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Caerau Ely 1-5 Ton Pentre
Pre-Season Friendly
Saturday 19th July 2008
Ton Pentre travelled to Welsh League Division Two outfit Caerau Ely for their first pre-season friendly as the Rhondda Bulldogs began their preparations for the 2008/2009 campaign with a fine win.
Ton were parading several new signings in their starting eleven with Christopher Jones (from Caerleon) and Jacob Daly (from Pontypridd Town) both putting in excellent displays in attack. The Rhondda Bulldogs also welcomed back former Club Captain Andrew Seburn who returns from a lengthy injury that has kept him sidelined for the past two seasons.
For this friendly Ryan Betteney kept watch between the goalposts as last season’s youth team keeper looks to replace the retired Marty Ellacott. Leon Jacka, another youth team product, was also included in Kevin Richards’ starting eleven and was impressive.
Ton Pentre took the lead in this match through an own goal after 12 minutes when Ryan Morgan’s long ball forward from defence was sent too long for Jones to chase. A Caerau Ely defender looked to direct the ball back to his keeper but instead headed it past their man in goal who had come off his line to collect.
The home team looked reasonably sharp having already played in a 5-0 pre-season match defeat against Welsh Premier champions Llanelli in their preparation for the UEFA Champions League, but were unable to find any joy in the final third of the pitch during the first half.
Ton grabbed a second goal in the 42nd minute through Jones who rounded off a lovely move that saw Jacka play the ball inside from the right to Seburn, who in turn set the former Caerleon player up for his strike.
Just over a minute later it was 3-0 when Phil Clarke’s clearance up field fell to Jones who jinked his way around the last man to round the goalkeeper and side foot into an empty net.
On 51 minutes Caerau Ely pulled a goal back from a nice angled strike on the edge of the box. Betteney did well to make contact with the effort but he was unable to stop it from top left destination.
Jacka was again involved in the build up to another goal when his magnificent through ball from halfway up the right wing unleashed Daly to cut inside and finish well past the helpless goalkeeper to make it 4-1 after 61 minutes.
Ton Pentre completed the afternoon’s goalscoring 15 minutes from time when Andrew Hughes won the ball in defence with a powerful header up field that was collected by ex-Taffs Well midfielder Lloyd Toghill. He struck low and hard from 20 yards to make it 5-1.
Ton Pentre’s scheduled friendly match with Merthyr Saints on August 2nd has been cancelled. Therefore, the remaining pre-season fixtures are as follows:
July 26: Monmouth Town: Home 2.30pm
July 31: Merthyr Tydfil: Home 7.15pm
August 5: Tredegar Town: Away 7.15pm
August 9: Carmarthen Town: Away 2.30pm
August 12: Pontyclun Town: Away 6.30pm (TBC)
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