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Ton Pentre 1 - 2 Goytre Utd
Nathaniel Car Sales League Round Three
Saturday 6th December 2008
Ton Pentre will probably never have a better chance of beating Goytre United than they did in this Nathaniel Car Sales League Round Three match between the two teams.
The current League Cup holders were forced to play most of this tie with ten men when Jon Meacock was sent off five minutes before half time for violent conduct. The Goyt’s remained well organised for the second half and snatched victory inside the last ten minutes.
It’s becoming a familiar story for the Rhondda Bulldogs with Ton Pentre being made to rue missed chances yet again despite their good performance.
The opening two minutes of the match highlighted this fact when Ton nearly took the lead when Andrew Pearson’s challenge with a defender for the ball saw it break to Ryan Shugar. With a clear view of the goal Shugar sadly saw his powerful strike stabbed wide of the goal post.
The action then reached the other end of Ynys Park seconds later and Goytre made their chance count when from 20 yards out Johnny Walkley took an unchallenged shot at goal. His speculative effort caught Keiron Blackburn off guard with the Ton goalkeeper glued to the spot in the centre of his goalmouth.
Although they were a goal down the Bulldogs reaction was excellent as they looked to find a way through the visitors defence.
They did so in the 12th minute and were presented with several excellent chances during a penalty area scramble but no Ton player was able to get enough on the ball to get it over the line for a goal.
Ton were beginning to dominate the first half and their pressure resulted in a 16th minute goal when Chris Jones did well to run up the left channel before cutting inside to the Goytre box. He sent a super pass into the danger zone and after a couple of blocked shots Andrew Hughes finally fired the ball into the net for the Bulldogs to draw level.
With five minutes of the half remaining Jones was again in the thick of the action when he beat goalkeeper Chris Curtis to the ball on the edge of the area. He nodded the ball around Curtis, who was left helpless, and looked to have an easy finish but Jon Meacock caught up with him. Jones took one touch too many which allowed Meacock to get a toe to the ball and knock it away from goal. Jones was forced into making a sliding tackle that Meacock took exception to and so he picked up the ball and drop kicked it with force into Jones on the ground. This left Referee Kevin Morgan with no option but to send the Goytre defender off the field of play.
With their backs to the wall in the second half Goytre reacted well and remained organised and somehow managed to survive several scares.
Ton striker Chris Jones battled well with a defender on the hour mark to win possession of the ball. He sent a great cross from the right into the box but no Ton player was able to get on the end of it.
At times Goytre never looked like they had a man less than the Bulldogs as they continued to cause problems for the home team. In the 73rd minute Kieron Blackburn denied Goytre on two consecutive occasions when he first pulled off an excellent block and then from the resulting corner was forced into making a stunning point-blank save as he dived to his left to push the ball away from danger with his outstretched left hand.
With ten minutes of the ninety remaining Goytre were lucky to still be level when Lloyd Toghill, Shane Brewer and Chris Jones were all unable to hit the net in a goalmouth melee. Somehow the Goytre goalkeeper managed to get a grip on the ball in amongst all the bodies in front of him.
Ton were made to regret their missed chances when the ten men of Goytre scored moments later as they outnumbered the Ton defence in attack. Blackburn did well to save their first shot but he was left helpless against the two players who were waiting for the rebound. With the ball falling at his feet, Robbie Walters secured Goytre’s passage to the next round.
Ton were left feeling dejected as Goytre’s hoodoo over the Bulldogs continued.
It’s back to Welsh League Division One action on Saturday 13th December when Ton visit Cold Bath Road for a match with Caerleon. Kick off is at 2.00pm. The Bulldogs then play on Wednesday 17th December at Ynys Park against Bryntirion Athletic (7.30pm).
Match report © Ton Pentre AFC Press
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