|
Afan Lide 2 - 0 Ton Pentre
MacWhirter Welsh Football League Division One
Wednesday 14th January 2009
Despite the result and the fact that they had not played for nearly a month due to the recent artic conditions, the Rhondda Bulldogs of Ton Pentre produced a fine display in their MacWhirter Welsh Football League Division One match against Afan Lido at the Marston’s Stadium.
Ton Pentre came into this match having lost several key players in the first two weeks of the January transfer window. Central defender and club captain Mark Crutch left Ynys Park for ambitious Division One outfit Ento Aberaman. Tough tackling Richard Stevens and striker Andrew Pearson transferred to Caerau and Corus Steel respectively, who play their football in the South Wales Amateur League. Meanwhile another defender, Scott Hayward, moved to Rhondda rivals Cambrian and Clydach Vale.
As a result the Bulldogs were down to the bare bones for this fixture with former Welsh youth international Ryan Morgan taking over captain duties and dropping into defence from his usual defensive midfield position.
The Bulldogs dominated the opening proceedings and within the first 15 minutes of the match they saw the ball cleared off the line by Afan Lido following a corner kick. The ball was sent in to the near post where Gareth Wharton cheekily headed the ball deeper into the box. Morgan met the knock on with a header but his effort was denied by a defender on the goal line.
Immediately after this the home team scored with their first effort on goal when Wharton conceded a free kick on the edge of the Ton box. Mika Chunuonsee hit a sweet ball that beat Kieron Blackburn hands down to give the Port Talbot based club the lead.
Five minutes later the Bulldogs thought they had equalised when the ball ended up in the back of the Afan Lido goal, however it was ruled out as the Referee’s Assistant had correctly spotted an offside offence. As the ball was sent forward into the box Andrew Hughes had beaten Leon Cosker to the ball heading it over the goalkeeper. Edwards had sneaked around the back of the defence to slot the ball into an empty net but due to Hughes’s knock-on he was offside.
Before the half time break Afan Lido gave themselves some breathing space when they grabbed a second goal through Daniel Lancey as Ton buckled under their mounting pressure.
Ton were forced to replace Morgan at half time due to illness leaving the Bulldogs with a defensive dilemma. Therefore they introduced Phil Clarke to play left wing back which pushed Shane Brewer up field to play behind the attackers with Hughes dropping into central defence.
Ton were lucky not to concede further goals in the second half as Afan Lido were constantly denied by Kieron Blackburn who pulled off some magnificent saves.
The Bulldogs almost gave themselves a lifeline in the last five minutes of the match when Alyn Jones’ shot from outside the box nearly found the top right hand corner of Cosker’s goal.
Despite the defeat Ton Pentre put in a good effort especially when taking into consideration the calibre of players that have unfortunately left the club.
Match report © Ton Pentre AFC Press
|
