A bizarre own goal two minutes from time saw Llanelli suffer their first home defeat of the season. Two Llanelli players were sent off, goalkeeper Scott Coughlan who brought Sacha Walters down 30 yards from goal and Joe Clarke for a foul on Josh Webber. Carlos Indjai and Cai Owens returned after missing last week’s game but Alex Gammond was suspended after being sent off last week.

Llanelli attacked from the kick off but we defended well and cleared the ball however it was then played wide to James Loveridge but his shot hit the side netting. Our first attack saw Cai Owens and Elliot Thomas combine down the right and play it to Sacha Walters, he cut inside and from 25 yards tried to curl the ball inside the far post. The ball went inches the wrong side of the post with Coughlan beaten. Carl Evans did well to head a dangerous cross out for a corner as Llanelli built up the pressure. On 20 minutes a Lido attack broke down and Llanelli attacked but once again we defended well with several crosses and through balls blocked. Cai Owens put in a great cross on 27 minutes which a Llanelli defender just managed to touch away from Mark Jones. Elliot Thomas recovered the ball by the corner flag and he also put in a searching cross which was knocked behind for a corner. Then on 29 minutes a through ball for Sacha Walters saw Scott Coughlan charge out of his area and take Sacha out resulting in a straight red card., defender Lee Bevan took over in goal. We tested him with a few crosses, most of which he held We had our best chance of the half on 35 minutes, Elliot Thomas cut out a through ball, took it forward a couple of yards before playing a great ball for Mark Jones. Mark got into the area but as he went to shoot a great defensive tackle cleared the ball.

Lido started the second half with a couple of corners and Llanelli had some difficulty in clearing the ball but they were helped when Mark Jones was flagged offside. On the hour a James Loveridge shot took a deflection but Steve Cann reacted brilliantly to keep the ball out. On 66 minutes we went behind, Llanelli had a free kick 30 yards out and for once we failed to clear it. The ball rebounded to Rob Thomas who scored with a right footed shot. The lead didn’t last long however as two minutes later Sean Hanbury crossed the ball in and a poor defensive header set the ball up for Mark Jones to power a header past Bevan in the goal. Josh Webber replaced Sacha Walters on 73 minutes and his pace obviously worried the Llanelli defence as almost immediately he was fouled resulting inn Chris Thomas being sent off. From this point Llanelli’s main threat was going to come from dead ball situations and they won several free kicks which we cleared. Shane Williams replaced Andre Griffiths on 86 minutes and two minutes later we were ahead. The ball was played wide to Shane on the half way line, he went on a run down the touchline with three Llanelli players covering him. 15 yards from the goal line he crossed the ball low into the box and substitute Chris Thomas and keeper Lee Bevan got themselves in a tangle with the ball rebounding off Thomas into the empty net. Again, Llanelli won several free kicks in an effort to find an equaliser but the defence held firm with Josh Webber as an outlet to take the ball forward at speed. Deep into added on time Lee Trundle almost found an equaliser, he cut in from the right and on his favoured left foot shoot from just inside the area. Steve Cann did extremely well to dive low to his left to push the ball away, Llanelli picked up the loose ball but again good defending saw us clear and hold on for the three points much to the annoyance of the home support.

Lido side

Steve Cann – 2 Cai Owens – 3 Sean Hanbury – 4 Carl Evans – 5 Carlos Indjai – 6 Josh Doyle – 7 Elliot Thomas – 8 Liam McCreesh – 9 Mark Jones – 10 Andre Griffiths – 11 Sacha Walters

Subs – 12 Josh Webber for Sacha Walters 73 – 14 Taylor Evans – 15 Kieran Parsons – 16 Shane Williams for Andre Griffiths 86 -17 Leigh de Vulgt