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Ton Pentre continued their winning run with a comfortable 4-0 win at Caerleon. This was a superb performance by a confident Rhondda Bulldogs against a Caerleon side that came into the game with three wins out of four so far this season.
The first quarter of the game was quite even, but following the early exchanges the Merlin sports sponsored Rhondda Bulldogs started to dominate the midfield and dictate the play. On the half hour Seburn headed the ball to the feet of Alyn Jones, he spun and beat the first defender, however he was unable to get a shot on goal.
This was the start of the continued pressure Ton exerted on the Caerleon defence. 5 minutes later Steve Conaty hit a cross cum shot towards the Caerleon goal. The home keeper Cairns misjudged the flight of the ball and let the ball go over his hands, the ball hit the corner of the crossbar and upright, giving Caerleon a lucky escape.
Then 2 minutes before half time Ton had a lucky break when a speculative long range shot from Conaty was misjudged by the home keeper, he bent to save the ball, however although he slowed the ball down it went through his hands and legs into the net. Giving Ton a well deserved lead. This was the 1st time Ton have scored the 1st goal this league season. This goal was what the visitors needed and they kept the home defence under pressure until the half time whistle. There was no further scores in the 1st half.
The opening period of the second half was all Ton’s with Rees and Jones having attempts saved. The two strikers were making it very difficult for the Caerleon defence and were chasing everything down, with the help of the Ton midfield. This pressure eventually paid off, when in the 52nd minute the ball fell to Jones on the edge of the Caerleon penalty area, he turned and hit the ball on the half volley into the net. Doubling Ton’s lead, this was Jones’ 3rd goal in the last 3 games.
Then came the best goal of the game, a long clearance from Ellacott in the Ton goal was headed on by Seburn to Jones, he put a slide rule pass inside the Caerleon defence to Dale Price who took the ball on and passed the ball into the net from a tight angle. Taking Ton into the comfort zone of a 3-0 lead.
Following this Ton Manager Richards started to make changes, when the hard working Jones was replaced by Rob Blatchford the substitute continued to press the ball high in the Caerleon half. 3 minutes later with 15 minutes to go Richards used his remaining substitutes, with Lee Mathews and Kristian Orchard replaced Conaty and Phil Clarke.
The 4th goal was scored with 3 minutes of normal time to go, it was another cracker. Ton had a free kick just inside their half, Gareth Picknell hit the ball into the danger area near the edge of the Caerleon penalty area, the ball fell to Kristian Orchard who volleyed the ball home. It was superb strike to finish the scoring.
This was a superb result and performance from a rejuvenated Ton Pentre team. Let’s hope they can take this form into their next game on Saturday, 2nd September, against Taffs Well, 2:30 kick off.
Ton Pentre: 1. Ellacott; 2. Crutch; 3. Phil Clarke (Orchard); 4. Hayward; 5. Picknell; 6. Seburn; 7. Shugar; 8. Conaty (Mathews) 1; 9. Tony Rees; 10. Dale Price 1; 11. Alyn Jones (Blatchford) 1 Subs: 12. Orchard 1; 14. Blatchford; 15. Mathews.
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