The main priority in a cup game is to make sure you are in the hat for the next round and that’s what we achieved. However the performance was way below the level we reached the week before against Ammanford. We barely created a chance certainly in the first half.

Aberbargoed should have gone ahead after 3 minutes when they played Thomas Gameson in on goal but Steve Cann pulled off a fine save with his feet. In the early stages Aberbargoed played with plenty of confidence and looked dangerous when they attacked. In contrast the Lido were struggling to get any game time in Aberbargoed’s half. Another chance fell to Aberbargoed on 16 minutes when McDonnell seized on a Lido error and played the ball forward for Shane Brewer who forced Steve Cann to tip his shot over the bar. The bulk of the play was in the Lido half and the Lido’s passing was often wayward allowing Aberbargoed to push forward. Then on 25 minutes a rare Lido attack saw the ball played into the box and the referee awarded a penalty for hand ball. Kaid Mohamed stepped up to take it but Cael Jones saved his penalty, luckily for Kaid the ball rebounded to him and he calmly slotted the ball into the net to put the Lido one up. Aberbargoed continued to take the game to the Lido and were again unlucky when a shot from a free kick went just over the crossbar.

Aberbargoed started the second half where they ended the first, on the front foot and it was no surprise when they equalised on 50 minutes through Craig McDonnell who was proving a thorn in our side with this display. Ironically Lido could have been two up but Liam McCreesh’s shot was saved and within seconds McDonnell had scored. Credit Steve Cann who saved the shot but it had too much power and trickled into the net. This was no more than Aberbargoed deserved but it was the Lido who scored what turned out to be the winner on 59 minutes. Jack Hurley played a free kick into the box and Kaid Mohamed just beat Cael Jones to the ball to head it past him. Aberbargoed should have been back on level terms 5 minutes later, Steve Cann went racing out of his area but didn’t win the ball, it was played into the Lido area but Owen Thomas was unable to turn the ball into the empty net so another chance went begging. Neither side were able to gain an advantage as the game wore on, Noah Daley had come on from the bench and he easily beat his defender but Cael Jones saved his shot. Deep into added time Steve Cann turned a shot away for a corner, all the Aberbargoed players came up for the corner but the Lido defence cleared the ball. It was played wide left and an Aberbargoed player’s cross hit the crossbar and thankfully fell to a Lido defender who calmly knocked the ball forward with the sound of the final whistle seconds away.