The Saints lost last night 5-4 on penalties after extra time when the game had finished 3-3.
The game itself was end to end from start to finish and could have ended up 10-10 with the amount of chances created by both teams. The Saints had more possession in the first half but Builth kept hitting them on the break with their pacey strikers. Both keepers made good saves early on,Jamie Hope of Builth saving from Rob Snedden and Gavin Williams who were through on goal. Ian Jones of Hay saving from Ewan Jones and Shane Claridge. It was Builth’s Daniel Walker who opened the scoring on the 30 minute mark finishing well after a pass from Brown. Hay’s Ollie Cooke crossed on the stroke of half time for Josh Davies to finish well in the bottom right hand corner to make the half time score 1-1.
Hay went 2-1 up 5 minutes into the second half when Cooke found Tom Weaver in the area he made no mistake from close range. On the hour mark another Cooke cross found the impressive Snedden who fired into the bottom left corner from 16 yards out to make the score 3-1. At this point it looked like Hay would go on to score more but keeper Hope made several more quality saves to keep it at 3-1. The game turned when the Saints had to replace the injured Snedden and Preece plus Captain Steve Jenkins who was still suffering from a recent bout of flu. The Saints keeper Ian Jones spilled the ball with 10 to go and Claridge was on hand to tap in to make it 3-2. By now the conditions were bad with rain driving down and making the ball like a bar of soap and the ground like an ice rink. Builth were now on top and with 5 to go Ewan Jones hit a powerful shot past the diving Jones to make it 3-3. Ollie Cooke who had made all three of Hay’s goals could have won it on the final whistle when a Howard cross came in and Cooke scooped it over the bar.
Extra time was again end to end on chances with the Saints having most of the possession. Mike Havard having one shot kicked off the line after a header from a Howard corner, Builth raced up the other end and Jones hit the post. Final score 3-3.
The Saints lost the shoot 5-4, Josh Davies blasted their first penalty over the bar. Ian Jones did get a hand to one of the Builth pens but the shoot was just to powerful.
My man of the match for The Saints would be Tom Weaver who is starting to find some consistency of late. Shane Claridge shone for Builth Wells.