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Wednesday 25th May
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Following the win at
Bryntirion just over a fortnight ago the lads returned to Bryntirion
Park to play League West winners Afan Lido. A good size crowd was in
attendance due to the occasion and the good weather. Fortunately the
distraction of Wales v Scotland playing in Ireland was not enough to
keep anyone away ! Town were led out by captain Ian "Ianto" Jones and featured a a number of youngsters who have comes through the successful Junior Section of the football club. Meanwhile Afan Lido featured a few first team regulars as they lined up facing the clubhouse in the first half. Lido started the better on a bumpy pitch and Corey Thomas and Conor Harris started to cause concern for what seemed to be a nervy Town defence early on. Meanwhile up front Town's Liam James was starting to control the ball well bringing Tom Blizzard and Tom Blackburn into the game on the flanks. It was intriguing stuff but albeit a bit scrappy. It took a bit of class to break the deadlock and this came from Town's Tom Blackburn after 23 minutes who picked up the ball just outside the Lido box and fired home an unstoppable shot as the Lido players complained about an injury to one of their players. The game had continued for just seconds after the Lido player had been hit in the face so they could not have expected referee Adrian Harries to blow up at that stage. On 32 minutes youngster Josh Dorward hit the cross bar with a shot and the advancing Liam James's shot on the rebound was well saved by the Lido keeper. On 35 minutes Lido were back in it, and at this stage deservedly so, as Conor Harris slotted home a simple effort after a mix up in the Town defence. Was Corey Thomas offside though ? ..... probably but none of the officials saw this. Town responded well to this setback and after 41 minutes took the lead again when Tom Blackburn went down the right and unleashed an unstoppable shot across the goal to give Town a 2-1 lead at the break. Just 5 minutes after half time an incident in the Town area resulted in Gareth Govier having to leave the field with a injured leg after what looked like a stamp from a Lido player which was missed by the referee. From this point the game became scrappy again with both sides failing to create any real chances. This changed after 78 minutes when Liam James tested the Lido keeper from close range and from the resulting corner, taken by Tom Blackburn corner which Stuart Hoskins met with great cross goal header, man of the match Josh Dorward was on hand to put Town 3-1 up with just 10 minutes to go. A further 2 minutes later and Town were home and dry, or so we thought, when a Liam James cross was headed home by Liam Griffiths. This sparked massive celebrations in the Town dugout and amongst our supporters which was slightly tempered by an improved performance from Lido which saw them sneak a goal back through Cerith Williams on 90 minutes. But it was Town's night and as referee Adrian Harries's whistle blew for the end of the game the celebrations commenced. This was a great performance by Dan Thomas's team who deserved the win on the night and for their efforts all season. The game was well managed by referee Adrian Harries and his assistants Gareth Dowdeswell and Paul Meredith. The fourth official was David Morgan. Amongst the photos below (taken by Phil Govier) we show Ianto receiving the cup and Josh Dorward his man of the match trophy. A video of the game will be available on the club's media website (see link above) Pontardawe Town : Dean Morgan, Gareth Govier, Liam Roberts, Craig Davies, Elliot Thomas, Ian Jones (C), Josh Dorward, Liam Griffiths, Liam James, Tom Blackburn, Tom Blizzard - - - Subs : Stuart Hoskins (for Tom Blizzard), Gareth Lewis (for Liam James), Trystan Edwards (not used), Christian Evans (for Gareth Govier), Arwel Rees Manager - Dan
Thomas / Coaches - Marcus Evans and Jason Dykes |
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