Former Merthyr Town captain Ryan Green believes his old club will again be challenging hard for promotion.
The Martyrs play two matches in three days over the Bank Holiday weekend, entertaining Farnborough Town at the Loadlok Community Stadium on Saturday before travelling to Green’s current club Hereford on Monday (both 3pm).
Hereford go to St Neots before welcoming Merthyr to Edgar Street and Green says: “Merthyr will be right up there in and around the play-offs for sure.
“They lost a few players, but they’ve signed decent ones like Stuart Fleetwood and Oliver (Davies) has gone back there. They will be up there.
“The games come thick and fast in this league. St Neots will be another long journey and then there’s the local derby on the Monday which I’m looking forward to.”
Merthyr are still unbeaten, having won one and drawn two of their first three fixtures, while Farnborough are 17th after suffering two defeats in their opening matches.
There are three teams who have won all their matches – Banbury, King’s Lynn and Kettering – and Merthyr aim to do all they can to move closer to the leading group over this weekend.
Farnborough come to South Wales on Saturday and they have signed teenage midfield player Jake Evans on loan from League Two Swindon Town.
Evans, 19, earned his first professional contract in April 2016 and made his League debut the following month.
He made three appearances for Swindon in 2016-17 and had a spell on loan with League of Ireland team Waterford.
There are plenty of links between Hereford and Merthyr. The Bulls, who have ex-Martyrs manager Steve Jenkins on their coaching staff, include former Merthyr players Green, Garyn Preen and Keyon Reffell in their squad.
Green is doubtful with an Achilles injury, but has been playing on in pain.
“I’ve got chronic tendonitis in my Achilles, so I’ve really been struggling at the moment,” said Green.
“I’ve been playing in pain. I had surgery on my Achilles about eight or nine years ago after getting similar symptoms, but a few of my ex-colleagues said that an injection should solve it for a year or two.”
Hereford have also signed 22-year-old former Cardiff City trainee Gethyn Hill on loan from Weston-Super-Mare.
Hill has joined Hereford for a month due to Mike Symons being suspended for three matches and Lance Smith is unavailable.
Merthyr were due to hold a race night after the home fixture against Farnborough, but that has been postponed at the request of manager Gavin Williams.
A number of our players were planning to attend and Williams would like his squad to recover properly ahead of their Bank Holiday Monday match away to Hereford.
The race night will now take place on Saturday, September 9 after the match against Bishops Stortford.
Merthyr are going ahead with an open supporters meeting being held in Webley’s from 1pm.
The Martyrs have been drawn at home against Western League Willand Rovers in the Emirates FA Cup. The Devon club were Merthyr’s first cup opponents when the club was reformed in 2010.
Curtis McDonald and Ryan Prosser are both on their way back from injuries.
Merthyr Town, from: O Davies, A Davies, S Tancock, J Wright, C Pring, R Patten, K Copp, E Richards, K Morgan, S Fleetwood, C Jenkins, B Watkins, A Evans, J Bowen, I Traylor, M Touray.
