|
Ton Pentre 3 - 1 Caldicot Town
MacWhirter Welsh Football League Division One
Saturday 27th September 2008
Ton Pentre secured a deserved win as strikes from Andrew Hughes, Lloyd Toghill and Alyn Jones helped to knock Caldicot Town off the top of the Welsh League Division One table.
The Gwent outfit had come to Ynys Park on the back of four successive league wins that had helped propel them to the summit. At the beginning of this match it looked like this winning momentum was still in force as Caldicot took a 34 second lead following a calamitous blunder in the Ton Pentre defence. However, the goal didn’t unsettle the Bulldogs who were quick to concentrate on the task ahead and they turned it all around by the half time interval.
In their previous match Ton Pentre had goalkeeper Keiron Blackburn sent off which meant the Ynys Park outfit were forced to call upon the recently retired Marty Ellacott, who had signed on just in case of such an emergency. It wasn’t the best of starts for Ton’s former stalwart goalie as he was left picking the ball out of his net following Jason Thorn’s tap in. His chance materialised when Mark Crutch accidentally lifted the ball over Ellacott due to a bobble inside the Ton box. The ball fell into Thorn’s path via the cross bar.
Ton Pentre drew level inside ten minutes when Andrew Hughes ran onto a cross that was sent into the Caldicot box. The Bulldogs midfielder beat goalkeeper James Smallcombe to the ball on the edge of the six-yard box and headed in a well earned goal for his efforts.
Andrew Pearson was running tirelessly for Ton and the striker was causing his opponents much toil all match. On 16 minutes he crossed into the box where he found Steve Edwards who connected well with the ball but saw his strike saved competently by Smallcombe.
As the first half approached its midway point Ton were awarded a free kick on the edge of the Caldicot box. Pearson’s kick was hit sweetly and looked likely to give the Bulldogs the lead, but Smallcombe produced an outstanding display of agility to dive and push the ball away from the top right hand corner of the goal.
With ten minutes of the first half remaining Ton were forced into making a substitution when Chris Jones appeared to have picked up an injury. Lloyd Toghill was brought on and took up a position in central midfield as Alyn Jones was pushed further forward in the Ton attack line.
In first half injury time Pearson was in possession of the ball deep inside the Caldicot half of the pitch. As he released the ball to Alyn Jones a defender came in from behind and clattered him to the ground. Referee Wayne Stephens signalled an advantage that allowed the Ton move to continue. Jones played a masterful through ball for Toghill who slotted in Ton Pentre’s second goal of the match. This wonderful passage of play would not have been possible were it not for the superb refereeing.
The opening exchanges of the second half were well balanced as both teams had golden opportunities to score before the match had reached the hour mark.
An Andrew Hughes corner provided Ton Captain Crutch with a superb chance when he was left unattended in the six-yard box but unfortunately his headed shot went over the bar.
From a wide right position Gareth Cullimore had a pop at goal for the visitors that looped over Ellacott. Just as it looked as though the strike was going to beat the Ton keeper, Ellacott jumped at the last moment to palm the ball away for a great save.
In the 66th minute Caldicot’s Peter Little and Ton’s Pearson had a disagreement with each other on the halfway line following a challenge that was deemed within the laws of the game by the Referee. Less than a minute later Pearson was again in possession of the ball out on the right. Little made a revenge tackle on the Ton striker throwing himself through the air to commit a horrendous challenge directly in front of both the Referee and his Assistant. Stephens was straight to his pocket to find his red card and Little was dismissed for serious foul play. Luckily for Pearson he was unharmed and able to continue.
On 83 minutes Ton secured the win when Toghill supplied Alyn Jones with a pass to run onto. Cutting in from the left Jones had bypassed the Caldicot defence and was one-on-one with Smallcombe. His first strike was saved point blank but the keeper was unable to hold onto the ball and Jones made sure that his second attempt ended up in the back of the goal.
The win sees Ton in sixth position in the league table with 10 points from four matches. Goytre United replaced Caldicot at the top and have 14 points from six matches.
With the Bulldogs out of the Welsh Cup they have re-arranged a league match for 4th October 2008 with Barry Town visiting Ynys Park for a 2.30pm kick off.
* There are still some tickets left for An Evening with Mickey Thomas in the Ton Pentre AFC Social Club on Friday 10th October 2008. Tickets for the event cost £30 that includes a dinner on the evening. If you wish to purchase a ticket or a table please contact Darren Jones on 07775 558548 or email Darren@tonpentreafc.com. Tickets can also be purchased online at tonpentreafc.com.
Match report © Ton Pentre AFC Press
|
