LAMPETER TITLE HOPES DASHED

Costcutter Ceredigion League Division One

Lampeter Town who had not lost a league game since the opening day of the season were blown away by Cardigan Town at the King George Field and with it probably went their title aspirations as leaders Llandysul now appear to have an unassailable lead.

Luke Lovell and his men were just not at the races and were three goals down after fifteen minutes with Ewan Jones, Iestyn Evans and John Lumb all scoring from free kicks and Lovell did not mince his words when describing his teams performance and said:

“We were an absolutely shambles and it was a pathetic performance and no excuses as Cardigan were better than us in every single area.

“We gave away three stupid free kicks in 15 mins and ended up 3-0 down and you can’t afford to do that against good sides and from then on, it was always going to be a mountain to climb.

“Cardigan still seem to be our bogey team!”

Cardigan started very brightly on a pitch that was in a decent condition considering the deluge of rain that had fallen for most of the day before and they went ahead when a long range free kick from sweeper Steve Blackford was headed home by an unmarked Ewan Jones. Town went two up soon afterwards when skipper Iestyn Evans who was outstanding throughout fired home from just outside the penalty box from a free kick.

Further woe was to follow for the visitors when John Lumb scrambled the ball home, again from a free kick into the visitors box to make it 3-0 and there appeared to be no way back for the north road men. They did though rally and started to play more through their midfield of Gethin Davies and Arwel Thomas but the latter hobbled off with an injury and despite a very well taken goal from Jason Jones the Lampeter challenge fizzled out in the second half and Cardigan went further ahead when Joost Burki netted just a minute after midfielder Davies had almost scored for Lampeter.

Lumb killed the game off with the best goal of the game after a superb piece of skill from Tomos Toft set him up for shot at goal which he converted in style to make it 5-1.

This was a splendid performance by Cardigan who showed that when they have got their top players available they are arguably the best footballing side in the division. Evans, Burki and Blackford were superb at the back whilst Ben Davies was tremendous in the heart of midfield. For Lampeter midfielder Davies tried to get thing moving in the middle but he was invariable outmuscled on his own whilst Carwyn Gregson battled hard as did Lovell up front but Lampeter were generally second best all across the park.

A fired up Llandysul showed just why they are favourites for the title after they came from two goals down to defeat Crannog at Parc Tir Y Dref.

The Swallows looked to be on the way to a second defeat on the trot against the Llangrannog outfit after goals from George Colven and Rhydian Roberts had put the visitors two up and had it not been for keeper Jon Durbridge it would have been game over as he made three brilliant saves in the first half.

But the hosts kept plugging away and showed great spirit and they got a goal back through Adrian Hazelby to make it to 2-1 at the break and following a tongue lashing from manager Chris Coco Davies the hosts turned things around and ended up comfortable winners

Llandysul dominated the second half with captain and midfielder Ian Barrett leading by example and with fellow midfielders Ben Thomas & Terry Maynard taking the game by the scruff things started to turn in favour of the hosts. Lewis Jones headed an equaliser ten minutes in and this was followed up by a second Hazelby goal when he ran on to a ball from a neat one two with Thomas to put Llandysul ahead. Thomas added the fourth when his shot from a Scott Thomas cross went in off a defender and Hazelby completed his hat trick late on with Crannog already looking towards their big cup match this weekend against Newcastle.

Llandysul manager Davies was cock a hoop at the end of this game and full of praise for the character shown by his team and said:

“Well  I have to say that this was a brilliant comeback and I think Crannog were a bit shocked with our fitness and desire to win the game.

“This may well be a season defining second half for us because when the ref blew up there was a massive reaction from my players and I kept them out on the field to tell them that they need to realise what they had just achieved and the importance of sticking together when the going gets tough.

“We are not counting our chickens just yet but that was a huge result against the only team to have beaten us this season.”

Dewi Stars do not have to worry about title chasing but they were nevertheless chuffed to have edged the battle of last season’s promoted sides to gain revenge for a home defeat just before Christmas against the coraclemen.

