Redditch United 3, Merthyr Town 1

LIAM McDONALD reckoned Redditch United showed signs they were returning to their best form after opening 2016 with an exciting victory.

Two goals from new signing Jazz Luckie on his debut, topped off by a stunning solo strike by Cameron Young with his first touch, sealed three much-need points to push the Reds into third place in the Southern Premier.

The Reds have hardly been struggling this season, featuring in and around the play-off zone and the Boxing Day defeat at Stratford halted an 11-match unbeaten sequence.

But Saturday’s win, based on an excellent first half followed by a real resilience after the break, showed the perfect mix of sharp finishing and resolute defending.

Reds boss McDonald hailed new recruit Luckie, signed from Stafford Rangers, as his ‘fox in the box’ and both his goals were perfect examples.

It took the former Tividale and Chasetown forward just one minute 40 seconds to open his scoring account, ghosting past the defence to tap home after Merthyr keeper Tom Bradley parried a 20-yard strike from Jamey Osborne.

With the Reds in the ascendancy, Jim Mutton and Osborne had efforts blocked but then Merthyr were twice denied by the woodwork. Chris Hugh’s shot from the left clipped the far post and Ian Traylor’s curler from the right bounced off the top of the bar.

Redditch’s response was a second goal on 33 minutes, with Luckie again showing his awareness to nip in ahead of keeper Bradley from a back-header and slide home.

Merthyr were more enterprising in the second half, with Reds keeper Jose Veiga denying Jon Brown’s shot and Kayne McLaggon scooping over and it was game on when Rhys Baggeridge slammed home a close-range effort on 83 minutes.

Any comeback effort, however, was ruined three minutes into stoppage time when Young, having just come on, raced onto Will Richards’ through-ball and showed excellent composure to race from the half-way line and drilled the ball through the keeper’s legs for a third goal.

McDonald said: “After the defeat last week at Stratford, I said to the lads ‘let’s get back to basics and do what we do best’. In the first 45 minutes, we blew them away with our intensity. In the first half we were back to our best.

“We didn’t have as much possession in the second half but we made sure we defended in the right areas and counter-attacked in the right areas.

“The results in the last couple of months have been disappointing, with so many draws, so the most important thing was getting the three points on the board.

“Now it needs to be the start of a good run to put us in a good position come the end of January.”

REDDITCH: Veiga 7; Haynes 7; Mutton 8, Flanagan 7, Cullinane-Liburd 6; Osborne 7, Richards 7, Loveridge 7 (Sammons, 78); Thompson-Brown 6 (Young 90+2); Carline 6, Luckie 8 (Fletcher, 70). Subs: Bridgwater.