We again took a young side for this pre-season friendly. We took an early lead but ended the half 4-1 down, a spirited performance in the second half resulted in just a single goal minutes from time. Once again the youngsters gave a good account of themselves with lots of promise ahead of the season.

A young side gave an excellent account of themselves despite the score. Adam Llewellyn scored our goal in the first period and had another effort cleared off the line. We were 3-1 down after the first 30 minutes but as the youngsters adjusted to the extra pace and physicality they settled down and showed a lot of promise.

We lost this game with about 70 seconds remaining when in a carbon copy of the first goal Lewis Sommers powered in a header to give Aaron Jones no chance. There were a lot of positives to take from the game, Aaron Jones made his league debut in goal and inspired confidence. Luke Evans also made his league debut in midfield and he took a while to get into the pace of the game but afterwards he had an outstanding debut, spraying some superb passes and breaking up the Goytre midfield possession. Owen Williams filled in at full back and had a good game in a strange position while Jack Fleming at left back making only his second league start had his best game for some time. The returning Josh Webber was a constant threat to the home defence and was unlucky not to score.

There were two big calls in the game and both went against us, Sacha Walters appeared to be on the end of an elbow just before half time but instead of the expected red card the offender received a yellow. Secondly a goalbound shot hit the arm of a Goytre defender in the area, the ball had travelled some distance and the arm was high but this time the ref waved play on. Sacha Walters scored our goal on 23 minutes when following a Lido free kick the ball was played in to Carlos Indjai but he got this feet in a tangle and the ball fell to Sacha who made no mistake from close range. Goytre’s equaliser on 35 minutes came from a long corner which found Lewis Sommers in space and he powered the header in. The second half was fairly even, we played some nice football on the ground while generally Goytre lumped the ball forward for Sommers. In the closing stages they put on a lot of pressure and each time we cleared the ball it found a Goytre player so the pressure continued. It looked as if we had our point when deep into added time they won two successive corners and from the second they got the goal. A disappointing end for us but there were some promising performances from some of the younger players who are new to this level.

Several players were unavailable for this game  against the team at the bottom of the table. Ynys Park is never an easy place to go and with Ton looking for a first home win of the season we needed to be up for the game. We had an early goal disallowed for offside before Andre Griffiths scored against his former side to give us an interval lead. Sean Hanbury made it 2 early in the second half and we looked relatively comfortable but a poor goal kick by Steve Cann saw Ton score and give them some belief. Spurred on by the bench they continually hit long balls in the direction of the penalty area which Cai Owens in particular dealt with. However they had their reward when for once we failed to deal with a free kick and they levelled with a shot that should have been cleared. On now to Wednesday and the final game of a long long season.

Credit to Taffs Well who gave the players a guard of honour as the entered the field. In weather conditions more akin to winter than summer both sides contributed to a competitive match despite the final score. We took the lead on 15 minutes, centre back Luke Evans played a great diagonal ball down the left. Jack Fleming hit a first time cross in for Jack Hurley. He immediately had the ball under control, beat a couple of defenders, took it around the keeper and slotted the ball into the net. Sean Hanbury made it 2-0 on 23 minutes when his  header from a Jack Hurley corner was too powerful for the keeper to save. Taffs Well came out in the second half and put us under a lot of pressure but generally their final ball let them down. They did however pull a goal back on 63 minutes when their centre back powered in a header from a corner. Spurred on by this they pushed forward looking for the equaliser and left gaps at the back but we couldn’t take advantage. Then on 83 minutes Connor Thomas dispossed a defender near the corner flag passed it inside to Sean Hanbury who played it forward to Jack Hurley. He took the ball in his stride and as the keeper closed him down he dinked it over him for another quality goal. Jake Simeone rounded things off when from just outside the area he fired a right footed shot over the keeper. The end of a great season for these lads only losing 2 matches, the league table will tell you in 18 games but 5 teams withdrew and none of those had beaten us. The encouraging thing is a number of these players are eligible again next season.

The under 19’s beat Ton Pentre tonight to clinch the championship. Jake Simeone gave us the lead on 53 minutes. Ton equalised with a penalty on 67 minutes. With 5 minutes to Sean Hanbury scored from the penalty spot to seal the win and the championship.