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Despite the terrible conditions both Ton Pentre and Goytre United were a credit to the MacWhirter Welsh Football League as they played excellent football with good skill and commitment on a difficult surface at Ynys Park for this mid-week clash.
The spoils were shared and the result accurately reflects both teams’ performances, although Ton Pentre may feel that they missed an excellent opportunity for three vital league points following a second half penalty miss.
In the first half-hour of this tantalizing encounter the action was shared evenly between the two title rivals. Reigning champions Goytre United forced Ton Pentre to frantically clear the ball from their own goal line and a sustained amount of pressure in the Goytre half culminated in good move between Dale Price and Ryan Jenkins.
Price had battled hard to win and maintain possession and with the help of fellow team-mate Jenkins forced Goytre into conceding a series of corners. Each ball into the box from the corners heaped tension on the visitor’s defence forcing two desperate clearances from danger.
The Rhondda Bulldogs made their pressure count in the 33rd minute when Steven Conaty saw an opportunity to strike at the target from 25 yards. His shot deflected off a Goytre defender and Chris Curtis was unable to stop the ball from crossing his goal line.
Goytre lifted themselves from the disappointment of conceding by coming close a few minutes later from a free kick on the edge of the Ton box. The deftly hit strike was matched by Marty Ellacott’s splendid save to palm the ball around the post for a corner.
Ton were unable to effectively clear their lines from this corner and were punished by a goal scored by the prolific Welsh League goal scorer, Richard Ryan, who nestled the ball in the bottom left hand corner of the Ton net.
In first half injury time Ton Pentre should have reclaimed the lead when Jenkins offloaded the ball into Ryan Shugar’s path. He struck his effort straight at Curtis who could only parry the ball back to the midfielder’s feet but Shugar’s second attempt was booted away by defender in the six-yard box.
Ton Pentre were presented with another excellent chance of regaining the lead when early second half pressure resulted in a penalty being awarded by the referee when not one, but two defenders attempted to hack Dale Price down in the box with the second attempt making complete contact.
The referee had to pace out 12-yards from the goal line to find the penalty spot due to the bad conditions as Jenkins stepped up hoping to add a sixth goal to his seasons tally. The Ton forward hit a poor penalty shot that was easily saved by Curtis much to Goytre’s relief.
The action continued to go end-to-end with the game looking very open.
Good work from Jamie Michaels on the wing saw him able to cross the ball into the Goytre penalty area. Kristian Orchard lightly headed the ball down into Price’s stride for a shot but the Ton favourite couldn’t get enough contact on the ball due to a defender’s challenge from behind.
The ball was sent down the other end of the pitch where Ellacott was once again called into action to produce a good save by diving low and smothering a shot from a Goytre striker.
The match ended in a draw which will certainly please fellow title challengers Neath Athletic and Pontypridd Town, however, there is a long way to go and both Ton and Goytre certainly feel they can still achieve this season.
Next match for Ton Pentre is a re-arranged home tie on Wednesday 28 February 2007 at 7.30pm against Pontardawe Town as the last time the two teams met the match was abandoned at half time due to a waterlogged pitch.
Following that Ton travel to Tudor Park for a tough test against Maesteg Park Athletic on Saturday 3 March 2007 at 2pm.
Ton Pentre: 1. Marty Ellacott (Captain); 2. Mark Crutch; 3. Kristian Orchard; 4. Scott Hayward; 5. Paul Evans; 6. Lee Matthews; 7. Ryan Shugar; 8. Steven Conaty; 9. Ryan Jenkins; 10. Dale Price; 11. Jamie Michaels
Subs: 12. Raith Plant (Jenkins, 72); 14. Dwayne Mardenborough (Shugar, 80); 15. Phil Clarke (Orchard, 72)
Goal: Conaty, 33
Cautions: Evans, 15; Hayward, 83
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