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The Bucks' first midweek fixture of the season sees Kevin Wilkin and his team pit themselves against Merthyr Town as they make the trip to South Wales on Tuesday (18th August).
The hosts will doubtless keep a welcome in the hillside for the Bucks, who will head to Penydarren Park in search of their first points of the season following two defeats.
The welcome may be warm, but the Martyrs will be keen to turn up the heat once the game kicks off, aiming to rebound from their first loss of the campaign on Saturday.
The Martyrs did open the season with a victory, defeating Hednesford Town 2-0 on the season’s opening day, with Jacob Maddox undermining the Pitmen, scoring twice.
The Bucks will be eager to shake off two disappointing losses, but will be without attacking midfielder Jamie Meddows, who faces some time on the sidelines following the injury he suffered in the 2-1 defeat at Worksop Town.
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Merthyr slipped to a 2-1 defeat in County Durham at Spennymoor Town, in a game in which the visitors felt hard done by, if social media reaction is any guide.
Defender Will Spiers was shown a straight red card for a tackle just before half-time, but the Martyrs recovered from that blow to take the lead through Kane Simpson with an hour played.
They couldn't hold their advantage, and two goals in six minutes from the Moors’ ageless marksman Glen Taylor tore the points away from Merthyr, with the second coming four minutes into added time.
Line-up: 1. Cogman, 4. Livermore, 5. Margetson, 7. Wigley, 8. Maddox, 9. Simpson, 11. Watts, 14. J. Evans ©, 15. Smerdon, 21. Williams, 35. Spiers.
Substitutes: 13. Thomas, 3. Foulston, 6. Humphries, 17. Harris, 18. John, 19. K. Evans.
Last Season
The meetings between the Bucks and the Martyrs last season produced two away wins and eleven goals, with the away side hitting four on the road on both occasions.
The first encounter, at the SEAH Stadium in early November, was really the Ricardo Rees show. The visitors’ star striker, showing the kind of scoring form that brought a January transfer to Forest Green Rovers, bagged all four goals in a clinical display that had the away supporters signing in the rain as they won 4-2.
Matty Stenson and Adan George bookended Rees’ virtuoso display on a night when the Bucks also struck the frame of the goal three times.
When the teams met again in January, the boot was firmly on the other foot. Dylan Allen-Hadley scored twice, and Ammar Dyer and Remi Walker were also on target as the Bucks exacted revenge for their defeat by the Martyrs just over two months previously.
The hosts’ cause wasn’t aided by Lee Lucas’s dismissal for violent conduct in the first half, and although 4-0 down at one point, a Cole Jarvis reply did give them something to cheer on a night that belonged to the visitors.
Neither the Bucks nor the Martyrs finished in playoff positions, though both had been looking good for a post-season berth; however, they could reflect on hugely positive seasons following promotion the season before.
It is easy to suggest that the Martyrs' turning point was the January sale of the talismanic Rees. Still, they initially shrugged off his loss and continued to plunder points and goals in swashbuckling fashion. Lewys Twamley, the orchestrator of many of Rees’ goals, picked up the baton, but after his hat-trick sealed a 3-1 victory at Radcliffe, Merthyr won only one of their final nine games to slide out of contention.
The Martyrs finished in eighth position, three points behind Chester, and three positions and five points above the Bucks in eleventh place.
New Season, New Look
With Twamley signing for FA Trophy winners Southend United in the summer, the Martyrs have had to recruit to replace both Twamley and Rees, along with several other departing players.
Defender Ben Margetson arrived from Barry Town United, and Jay Foulston also added defensive depth, signing following his release from Torquay United.
Midfielder Jacob Maddox, loaned to the Martyrs from Yeovil Town last season, has made his move permanent, whilst Lloyd Humphries arrived from Eastleigh. Elis Watts has also come aboard from Gloucester City, but the forward line has seen the biggest overhaul.
Sam Pearson, another ex-Eastleigh man, Morgan Wigley, released by Cardiff City, Kane Simpson, signed from Gloucester City, and Ivan John, from Caerphilly, are all new additions to the Martyrs squad, tasked with scoring the goals to help launch another playoff push.
The Man in Charge
Paul Michael remains at the Martyrs' helm, having signed a new, two-year full-time contract in the close season.
At Penydarren Park since the 2022/23 season, Michael has an enviable record of improving the Martyrs' league position season on season since arriving, including winning the Southern League Premier South in 2024/25.
Michael now has community and commercial responsibilities at the club, and has retained his backroom team of assistant Andrew Smith and coach Craig Reddy as the Martyrs aim for another improved league placing. Having finished eighth last term, that would mean a playoff place at minimum.