Motaquote Welsh League Division One
31/03/04: Llanelli 3 - 0 Ton Pentre

THE REDS of Llanelli comfortably beat Ton Pentre as they continued their march towards winning the Motaquote Welsh Leage Division One title with goals from Mattie Davies and Paul Fowler.

Until Llanelli scored to make it 2-0 on the stroke of half-time, the game was a tight contest between the Rhondda Bulldogs and their promotion chasing rivals. In the opening 25 minutes the game could have swung either way with both teams threatening in front of goal.

Within the first five minutes Nathan Prygodzicz headed a good chance wide from Kerry Harding's corner and Chris Thomas of Llanelli was unable to beat Marty Ellacott between the Ton posts after being allowed to run clear at goal.

Raith Plant demonstrated strength when he held the ball up to play it onto Dean Morris. Acting as captain, due to the suspension of Andrew Hughes, Morris threaded a through pass to Harding on the right, presenting an opportunity for the player to cross. He sent an effective ball into the box but Alyn Jones was unable to connect as Ton pulled at Llanelli's seams.

However, when Llanelli carved out a chance resulting from a Ton mistake, they gratefully took it. Mattie Davies was in superb form as he ran into a brilliant position to meet with a cross from the right in the Ton box. The natural goalscorer slotted the ball past Ellacott to give his side a 1-0 advantage.

Bulldog's defender, Neil Davies, decided to take the ball on a run up field during the 32nd minute and shot from distance winning a corner in the process. Plant then witnessed his shot cleared from the line and out to Shaun Fackerel. He struck from 20 yards but Huw Liddell collected the ball at a comfortable height.

Fackerel was caught out in the last line of defence before half-time with Paul Fowler dispossessing him of the ball to run freely at Ellacott. The Ton 'keeper was left with absolutely no chance as Llanelli went into the break 2-0 up, effectively ending Ton's challenge.

Fowler should have increased his teams lead moments later but struck high over the bar as Llanelli pushed forward. Ellacott denied the same player soon after but Robert Follund scored the rebound only to see that the original move had been ruled out for offside.

Follund linked well with Fowler to open up Ton in the 65th minute but the latter was denied once more with Ellacott saving well.

A good chance for Ton arose five minutes later when from a corner Mike Jones headed into the five yard box where he found Carl Thomas. The Ton striker attempted to head in a goal but was unable to beat Liddell.

Then as full-time approached Davies picked up possession in the Ton half. The Llanelli player, who broke Ton's hearts in last season's Welsh Cup Semi Final by scoring the winning goal for Cwmbran, created an angle to shoot from inside the Ton box and completed Llanelli's 3-0 win.

So Ton left Stebonheath Park with nothing left to play for this season apart from pride.

Ton Pentre: Marty Ellacott; Ian Shepherd (Lee Tapper, 67mins); Neil Davies; Mike Jones; Nathan Prygodzicz (Jason Roberts, 56mins); Shaun Fackerel; Dean Morris; Raith Plant; Carl Thomas (Tom Billings, 79mins); Alyn Jones; Kerry Harding.

Match Report by Robert Dowling.