The reserves led Garden Village 1-0 at half time with a fine strike by Craig Lewis. Village scored two second half goals but we were denied an equaliser after the keeper fumbled the ball and appeared to retrieve it from well behind the line. Unfortunately we don’t have goal line technology and the referee was unable to confirm the ball had crossed the line.  Despite the defeat this was an encouraging performance with some great football played by the side.

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

We bowed out of the League Cup against Third Division Pontyclun who thoroughly deserved their win. They bossed the game and our youngsters couldn’t make much impression against a quite physical side. With Owen Williams and Craig Jones missing from last week’s back three, Kieran Parsons and Carl Evans stepped in, neither has played much football this year.

In the first five minutes Luke Evans could have given us the lead but he chose to pass rather than shoot and the chance of an early lead to settle us down had gone. Pontyclun attacked down their left and they took the lead on 19 minutes when their winger outstripped Kieran and crossed for their striker to score with ease. Rory McCreesh made a fine save diving to his right to deny the home side a second and we had a decent spell after this with Luke Evans setting up a chance for Sacha Walters whose shot from the edge of the area was turned behind by the keeper for a corner.

Early in the second half Noah Daley had a run at goal and the keeper failed to hold his shot but was able to recover before anyone could take advantage. We went two down on 69 minutes when a hopeful cross wasn’t dealt with properly giving Pontyclun a second chance to cross the ball in and this time they made no mistake to double their lead. Pontyclun scored a third on 81 minutes and they coasted the final minutes to earn a place in round 3.

Lido side

Rory McCreesh  2 Luke Evans  3 Callum Lewis  4 Carl Evans  5 Lewis Holmes  6 Kieran Parsons  7 Jamie Karnsang  8 Josh Doyle  9 Noah Daley  10 Jack Hurley  11 Sacha Walters

Subs  12 Toby Link-Jones for Carl Evans 87  14 Morgan Freeman for Jamie Karnsang 56

15   Azeem Arshad for Noah Daley 79  GK Gareth Couch