Toby Link-Jones scored his first goals for the Youth with Luke Evans and Morgan Freeman also on target in a 4-1 win over Bridgend Street. Once again, the weather played its part with a strong wind blowing off the sea and on times some torrential showers making it a difficult game in which to play. We played against the wind in the first half but coped quite well taking the lead on 22 minutes when Toby Link-Jones side-footed in a Jack Fleming corner. A minute later and Luke Evans headed in at the far post from a Jack Fleming free kick. Any idea we had that this was going to be easy was immediately knocked on the head when Bridgend Street pulled a goal back. It stayed like that until 71 minutes, as usual playing with the wind was no real advantage with passes being overhit. Then Morgan Freeman found a bit of space and his 20 yard shot gave the keeper no chance. A corner led to our fourth on 79 minutes, it was headed back out to Jack Fleming and his cross to the far post was met by Toby Link-Jones for his second. We safely saw out the game with no major concerns to keep our run going

The Development side earned a fine win at Llantwit Major by 3 goals to 2. They created several chances in the early stages with Toby Link-Jones, Connor Thomas and Morgan Freeman all going close in the first 15 minutes. Jonathan Triggs then hit the crossbar with a shot from outside the area. Despite all our positive play we went behind on 24 minutes when a left wing cross was headed in at the far post. Despite this setback the lads kept plugging away and earned their reward on 35 minutes when another Jonathan Triggs shot hit the crossbar but Kieran Howells followed up to head the ball into the empty net. From the kick off a fine run down the left by Morgan Freeman saw him play Jonathan Triggs in but his shot went just wide from outside the area.

We took the lead on 47 minutes, Kieran Parsons intercepted a crossfield pass and ran forward before shooting from the edge of the area. Llantwit Major equalised on 59 minutes following a corner. They appealed for a handball and our players hesitated allowing them the room to score. Play swung from end to end with Morgan Freeman and Connor Thomas working hard up front and they could have had a couple of goals but the final ball just wasn’t right. We regained the lead on 70 minutes when Morgan Freeman was pushed in the penalty area and he netted to the keeper’s left. With Llantwit Major pushing forward looking for an equaliser they left gaps at the back but despite some great work we just couldn’t score a fourth. However a very encouraging display with a number of youngsters impressing.

We welcomed back Mark Jones and he responded by volleying in the opening goal on 5 minutes.  Chris Hartland cut in on the byeline and delivered a perfect cross for Jonah. We didn’t push on from this allowing Taffs Well to have a lot of possession. However they didn’t make the best use of it until they hit the crossbar from a free kick on 25 minutes and then on 27 minutes equalised with a far post header. Mark Jones shot just wide on 32 minutes in our next meaningful attack but then on 40 minutes he restored the lead firing in at the far post following a Sacha Walters free kick.

The early stages of the second half imitated the first with Taffs Well again having an abundance of possession. On 66 minutes we had the chance to make the game safe when we were awarded a penalty but Liam McCreesh’s kick lacked power and was easily saved by the keeper. Three minutes later it was almost game over, Jack Hurley played a great ball inside the defender for Chris Hartland to run on and drill a left footed shot past the keeper from just inside the area. Jack Hurley was unlucky on 75 minutes when his first time shot hit the keeper and was cleared. We almost gave Taffs a lifeline on 89 minutes when we conceded a penalty but Rory McCreesh dived to his left to make a fine save. In added on time Mark Jones completed his hat trick when he was played through and he slipped the ball past the keeper.

Rory McCreesh  2 Craig Jones  3 James Parry  4 Alex Gammond  5 Lewis Holmes  6 Jack Hurley  7 Liam McCreesh  8 Josh Webber  9 Mark Jones 10 Chris Hartland  11 Sacha Walters

Subs  12 Cai Owens  14 Jack Underwood  15 Ben Thomas for Josh Webber 66  16 Jack Fleming for Sacha Walters 81 17 Luke Evans

Our development side consisting of several youth players who had played on Friday night lost 0-4 to Trefelin on Saturday. The scoreline flattered the visitors, we played some good football but lacked a cutting edge up front. Of the four goals three could be put down to our lack of experience, hopefully the players will learn from this and we’ll see an improvement as the season progresses.

The youth won 5-1 at Risca United on Friday. Morgan Freeman gave us an early lead and within minutes the lead was doubled thanks to an own goal. Luke Evans made it 3-0 on 25 minutes before Morgan Freeman scored his second and the team’s fourth. Risca pulled a goal back right on half time but any prospect of them getting back into the game ended when Connor Thomas scored a fifth midway through the half.

This was the youth’s poorest performance of the season. Their passing was poor and they failed to put the Ferry defence under any sustained pressure. The Ferry visibly gained in confidence as the game wore on. Noah Daley gave us the lead on 31 minutes with a left footed shot only for us to conceded a penalty 2 minutes later. We made a couple of substitutions and positional changes during the second half and started to put the Ferry under increased pressure but we still couldn’t find a clear-cut opening. With 5 minutes to go Azeem Arshad beat a defender, went around the keeper and scored from a wide angle. In the final minutes we kept the ball much better and held on for the three points.

Cwmbran Celtic must hate playing at the Marston’s Stadium. They suffered a 4-0 loss on Saturday with Jack Todd opening the scoring before second half goals from the returning Chris Hartland (2), and Josh Webber saw us to an emphatic win. Their last two visits saw them lose 5-0 and 4-0 so this must rank as their least favourite ground in the league.