02/08/03: Aberystwyth Town 4 - 0 Ton Pentre

ABERYSTWYTH Town comprehensively beat Ton Pentre in this competitively played pre-season friendly. However, it proved to be a good workout for the Rhondda Bulldogs in preparation for the 2003-04 Welsh League campaign.

Ton Pentre were without several key players for their trip to Park Avenue with captain Andrew Hughes and defender Jason Roberts two notable absentees.

From early on Aberystwyth tested Ton goalkeeper Jon Howe, as John Lawless forced a great diving save.

In the 18th minute Aberystwyth caught Ton out on the left wing after an attack broke down. This allowed Lee Spike to slot the ball past Howe for 1-0.

The best goal of the match came in the 25th minute when Lawless wrong footed Mike Jones to curl a lovely ball into the top right hand corner of the goal.

Eight minutes later the Rhondda Bulldogs failed to deal with a cross from the right resulting in Bari Morgan heading the home team into a 3-0 lead.

John Howells replaced Alyn Jones at half time and looked to be a useful player as Ton found themselves more involved in the play.

Tom Billings and Carl Thomas linked well in an attack on the Aberystwyth goal to provide Kerry Harding a chance to shoot but with no reward.

Moments later Jon Worsnip failed to hold onto the ball in his area providing Harding the chance to shoot from a tight angle. His effort hit the bar and was eventually cleared.

David Hazell and Dale Snooks replaced Billings and Carl Thomas in the Ton attack as the Bulldogs looked the more likely to score.

Ten minutes from time Howells provided a ball out wide to Snooks on the left who crossed into the unmarked Hazell in the Aberystwyth box. Unfortunately Hazell struck into Worsnip's arms.

As full-time approached Aberystwyth finished the scoring as Chris O'Sullivan stretched the Ton defence to make it 4-0.

Although they lost, this was a good workout for the Rhondda team who were playing their first real pre-season friendly. Having looked a little cold in the first half they appeared to have sharpened up by the second against a team who have already played several pre-season matches.

Ton Pentre: Jon Howe (Richard Johnson, 55mins); Lee Tapper; Mark Evans; Dean Morris; Tom Billings (David Hazell, 71mins); Mike Jones; Craig Morgan (Richard Haig, 85mins); Neil Davies; Carl Thomas (Dale Snooks, 80mins); Alyn Jones (John Howells, 45mins); Kerry Harding.