Goals from Diego De Girolamo and Jason Gilchrist ensured Buxton progressed to the 2nd round of the Emirates FA Cup for the second consecutive season as they beat Southern League South Premier Division side Merthyr Town.
However, the Bucks had to work hard for the win as the visitors from South Wales probably had the better of the first half, and on another afternoon, they could have made the journey back to Merthyr Tydfil with the win.
Despite winning their last two games (against Southport and Darlington), Jamie Vermiglio changed his team- captain Josh Granite, Declan Poole and Matt Sargent all dropped to the substitutes bench with Warren Clarke, Sam Osborne and Harry Bunn starting in their place. Also making the subs bench were academy players Oliver Sherwood and Nathan Wood. They had signed first-team forms with the club on the morning of the game.
When the Buxton players woke up ahead of the match, they would have wanted to have gotten off to a good start in the game, and they got that perfect start after just five minutes of play when Merthyr’s Jack Evans inadvertently raised his hand to block De Girolamo’s cross in the penalty area leaving referee Ruebyn Ricardo no option but to point to the spot. Up stepped Diego, who found the back of the net despite William Fuller getting a hand to it.
After the goal, most of the supporters inside the Tarmac Silverlands Stadium expected Buxton to go on and dominate the game. However, this wasn’t the case, as the team from South Wales had nothing to lose at this point and on another day, they could have easily had a couple of goals to go with their performance.
Merthyr defender Tom Handley had a fantastic opportunity on 20 minutes when he got forward before hitting a 20-yard shot which goalkeeper Theo Richardson had to parry. However, the Buxton defence couldn’t complete the clearance, and the ball fell to Alex John, and he smashed his shot wide of the goal. While Richardson then had to make a fine one-handed save from Lewis Powell five minutes before the break when the former Southern League golden boot winner was able to get a free header on goal.
The visitors had to make a change in goal just before the break as Fuller picked up an injury, meaning he had to come off for former Brisbane Roar net tender Jamie Cogman. Merthyr made a second change at the break as Barbados international Curtis Hutson came on for Kieran Evans.
This first-round game followed the pattern of the 4th Qualifying round tie against Hyde United, as the Bucks were the stronger team in the second half. They should have been 2-0 up when Osborne saw his long-range effort take a wicked deflection off a Merthyr defender that wrong-footed Cogman, the goalkeeper would have been relieved to see the ball go wide of his post.
Second-half substitute Gilchrist then struck the crossbar with a header after De Girolamo put a hooked cross into the penalty area, while Clarke saw his header go over the goal as Buxton looked for that all-important second goal to settle any nerves.
With half an hour to go, Merthyr thought they had equalised when an all-mighty scramble from a corner fell to Ricardo Rees inside the six-yard area. He was expected to get his 12th goal of the season. However, his effort was well saved by Richardson.
Buxton capitalised on that save, and they finally put the game to bed with just two minutes to go when Connor Kirby played a delightful ball to Gilchrist. He knocked the ball past Cogman before racing Ismail Yakubu to the ball. The forward just about won the race and got the ball over the line.
Gilchrist’s goal allowed every Buxton fan to relax as they knew their team were through to round two. It also allowed Vermiglio to bring on youth team star Wood for De Girolamo in the final minute of injury time. It was a great moment for the youngster, who will never forget his Buxton debut and, he even got a touch on the ball.
The result means Buxton are through to round two for the second consecutive season and they will find out whom they play in the next round on Monday night in the draw, which will be on ITV at 7 pm before the Bracknell Town v Ipswich Town game. However, one player who will not be playing for Buxton in the next round is Luke Burke, as he was recalled by parent club AFC Fylde earlier this week.
After the game, I caught up with a jubilant Jamie Vermiglio to discuss the game.
Buxton: Richardson, Burke, Brisley, Newton, Clarke, Kirby, Moult, Osborne (Granite, 65), Bunn (Meikle, 76), De Girolamo (Wood, 90+4) and Boden (Gilchrist, 76).
Unused subs: Hudson, Poole, Tasdemir, Sherwood and Sargent.
Merthyr Town: Fuller (Cogman, 38), Davies, Handley, Yakubu, Angle, Evans, Thomas, John, Powell, Rees and Evans (Hutson, 46)
Unused subs: Sama, Lewis, Maher, Harris and Rhodes.
Attendance: 1,879
