Unlucky in defeat

We were unlucky not to come away from Haverfordwest with something. They are one of the title favourites, we played very well but Steve Hall in goal not only saved a penalty but made several critical saves during the game. Jack Todd in his first game back had a tremendous game despite the buffeting he received from the central defenders. Disappointingly he received no support from the officials.

Haverfordwest had the first chance of the game but shot tamely at Rory McCreesh, Jack Hurley picked up a loose ball in midfield and found Noah Daley in space but he lost the ball just as he was going to shoot. Jack Fleming played the ball down the left for Sacha Walters, he in turn found Noah Daley who back heeled the ball for Jack Todd but the Haverfordwest defence read the situation and cleared. Jack Fleming was again involved in our next attack and he found Jack Todd out wide, he played the ball in to Jack Hurley in space and it needed a good save from Hall to stop us taking the lead. Within a minute we were behind, Haverfordwest attacked down the right and played the ball in to the near post where Ben Fawcett drilled a right footed shot past Rory McCreesh for what at this time was an undeserved lead .We responded well and Noah Daley charged down a clearance, made 30 yards into the box but his shot was blocked by a defender and the ball was cleared. Jack Hurley again won the ball in midfield, played it wide to Sacha Walters, his cross was headed over the bar by Jack Todd. Again Jack Hurley was involved beating a defender in the penalty area and as Steve Hall came out he slipped the ball past him but a defender got back to clear his effort a couple of yards from goal. On the half hour Rory McCreesh easily gathered a shot and we again had the opportunity to level the scores on 31 minutes when Kieran Parsons squared the ball to an unmarked Sacha Walters but somehow he shot wide from 15 yards. 10 minutes before the interval we kept the ball in the Haverfordwest area for quite some time but we couldn’t quite create a clear opening and eventually the ball was cleared. An encouraging first half, all that was missing was a goal that our performance deserved.

Haverfordwest created an early opportunity in the second half but an inviting ball across the face of our goal ran out for a throw as no player cold make contact with the ball. We took a quick free kick to free up Jack Todd and he got into the area and squared the ball for Noah Daley, he took a touch but a defender nipped in to clear the ball. On 51 minutes Jack Todd felt the full force of a defender’s challenge, amazingly the referee took no action other than to give a drop ball after he saw Jack down in a heap. Haverfordwest then had a strong period in the game but a couple of shots were dealt with by Rory McCreesh. We responded and a Jack Hurley cross was just too high for Jack Todd. Another Haverfordwest attack saw the striker dink the ball over Rory McCreesh as he came out but the ball went wide of goal. On 74 minutes we were awarded a penalty when Steve Hall brought down Noah Daley. Hall redeemed himself by guessing correctly diving to his left to save Craig Jones’ penalty. On 83 minutes it looked as though the home side had secured the points when Dan Williams helped on a header from a corner. Steve Hall again excelled on 89 minutes diving to turn a corner behind for a second corner. Deep into added time we were awarded a second penalty, this time Hall could do nothing to save Sacha Walters’ penalty. There was still time for us to have had a third penalty but this time the ref ignored our appeals and with virtually the final incident of the game Steve Hall dived full length to his right to deny another goalbound header.

Lido side

Rory McCreesh  2 Kieran Parsons  3 Jack Fleming  4 Craig Jones  5 Lewis Holmes

6 Cai Owens  7 Noah Daley 8 Owen Williams  9 Jack Todd  10 Jack Hurley  11 Sacha Walters

Subs  12 Callum Lewis  14 Jack Underwood for Jack Todd 78  15 Jamie Karnsang  GK Gareth Couch