JONATHAN HOWE played his finest game in a Ton Pentre jersey in the match against newly promoted Taffs Well. His outstanding performance saw him deny the visitors to Ynys Park time and time again, as Ton began their 2004/05 campaign.

Ton Pentre named five debutants in their starting line-up as the team got off to a shaky start when Andrew Seburn hit a weak back pass to Jon Howe in the eighth minute. Peter Cheeseman showed awareness to latch onto the mistake and gave his team the lead with an easy finish.

The Rhondda Bulldogs failed to get their engines running and should have found themselves another goal down when Craig Williams crossed from the wing to Cheeseman in the box, who was unable to keep his shot low sending it over the bar.

Against the run of play Ton Pentre somehow managed to turn the game round within the space of 4 minutes. When Seburn sent a deep cross from the right into the Taffs Well area, Kristian Orchard met the ball with a cracking header that saw him score his first goal for Ton by beating Gareth Williams, the Taffs Well goalkeeper.

Moments later Lyndon Williams’ determination saw him able to supply a pass to Andrew Hughes, who trickled the ball around a Taffs Well defender to get into a scoring position. His well hit strike gave Ton a 2-1 lead.

As the interval approached Craig Williams breached the Ton defence twice more but on both occasions was unable to beat the superb Howe following some terrific goalkeeping.

Taffs Well dominated the second half and created enough chances to have comfortably beaten Ton by a large margin, but Howe was on top form and cancelled out each shot with a fine save. Cheeseman saw his useful looking effort collected by Howe just minutes after the second half kicked off.

Howe’s best save of the game came in the 80th minute when an exceptional one handed save denied Cheeseman once again as he looked odds on to score the equaliser. From close range the Taffs Well striker put stunning force behind the ball but Howe jumped to his right to tip it over the bar.

Without a doubt Jon Howe won this game for the Bulldogs as his hard work maintained Ton Pentre’s lead from the 39th minute onwards.

Match Facts

Line-up:

1. Jonathan HOWE
2. Scott HAYWARD
3. Neil DAVIES
4. Daniel LEVER
5. Andrew SEBURN
6. Andrew HUGHES
7. Kristian ORCHARD
8. Geraint PITT
9. Alyn JONES
10. Lyndon WILLIAMS
11. Lee TAPPER

Substitutes: 12 Lee BROWN (Lee Tapper, 52 mins); 14 Kristofer REES (Geraint Pitt, 75 mins); 15 Simon McMAIL (not used)

Goals: Kristian Orchard, 36 mins; Andrew Hughes, 39 mins

Bookings: None

Match report by Rob Dowling