Llandysul answer all the questions.
Costcutter Division 1
League leaders Llandysul produced their most important match winning performance of the season to see off a Cardigan Town team that posed them plenty of problems but who lacked firepower up front.
Manager Chris ‘Coco’ Davies who singled out Town teen Tomos Toft for a prominent display said he was delighted to come through this tricky game unscathed and said :”For me this game against Cardigan was the most important match since I have been at the club as I had several players missing and we were up against some talented footballers.
“I asked questions of my team and they came up with the answers again with our eighth clean sheet of the season so far, and that is some going.”
Indeed it is and the Llandysul players who were asked to go out and show that they were good enough did just that and despite some enterprising play by the young Magpies the hosts were very worthy winners.
The game started off with the reigning champions settling quickly and having more possession than their opponents but they couldn’t quite create anything clear cut, whereas Llandysul always looked dangerous on the break with Scott Thomas & Simon Davies causing problems with their pace.
A goal eventually arrived when after 26 minutes the ball got played out wide to Matthew Newbold and he crossed for Lewis Jones make it 1-0 at the second attempt after his header had been initially saved by Carl Woodhouse. Llandysul added to this on 33 minutes when Scott Thomas received the ball from a throw in and turned sharply to beat three defenders before unleashing a thunderbolt with his left foot from outside the box which flew into the top corner off the crossbar. Three minutes later the same player slotted home his second to put the leaders well ahead.
Cardigan came out positively after the break and created a few chances through Tomos Toft in the difficult greasy conditions and finally managed to get the ball into the net but it was ruled offside and Llandysul held out for what was a comfortable win.
Speaking after the game experienced Cardigan player Steve Blackford who was outstanding at the back alongside skipper Iestyn Evans praised some of the young Magpies and said:” Tomos and Ewan Jones stood out for us and battled hard and I must give credit to Tom Gardiner, Josh Mellor and Harry Billingham who are now regulars due to the small squad that we have.
“It is a big ask at their young age but they are acquitting themselves well.
“But credit to Llandysul as they are a good side and more importantly they have the squad needed to win some silverware this season.”
Crannog who were without regulars in the form of Huw Reed, Chris Welch and Gary Davies managed to come away from Cae Sgwar with a comfortable win against a very youthful Aberaeron Reserves team.
Both sides started well and it was even for long periods with Aeron trying to hit the visitors on the counter attack but it was Crannog who opened the scoring after half an hour, when Daniel Robinson, making his first start for the first team rounded off some good movement with a decent finish that the keeper half parried but the ball sneaked over the line.
The black and ambers hit back almost immediately, after the visitors failed to clear a free kick pumped into the Crannog box and just as Aberaeron were growing in confidence former seagulls player Rhydian Roberts, popped up at the far post to put his team 2-1 up.
With conditions deteriorating the second half was very tricky and with Crannog dominating the middle of the park through Roberts, Rhys Davies and Dylan Davies they managed to grab another goal when Roberts netted after he steered home a pin point free kick by Rhys Davies.
The hosts heads dropped a bit and despite the best efforts of their keeper who pulled off a string of super saves, he couldn’t stop a ferocious drive by George Colven ending up in the back of the net to seal a well deserved 4-1 win.
Cilgerran Rovers made the long journey to Llanddewi Brefi pay dividends after they came away with the three points following a 3-1 success. This battle between last season’s two promoted sides went in favour of the visitors mainly because they were far more clinical in their finishing.
It was Rovers who broke the deadlock with pacey front runner Tommy Furbear running onto a through ball and he slotted confidently past the advancing Stars keeper. Dan Bellis increased the visitors lead following some good work from the Rovers midfield which set him up to score with a neat finish and it was almost game over just before the break when Louis Harding was put through by Bellis and the talented midfielder beat his market and fired low into the bottom corner for 3-0.
A classic game of two halves followed as the Stars smarting from a half time wake up call got back in the game in the first seconds after the interval when Ifan Thonas was upended in the box. He coolly got up to beat Dafydd Nicholls from the spot. With less than five minutes of the half gone, Ryan Hurrell was unceremoniously upended once again in the box and Ifan Thomas stepped up for the second time, but this time Nicholls saved magnificently at full stretch low to his right. For the rest of the match it was virtually one way traffic as Nicholls made several fine saves-Marc Jones hit the post, Ifan Thomas glanced his header wide of an open goal and several other half chances went begging as Cilgerran hung on for three points to keep their impressive return to the first division going, while the Stars will play worse but still get something from games if they perform like they did in the second half.
St Dogmaels, who have lost the services of player manager Chris Thomas, who has stepped down through work commitments, looked to be heading for victory at Felinfach when they were 1-0 up on the hour but the milkmen hit back and the game ended all square with the hosts left to rue a late penalty miss.
The Saints went ahead when Rhys Jones slotted home from the penalty spot midway through the first half and one which was hotly disputed by the home side, but they came back strongly and rode out the storm and on the hour Owain Evans picked up the ball from the halfway and carried it to the edge of the Saints box and unleashed a powerful strike which beat saints keeper Aaron Walters.
The visitors hit back with a goal from Marcus Dean but Felin came back again and they were eventually rewarded when Lee Forrester slipped the ball into the path of Rhys James who tucked the ball away past the oncoming keeper to make it 2-2.
The home side piled on the pressure late on and pinned the visitors back as Felin went for the win and with just a few minutes to go, substitute Rhys Davies latched on to a through ball but was taken out by the on-rushing keeper and Lee Forrester was presented with a chance to win the game for his team. However Saints keeper Walters got a strong hand to his powerful effort and pulled off a tremendous save to keep the scores level and earn his team a share of the points.
In division two Maesglas edged out Pencader at Maes Radley when Aaron Hopkins scored the winner in what was a superb match and an excellent advert for local football.
Maesglas, who for the majority of the game were under intense pressure went ahead when Dan Jones nodded the ball home from a Richard Evans free kick. Darren Williams then volleyed home from 15 yards to increase the lead after the Kites failed to clear a corner from Kieran Harman.
Pencader upped the tempo at the start of the second half and pulled themselves back into the game when Zac Morgan fired home a penalty after Blues defender Luke Griffiths had fouled in the box. A few minutes later Maesglas conceded another when visiting forward Daniel Jones slotted home after a good team move.
It was all Pencader at this stage and after some clumsy tackling the away side took the lead when Craig Morgan curled his free kick out of the reach of Blues keeper Graham Keen and at 3-2 up Pencader were looking as if they had more goals in them but Billy Myers struck for the hosts a few minutes later to level at 3-3. But there was a dramatic ending in the final minutes when Blues player Aaron Hopkins latched on to a long ball over the top and rounded the keeper to slot the ball into the empty net to seal a win for the new league leaders.
