Afan Lido Ladies defeated Aberaman 4-0 this afternoon to complete the double over them. Jenna Clark scored her first goal for the club to give the Girls a 13th minute lead. Zoe Parfitt doubled the lead on 29 minutes and the result was settled by Georgia Thorne who netted in the 62nd and 67th minutes to secure the win.

After a disappointing 0-0 draw against Llanelli last time out the Reserves travelled to Cwmamman United on Saturday. They attacked from the off with Michael McCalmon racing down the right wing but his cross was too long but the ball went out for a corner which was taken short to Chris Jones but his cross was cleared. The ball was played back in and Lido had yet another corner which Michael McCalmon headed goalwards forcing the Cwmamman keeper into a fine save. From the clearance the ball was played over the Lido defence but the Cwmamman player snatched at the shot and the ball went well wide. From the goal kick Lido won yet another corner and this led to the opening goal. Chris Jones sent in a deep cross which went over the keeper and Callum Dougal bundled the ball into the net for his first goal for the club. Cwmamman were awarded a free kick on half way which we headed out only for a Cwmamman player to attempt a first time shot which almost hit the corner flag! A bobbly pitch was making control and passing difficult with both sides resorting to the long ball. One such ball found Owen Williams wide left in space, he spotted the keeper way off his line and tried to lob him, unluckily for Owen the ball went inches wide of the empty goal. Luke McDonald beat several players in a good run down the right, his cross was perfect for Liam Griffiths but he wasn’t able to keep his header down and the ball went over the crossbar. Liam then fired wide following a Michael McCalmon cross. The second was all down to Sean Hanbury, a Cwmamman defender failed to control and clear the ball some 40 yards out Sean seeing the keeper on the penalty spot area chipped him to double the score.  Cwmamman pushed forward at the start of the second half winning a free kick but Gareth Couch was out to punch the ball away. Cwmamman pressured the Lido defence with a string of corners but Lido’s third goal was scored on 71 minutes and it followed yet another Cwmamman corner which was cleared to Chris Jones, he beat the defender and squared the ball for Sean Hanbury to score his second. We then had a goal disallowed for offside when the ball was played back to Sean for him to score and we were also penalised several times with some odd offside decisions. Play in the final twenty minutes was disrupted by numerous petty free kicks but Sean Hanbury netted his third in added time when he hit a rocket from all of 30 yards which gave the keeper no chance.

The best crowd in some time saw Lido battle it out with top of the table Llantwit Major on a bitterly cold night. Lido created the first opportunity when Michael McCalmon crossed for Sean Hanbury but he couldn’t keep his shot down. Minutes later he hit the crossbar, he received the ball from a Chris Jones free kick and his shot rattled the crossbar and rebounded to McCalmon who tried to chip the keeper but he saved well. Llantwit responded with Tom Walters beating the offside trap and firing in a shot which Aaron Jones did brilliantly to keep the point blank shot out.  Walters was again in the thick of the action minutes later beating a couple of defenders and rounding Aaron Jones but his shot was cleared off the line by Carlos Indjai. On 37 minutes it was Llantwit’s turn to hit the bar Josh Jones fired in a shot which Aaron Jones blocked and the ball ran loose, Josh Jones was first to react but his shot hit the crossbar. The first half flew by with plenty of open play and both sides hitting the crossbar but it remained goalless at the break.

Lido had the edge in the opening minutes of the second half without creating any real opportunities then on 58 minutes Llantwit took the lead. Conner Goldsworthy netted with a volley from just inside the box. Ben Keen tried his luck with a shot from distance but he couldn’t keep it down. Llantwit almost doubled their lead on 69 minutes when Cripps volleyed the ball from outside the area and it sailed just wide of the goal. Goal scorer  Goldsworthy tried his luck with a long range effort which went narrowly wide as the visitors looked for a second to seal the result. Llantwit pushed forward in the final minutes putting the Lido under pressure but they defended well to deny the visitors a second.

A goal in each half saw us successfully claim the three points at Undy Athletic. Lido played with a breeze at their backs in the first half and we tended to overhit a number of passes which ran out for goal kicks. Also, a number of last ditch tackles and interceptions kept the score sheet blank until we finally broke through with an attack down the left with the ball being crossed to the unmarked Sean Hanbury who had all the time in the world to pick his spot to put us ahead. We were generally the better side but we were unable to find another breakthrough before the interval. Undy found the same problem after the break with a number of promising attacks being thwarted by overhit passes. On 50 minutes Undy were dealt a blow when defender P Clayton was sent off for two yellow cards. Worse was to follow on 59 minutes when another defender C Parry was shown a second yellow leaving Undy with 9 players. Liam Griffiths then added a second for Lido on 63 minutes when a Sean Hanbury pass to the far post found Liam in space. Despite our numerical advantage we weren’t able to add to our score, often taking the wrong option. Undy had their moments but failed miserably in front of goal, missing several gilt edged chances.  To their credit they never gave up but Lido saw out the game to earn 3 valuable points in the fight to stay up in Cymru South.