SAINTS ON TITLE MARCH

MIDWEEK FOOTBALL

The race for the title took a dramatic twist last night when long time leaders and title favourites Lampeter Town were well beaten by Crannog writes Andrew Clarke.

The north road men were five goals down with fifteen minutes to play before Gethin Hunter grabbed a couple of consolation goals and Terry Jones and his men have now dropped down to second place in the table a point adrift of new leaders St Dogmaels. However Lampeter have the luxury of a game in hand but the question on many local football followers lips is can they keep their nerve as the longer they went without scoring last night the more anxious they became.

Could it be that the Saints, who are the form side and who have Ffostrasol and Felinfach to come, sneak in and steal the silverware in the final two weeks of the season? Or will it be Newcastle Emlyn as they have games in hand but they have to rely on the Saints dropping points.

It is building up into a fascination end to the campaign just like two years ago when Cardigan Town managed to lift the championship trophy on the final day of the season when they beat Lampeter at the King George. Crannog who dropped out of the title race a few weeks ago are always a tough team to beat and have built this hard nosed reputation over many years and are well respected and they proved this last night.

They were under the cosh a little in the early part but they took the lead after the break when Mike Glover netted and a Rhys Davies penalty followed soon afterwards to set the Lampeter nerves jangling. Two goals from experienced campaigner Gary Davies put the game to bed before George Colven made it 5-0. Popular Lampeter manager Terry Jones will be looking to bounce back this weekend when his side travel to Cilgerran and he will be hoping that Felinfach do them a favour against St Dogmaels.

The Saints coasted to a comfortable win over Cilgerran at the School Field with goals from Louis Harding, Luke Jones and two from Aaron Williams and manager Steve Williams and his men are now looking a very good bet to win the title for the first time in eleven years. They are the best all round side in the division at the moment and teams don’t like playing against them as they are in your face and never allow you to settle. The best teams on the planet always defend aggressively from the front and work hard off the ball and St Dogmaels have been impressive in this department since the start of the new year.

They have a very strong spine epitomised by their captain and centre back Jason Williams, his brother Adam in midfield and Louis Harding up front and it will take a brave punter to bet against them with just two games to play.

A hat trick from Llandysul striker Chris Harries helped steer the Swallows to a 7-2 success over Aberaeron Reserves to push them back up into third place in the table. Also on target were Josh Baker, Scott Mayes, Dean Jones and Mathew Newbould. Ffostrasol moved up into a position of safety after they secured a 4-1 win away at Felinfach with goals from Iolo Thomas, Cian Edwards, Adam Jones and Gethin Davies.

Cup Action.

Newcastle Emlyn reached their third cup final of the season after they defeated Cardigan Town by 4-2 in the Cwpan Coffa Dai Dynamo. The reds who recently lifted the J.Emrys Morgan Cup and who play in the final of the League Cup on Saturday night are still on course for a clean sweep of the silverware.

There was little in the game after an hour with the scores locked at 2-2 but a cross from reds midfielder John Curran was misjudged by everyone and ended up in the back of the net to put Emlyn ahead. Dion Phillips who opened the scoring grabbed the all important fourth goal to seal victory in the final few minutes.

Maesglas are through the final of the South Cards Cup after they overcame the challenge of Llandysul Reserves by 4-2. On the other side of the draw the game between Llanboidy Reserves and St Dogmaels Reserves was postponed.