Spar Mid-Wales League Division 1
Aberaeron 4 Machynlleth 1
Aberaeron gained sweet revenge for defeat earlier in the season at Machynlleth with a 4-1 victory but this win was spoiled by the sending off of black and ambers keeper Barry Edwards.
Edwards who has been in very good form this season was sent packing for a second yellow late on and Ryan Jones was forced to take over between the sticks.
This hard fought and at times niggle affair saw a few tasty challenges and plenty of needle as the arch rivals went head to head and the official in charge had to reach for his pocket on several occasions.
There was a welcome return to the Aber ranks for Dan James and Ryan Jones, back from their travels as well as James Hemmings after a groin injury and the home side started well playing some excellent football despite the difficult wet and windy conditions and took the game to their opponents high up the pitch with slick passing and movement.
The seagulls were rewarded for their dominance with an opening goal when David Evans broke the the flank and turned inside and fed Matty Davies who finished at the near post high into the roof of the net. Two minutes later Davies received the ball in the area with his back to goal and he manage to turn his marker to tuck the ball away into the bottom corner.
Aberaeron continued to press the Machynlleth defence and scored a third via the best move of the match. Ryan Jones won the ball well in defence and released the lively Gareth Evans who passed inside for Mike Gornall who in turn, released the overlapping Gareth Lewis to score deftly in the corner to make it 3-0.
Mach came back strongly after the break and gained a foothold in the game as the home side relaxed but the match deteriorated with a number of petty fouls and needless bookings and during this period Aberaeron conceded a penalty when keeper Edwards brought down an opponent and he was then booked for questioning this decision.
The penalty was dispatched into the top corner to raise the hopes of the visitors and within minutes of the restart a long ball over the home defence saw Edwards to race out and another rash challenge saw him red carded for a second bookable offence.
Ryan Jones put on the gloves and performed well with a couple of good saves and a few timely aerial punches and this seemed to galvanise the home team and Matty Davies completed his hat trick late on to finish off the game.
Aberaeron manager Jason Jones said that he was happy with the three points but was again left to count the cost of his team picking up needless bookings especially from some senior members of the squad who he said ‘just do not learn from their mistakes’.
“I was very pleased with the way we started and some of our link play was superb and I was glad to see big Matty Davies back somewhere near his best after a niggling ankle injury.
“There were big games also from Dan Bourne, Mike Gornall and club captain Gareth Lewis and the luxury of now having Ryan Jones and Dan James back will be a massive help to us.
“We are now looking forward to playing Llanidloes this weekend.”
Pictures by Beverley Hemmings.
