TON PENTRE travelled to Cold Bath Road to face Caerleon in a midweek Welsh League match that saw the Rhondda Bulldogs leave with a point after going two goals down, then equalising through two penalties, and having two men sent off in the process.

As in the previous match against Taffs Well, Ton Pentre were unable to keep a clean sheet for no longer than ten minutes. The way that the Rhondda Bulldogs defence was opened up as easily as it was is a cause for concern as Gareth Sadler slipped through for the first goal.

Caerleon looked more alert as they went in search of increasing their lead and did so in the 25th minute. When the defence was unable to deal with a ball sent in from the right Caerleon were able to double their score. The Ton bench was livid with the referee’s assistant as they argued that there were two Caerleon players offside in the box.

Ton nearly clawed a goal back soon after when Carl Thomas was pushed to ground just outside the box. He took a sweet free kick but was denied by Richard Lancaster’s crossbar.

A minute later Thomas created the move that led to Ton’s first penalty getting awarded. When he played a through ball for Lyndon Williams into the box Lancaster chopped the Ton forward down. Thomas stepped up and scored from the spot.

At half-time Scott Hayward and Lyndon Williams were replaced by Lee Tapper and Shaun Fackeral.

It was Tapper’s shot early in the second half that was charged down by the arm of a Caerleon defender for Ton’s second penalty of the game. Thomas scored from the spot once again sending the ball low to the goalkeepers left to draw level.

Having found a way back into the match Ton were looking to go in search of the lead, however, they were reduced to ten men midway through the second half when it turned out that Fackeral was only going to make a cameo appearance.

Fackeral’s flapping arms got him into trouble when he went into a challenge with a Caerleon defender. Having caught the player in the face he was shown a straight red for violent conduct.

Caerleon could have snatched a goal moments later but Jon Howe was quick off his line to smother the ball at the attacker’s feet.

The Rhondda Bulldogs were reduced to nine men two minutes from full-time when Andrew Seburn was shown a red card for abusive language hurled towards the referee, after the official harshly blew the whistle for a free kick against the player.

Ton have now collected four points from their first two league games with a win and a draw.

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. Lyndon WILLIAMS
9. Carl THOMAS
10. Alyn JONES
11. Mark SYMONS

Substitutes: 12. Geraint PITT (not used); 14. Lee TAPPER (Scott Hayward, 45 mins); 15. Shaun FACKERAL (Lyndon Williams, 45 mins)

Goals: Carl Thomas (pens) 33 mins, 48 mins

Yellow Cards: Scott Hayward, 10 mins; Andrew Hughes, 50 mins

Red Cards: Shaun Fackeral, 66 mins; Andrew Seburn, 88 mins

Match report by Rob Dowling