Cilgerran struck first after the visitors lost possession in midfield and Louis Harding and Tommy Furbear combined to put Tom George away and he made no mistake with a low drive into the corner of the net after 15 minutes. The Stars reply was immediate-straight from the restart 16-year-old Liam Jones chased seemingly a lost cause and found Marc Jones in the box and he made no mistake from close range. After a couple of very strong penalty appeals were turned down for the home team the Stars were awarded a spot kick when a goal bound Andrew Jones shot struck Cilgerran defender Dan Phillips on the arm, although this was strongly disputed by the Coraclemen and Steffan Owens did the rest to put the visitors 2-1 up on the hour.

Their lead did not last long as Cilgerran forced a series of corners, and eventually they levelled when Dan Phillips made up for his earlier misdemeanour and found space and time in the box from yet another corner to beat the unfortunate 17-year old stand in keeper Rhodri Edwards who managed to deflect the ball onto the crossbar before it went in.

It was now anybody’s game for the taking and Rhodri Edwards ably assisted by Ryan Hurrell and Deian Williams kept the Stars in it, while the hosts always looked dangerous on the break and both Gethin and William Williams missed one to one chances on Cilgerran’s goal, while Louis Harding and Dan Phillips came close at the other end.

Eventually, the winner arrived on 75 minutes when captain Deian Williams rose above the home defence to head home a Steffan Owens corner.After that the Stars hung on to claim the points. Making a welcome debut for the Stars was Ryan Mackie Jones who took his place alongside his father, the evergreen Andrew Jones, who is still going strong after over 30 years devoted service to his team. The 47 year old, once again enjoyed himself with ten of the match day squad under 20 years of age alongside him. On this performance, both Cilgerran and Dewi Stars should be able to comfortably hold their place in the top flight after gaining promotion last season.

St Dogmaels collected their fourth win of the season when they ran out convincing winners at Parc Puw by 9-2 with their second half showing outstanding with some well taken goals. This eleventh defeat of the season resulted in Bargod Rangers manager Gethin Davies standing down. On target for the saints were Marcus Dean, Adam Williams and Rhys Jones who all netted two goals apiece and there were singles for Craig Williams, Chris Morgan and John Midgley. Luke Grant and Steff Evans were on target for the hosts.

The match between Aberaeron Reserves and Newcastle Emlyn was abandoned following a leg injury to Emlyn midfielder John Curran who was taken to hospital. The fixture between New Quay and Felinfach was postponed.

Division 2

League leaders Maesglas started off the new year in style with a 15-0 win over SDUC and it could have been a lot more as they were guilty of missing countless opportunities. Front runner Billy Myers helped himself to four of the goals whilst Dan Jones bagged a hat trick and there were two for Arron Eldridge, Nathan Jones and Keiran Harman. Graham Keen also added one and to rub salt into the wounds SDUC conceded an own goal.

Pencader enjoyed a comfortable victory over Aberporth but the score line was not a true reflection as the visitors contributed a great deal to this battle, played out in dreadful conditions. The airmen who could only muster a bare eleven players, had their hands full keeping tabs on Craig Gordon in the middle of the park and he grabbed one of the goals whilst others came from Daniel Jones, Liam Gordon, who bagged a brace and Rhodri Rees.

The best goal scoring chance that came the way of the airmen,was from a corner, which was initially headed out, and the resulting overhead kick by Liam Griffiths from outside the box,was tipped away by the keeper for a corner.

Ffostrasol kept the pressure on the league leaders with a hard fought win away at Llanboidy with goals from Dion Phillips and Carwyn Morgan.

Reserves Cup

Llandysul pulled seven points clear at the top of the table after they continued their impressive run with a win over Crannog Reserves.

The opening half was a very scrappy affair after over a month break but Llandysul took an early lead through a long range effort by Iwan Jones which slipped straight through the hands of the Crannog keeper. However two defensive errors just before half time were punished by hosts striker Josh Taylerson to see the leaders in at the break trailing 2-1.

Llandysul with five regulars missing upped the tempo after the interval and started to put pressure on and they were rewarded when Danny Williams netted with a well placed strike,

It was one way traffic after this as Crannog tired and following a mix up in the home penalty box Chris Harris poached the winner with just eight minutes remaining. Crannog threw everything at Llandysul for the remainder of the game as they went in search of an equaliser but Llandysul managed to hang on to extend their lead in the league with another good all round team performance.