, we were pretty good and looked reasonably comfortable, but the nature of the two quick goals before half-time changed everything and put us on the back foot.

"Obviously, in the second half, we wanted to get to 65-70 minutes without conceding and then have a go but, again, two terrible goals in the space of five minutes after half-time and it’s game over.

"When you come to a place like Merthyr, who play possession football, you know you need to defend properly and look after the ball when you do have it. We did neither and that can only lead to a painful result, and that’s what we saw."

Tivvy now face Dorchester Town at Ladysmead on Tuesday, following the Magpies' 1-1 opening day home draw with Havant & Waterlooville. That is followed by a Saturday visit from Chertsey, who started their campaign by beating Hungerford 4-1 at home.

Reflecting further on the Merthyr defeat, Leigh said: "We knew this was a really tough opening fixture and we’d have to be close to our maximum to get anything out of it, but the nature of the defeat was wholly embarrassing and now we need to react with two home games coming."