All square in Aberdare

On a glue pot of a pitch where good football went out of the window we still created more than enough chances to have won the game but two contentious penalties one of which they scored saved a point for the home side

We should have had the ideal start, a poor pass from a Pontypridd defender set up Kaid Mohamed who was in acres of space. He got into the penalty area but chose to shoot early and it was an easy save for the keeper. Alex Gammond was on the end of a Lido free kick but the ball hit him and went through to the keeper. Play was end to end but not in a good way because of the pitch the ball spent a lot of time in the air. On 20 minutes we cleared a Pontypridd corner up to Noah Daley, he squared the ball to Brad Flay whose shot was blocked by a defender. Then on 23 minutes the ref awarded a penalty, we were clearing a corner and the ball hit Kaid Mohamed. No one appealed for a penalty but they weren’t able to take advantage of this gift and Steve Cann dived to his right to push the ball away for another corner. On 42 minutes we played the ball forward to Noah Daley, he held the ball waiting for support. Kaid Mohamed couldn’t quite gain possession but Brad Flay did and he shot wide from the edge of the box.

Pontypridd should have taken the lead on 49 minutes when they attacked down the right and crossed the ball into the box. Somehow from only a couple of yards the striker could only hit Steve Cann’s legs and we cleared the ball. Patrick Finneral was unlucky not to score on 53 minutes. He received the ball 40 yards out and headed for goal but the keeper guessed right and saved his shot. We took the lead on 69 minutes, Alex Gammond played the ball wide for Noah Daley who played the ball into the box for Brad Flay to shoot and score from 15 yards. In a similar incident to Pontypridd’s penalty we looked to have one but the referee thought otherwise, to rub salt into the wound Pontypridd go down the other end and are awarded another penalty. This time they scored although Steve Cann again went the right way but the ball went under his body into the net. To add further insult Alex Gammond received a second yellow card for his protest. Despite being a man down we looked the more likely to win the game but Kaid Mohamed must have left his scoring boots at home! With 10 minutes to go he was set up by Noah Daley but from 15 yards fired his shot over the bar. Then following a Lido corner which had been cleared to Ben Symons we again found Kaid in the box but again from a good position he shot wide. A late Pontypridd corner gave them some hope but we finished on the front foot looking for a late winner. A disappointing result however where despite creating some good chances we failed to hit the target and add to the one goal