The Saints beat local rivals Rhosgoch 2-0 in the Central Wales cup.
Hay started the 1st half very well winning the 50/50 challenges and passing the ball around with confidence. It was pleasing on the eye to watch especially with the decision to leave the influential Rob Snedden on the bench for tactical reasons. On 15 minutes Chris Preece headed in a Gav Williams corner only for the referee to disallow the goal for a push on keeper Simon Hamer to the surprise of everyone watching. The Saints continued to dominate with Kevin Jones giving Sam Lloyd a torrid time. Hay got their just rewards when the referee awarded The Saints a panalty for a handball offence. Jones stepped up and finished well in the bottom right hand corner of the goal. Rhosgoch were never given a chance to create anything in the 1st half due to excellent defending by Mike Havard and Stu Davies keeping the Lloyd brothers very quiet. Hay had a couple of other chances to further their lead after crosses from Gary Keeble but Hamer saved well to keep Rhos in the game. (ht) Saints 1 Rhos 0
Rhosgoch came out fired up for the 2nd half and were the better side during the 45minutes but again never really looked like scoring against the Hay defence of Davies,Havard,Davies and skipper Jenkins. When They did get through keeper Jones was there to sweep up.Chris Preece limped off injured being replaced by the impressive Max Walker who’s work rate alongside Weaves was excellent. Ollie Cooke came on for Kev Jones and scored the Saints 2nd when he outpaced the Rhos defence running from the half way line and rounding keeper Hamer in the last minute to send the Saints through to the next round 2-0.
The man of the match award was a hard decision with three outstanding performances from Kevin Jones, Mike Havard(my choice) but Stuart Davies takes the award this week from the players and supporters.