It has been a long time coming for all of us but finally at 5 to 3 on Saturday, the Red & Green shirts of Merthyr Town emerged from the dressing rooms at Shepton Mallet to a rousing welcome from the large travelling support from the Valleys.
Shepton Mallet FC were excellent hosts for our first match as Merthyr Town FC, a lovely ground with a decent playing surface offered a fine backdrop to this historic match.
It was Shepton Mallet that took the initiative from the start scoring an opener within the first 15 minutes and going close on a number of occasions but slowly but surely the Martyrs took control of the match and were rewarded with an own goal after good work by Marcus Griffiths just before the break.
The addition of Cortez Belle to the team for the second half was the catalyst for a brace of goals in two minutes, firstly from Scott Armitage who slotted home after a long throw then from Belle himself when he charged down a keeper's kick to score.
The Martyrs' passing game ensured that we stayed in control of the match and quality strikes by both Tariq Khalil and Craig Stiens added to the score, there was even time for Belle's last minute penalty to be saved by hosts' keeper who had an excellent game.
So we start with a 5-1 win, for many of us the result was secondary it was enough to see a club now managed by its faithful supporters take the field for the first time after so many challenges over the previous seasons.
On Tuesday we entertain Cadbury Heath at our temporary home at Taffs Well for our first Western League home fixture, if it's half as enjoyable as our trip to Shepton Mallet then it will be a game worth watching.
Up the Town!
