This was one of our poorest performances for some time. There were basic errors all over the pitch and it took a first goal for James Parry on 35 minutes to give us the lead. Caerau Ely bottom with 2 points and without a point away always looked as though they could get something out of the game but they let themselves down in the final third.

After 2 minutes Caerau broke down their right and played a cross into the box but there was no-one in support to score but it was an early warning. Jack Hurley with a great tackle won the ball and found Liam McCreesh but he shot wide from a favourable position. Two breaks involving Patrick Finneral, one saw his cross held by the keeper, the second his shot was headed away by a defender but was crossed back in to Liam McCreesh who again shot wide. On 20 minutes only a great tackle in our penalty area by James Parry denied the visitors a goal scoring opportunity. More Lido pressure saw Kaid Mohamed in on goal but he could only shoot at the keeper and the chance was lost. Caerau responded with a corner and another attack down the right after they cleared a Lido free kick. It was down to another fine piece of defending by James Parry to again deny Caerau who had grown in confidence as the game wore on. Brad Flay tried his luck on 33 minutes but his shot went just wide. Then on 35 minutes Lido took the lead, it followed a corner which was won by Patrick Finneral and the corner was perfectly placed for James Parry to net his first goal for the club and crown a fine first half for him. Right on half time we played ourselves into trouble at the back but the Caerau player could only head the ball over the bar.

We failed to heed that warning as Caerau equalised within the first minute of the restart. We lost the ball on the edge of their area and a long ball forward on the strong wind caught us out allowing Ben Vincent the chance to level the scores. We pushed forward looking to re-establish our lead and Kaid Mohamed combined well with Brad Flay before shooting wide. Sean Hanbury played the ball wide to Liam McCreesh whose cross was headed wide by Brad Flay. The next attack following a corner saw Sean Hanbury head the ball at the keeper. Caerau Ely broke from deep and Ben Symons defended solidly to clear the danger. Sacha Walters replaced Patrick Finneral on 67 minutes and 4 minutes later we regained the lead. Again, we played the ball wide and Sean Hanbury’s cross was over the defence for Liam McCreesh to run on to it and score from a couple of yards. From the kick off Kaid Mohamed played Noah Daley in but the keeper was out quickly to close him down and block his shot. Noah returned the compliment for Kaid with a great ball inside the defender but Kaid rushed his shot and it went way over the bar. We continued to push forward looking for a third to see out the game but Brad Flay shot over the bar then Noah Daley, Kaid Mohamed and Liam McCreesh all had half chances in the box but we couldn’t get in a clear shot. The series of misses continued with Sacha Walters and Kaid Mohamed failing to hit the target inside the last 10 minutes. In added on time we almost scored what would have been a howler for the keeper. He kicked the ball against Kaid Mohamed and the ball rebounded inches over the crossbar of the unguarded net.

No game next week and so it’s on to play the double header against Goytre United, the first at home on Saturday December 28th  at 2.30pm.