SHOLING were beaten 1-0 at home by table-topping Merthyr Town this afternoon as the Welshmen took another stride towards the Southern One South & West title.

But the Boatmen walked off the pitch with a sense of pride, knowing they had made their thoroughbred visitors work every inch of the way for a result settled by Ryan Prosser’s 13th-minute strike.

The Boatmen welcomed back defender Pete Castle from a quad muscle injury, but skipper Byron Mason had to sit out the visit of the league leaders after his troublesome Achilles tendon flared up again.

Brother Barry Mason took the captain’s armband, while new loan signing Lewis Blackmore from Gosport Borough made his home debut up front on a grey, blustery afternoon in Portsmouth Road.

Sholing looked full of running and well organised from the off, giving their high-flying visitors no chance to set an early rhythm.

Martyrs midfielder Gavin Williams overhit one crossfield pass, sending the ball out for a Sholing throw-in and, when visiting goalkeeper Tom Bradley sliced an attempted clearance out of the ground, the Sholing Ultras burst into a rousing rendition of “Top of the league, you're having a laugh!”

But the joke wore thin on 13 minutes as the Welshmen turned on the style to seize the league.

The tall bearded figure of Ryan PROSSER worked his way into the box where he exchanged passes with Guillermo Bauza before calmly sliding his shot past Matt Brown in the clubhouse end goal.

Sholing took until the 20th minute to get their first shot on target. It came from the boot of defender Castle who had pushed up for Kev Brewster’s deep free-kick, but his effort flew straight at Bradley.

Three minutes later Merthyr came within a whisker of doubling their advantage.

Ian Traylor turned beautifully inside the right of the area and drove the ball across the six-yard box where ex-Saint Kayne McLaggon was a hair’s breadth away from turning it in.

The Welshmen then forced two corners on the right – Jarred Wright nodding the first one over and then his central defensive partner Ryan Green, the Merthyr skipper, heading the next one into the ground and safely into Brown’s hands.

For a side lying 17th with nothing left to play for in the league, the Boatmen’s work rate was admirable and, with half-time approaching, they began to assert themselves as an attacking force.

Winger Tobi Adekunle knocked the ball past the left-back and went on a powerful run down the right, but his cross was cut out by keeper Bradley before it could reach the on-rushing Marvin McLean.

The lively Adekunle then fired a couple of ambitious long-range efforts off target before Merthyr hit back with some strong play by McLaggon who drove in from the left before thumping an angled shot over.

McLaggon mustered the first two chances of the second-half, drilling one shot into the side netting and fizzing the next one over.

Sholing responded by forcing a corner when, not for the first time, Merthyr were hard-pressed to deal with one of Brewster’s expertly delivered free-kicks.

And it was from another Brewster set-piece that the Boatmen went their closest yet to scoring on 61 minutes when the full-back’s corner was headed onto the crossbar by Castle.

Another spell of Merthyr pressure was only to be expected and McLaggon had a goal ruled out after the referee had spotted a push in the area, while Brown ushered Traylor’s effort wide.

After a flurry of substitutions the game settled down again with Williams delivering a deep Merthyr free-kick which Prosser swung a boot at – and missed – as it bounced in front of Brown.

Much of the play was now condensed in the Sholing half, but still the Boatmen kept their shape and worked doggedly to frustrate the visitors.

Sholing had one last opening in the dying seconds with Blackmore racing free down the left and hanging a cross up to the back stick, but there was no one on hand to meet it.