Saints book place in next round
The Saints travelled to Radnor to play in the 1st round of the league cup this afternoon. Manager Ben Bevan was without several players due to university but welcomed back midfielder Toby Johnson and Paul Ward-Willis, Bevan put himself in-between the sticks due to the goalkeeper shortage at the club.
Hay started bright and were one up inside 5 minutes after some neat work on the right from Gareth Pugh, he picked out the run of David Evans and the striker placed his shot into the bottom left corner beyond the goalkeepers reach. 1-0. Five minutes later it was two, a free kick from the right touchline was lifted in, two Radnor players went up to head the ball but the flight deceived them which ended up with both players catching the ball giving the ref no choice but to award a penalty, Paul ‘Trill’ Davies stepped up and hit the ball down the middle with the power too much for the keeper. 2-0. With the momentum Hay were enjoying themselves and soon it was three, Gareth Pugh drilled in a corner which was met by Toby Johnson and his header almost burst the back of the Radnor net. 3-0. The Saints got complacent and allowed Radnor a way back in to the game, a long ball over the top looked to be heading out for a goal-kick but the striker got there and beat Bevan at his near post with a good strike. 3-1. The three goal advantage was restored when John Sly beat the keeper when one on one. HT 4-1.
The second half started with Radnor the better side with the Saints struggling to string passes together and create chances for the strikers. Half way through the half the tricky midfielder danced his way through both midfield and defence with help of a couple of deflections and placed a shot under the on rushing Bevan. 4-2. With ten minutes left with more sloppy defending Radnor scored again, a long ball over the top was misjudged and the striker fired past Bevan, a frustrating goal to concede as the saints dealt with long ball with ease all game. 4-3. With Radnor pushing for an equalizer a hopeful hoof forward from the Hay defence was chased by Gareth Pugh who then from which looked like an impossible angle drilled the ball past the keeper. FT 5-3
A harder win than it should have been after cruising at 4-1, we need to start performing in the second half as the last couple of games we’ve switched off and seem to protect what we’ve got. Radnor Valley brought in some new good new signings and they looked a totally different side to the side we beat 4-0 three weeks ago. Some good performances today Gareth Pugh played well on the wing and deserved his late goal, Dan Jones seems to be enjoying his new position at Centre Back and skipper Garry Keeble is leading by example. Next up is a League clash at Home to Bronllys on Thursday