Ceredigion Costcutter League.
Llandysul manager Chris Coco Davies has all but given up on his title chase after his team slumped to their third league defeat of the campaign.
The Swallows who went the whole season last term without losing a league match were once again second best on the day against Crannog and the reigning champions are now 11 points behind rivals Lampeter with only two months of the season gone.
Davies who was naturally disappointed with this latest defeat admitted to not being totally surprised especially as he has lost some big performers in recent weeks in prolific scorer Simon Davies, midfielder Terry Maynard and pacey wide man Scott Thomas and he said:” It was understandable that we were probably going to struggle a bit with so many departures over the last few weeks, but we will keep going although maybe now we will target a cup as our main priority”.
“We played alright in the first half but we couldn’t quite create any clear cut chances although the possession was quite even with Crannog looking more dangerous in attack”.
Former Cardigan Town midfielder Dylan Davies put the visitors ahead only for defender Scott Mayes to equalise after a brave challenge by midfielder Ian Barrett. Crannog winger George Colven put Crannog back into the lead just before half time as his team improved and the second half followed a similar pattern .
Colvin added his second midway through the half to put his team 3-1 up and the visitors saw out the win quite comfortably in the end.
Leaders Lampeter Town pulled further ahead at the top after they beat Felinfach 5-2 and the early season front runners are looking a good bet to go one better than they did in season 2015-16 and lift the Norman Llewellyn Memorial Trophy.
Manager Terry Jones said that he was not getting too carried away as yet and added :”We are still taking one game at a time as there is over half season to go but I can’t complain with the start we have had.
We just have to keep working hard and see where we are at after Boxing Day”.
Neverthless is was a solid team effort against Felinfach and we played some tidy football on a heavy pitch and could have easily added another four goals with their keeper beaten.”
But were a little rusty having not played for two weeks but on the whole I was happy to take the three points as it will be a tricky fixture for some teams to play on that pitch over winter conditions”.
Goals from front runner Jason Jones, Leon Holmes and a hat trick from Robert Slawkowski saw the north road outfit safely through for the win.
Cilgerran Rovers, who could only muster a bare eleven players for their long trip to Llanddewi Brefi inflicted further pain on the Stars when they grabbed a winner with just a couple of minutes to go. The Coraclemen went ahead when lively front runner Matty Williams, who caused problems all afternoon was rewarded with a fine goal. Dewi Stars though equalised with just four minutes remaining of the match when Gethin Williams netted and a draw looked the likely result until a long range effort late on from Marcus Dean beat the keeper, much to the delight of the Rovers players
In division two Bargod Rangers suffered a heavy home defeat to Aberporth after being outplayed for large parts of the match. The airmen took an early lead after just 12 seconds when Daniel Davies threaded a through ball from the halfway to put Mike King in to beat the keeper. Rangers replied with an own goal just after half time with a deflection from a shot just outside the box.
However the visitors came back strongly and regained the lead when Reece Prowse tucked away a second for his team after cleverly beating two defenders but Rangers were unlucky not to level when Robbie Jenkins smashed a volley from 20 yards out and hit the bar. Soon after this Mike King bagged his second of the game with a good finish from just inside the box to all but seal the victory.
Daniel Davies completed the job when after good work once again by Prowse he beat the keeper from just inside the box.
Maesglas Reserves were held to a 2-2 draw at New Quay where Charles Harvey and Simon Thomas netted for the greens and new Blues signing Kyle Chillery and Mike Thomas were on target for the visitors.
Newcastle Emlyn Reserves continued with their good run of form when they beat a young Llandysul side. Boosted by the inclusion of talented first teamer Jake Kelly the reds were much the better team for long periods and it was Kelly who sealed the win with two well taken goals.
Reserves Cup
Barry Jones netted five times for Maesglas Reserves as his team ran riot over Felinfach Reserves at Maes Radley, winning by 12-2. Llanboidy Reserves came from behind to edge out division leaders Ffostrasol Reserves by 2-1 following a very tight encounter at Parc Troedrhiw.
A goal from Luke Davies and a winner from Bartosz Kasperski saw the Cae Dandre men through for a narrow win and their third success of the season to keep them level on points at the top with the joint leaders.
