The Saints were edged out 2-1 today at Victoria Avenue by cup favourites Llanidloes Town.
The first half was even with both sides having chances, Josh Davies in the Hay goal made two good saves early on from long range efforts, the Llani keeper doing the same from Brendan Hackett and Gavin Williams, after 20 minutes the visitors should have been awarded a penalty when captain Stu Davies was tripped in the box, the ref waved play on, he then told the player if he had gone down he would have given it, hmm!
Hay were on top towards the end of the half when disaster struck, the dominant Stu Davies who was keeping Gareth Mansell quiet suffered a nasty head wound which required hospital treatment, to make matters worse, Gavin Williams who was also causing problems out on the wing in the first half also had to come off with a reoccuring ankle problem. ht 0-0.
At the start of the second half the Saints were awarded a free kick for handball out wide left, a poor decision by the ref if i’m honest, Hackett bent the ball into the box which deceived the keeper the first to react was striker Josh Wisniewski who finished well from close range to put the visitors 0-1 up.
The homeside were pegged back for a while after this but on a quick counter attack equalised with an excellent left foot finish after 53 minutes. The winner came just 5 minutes later, a throw from the right was chested down an the midfielder spun and hit a left foot screamer past Davies giving him no chance.
Unfortunately at the this point I had to leave to take Stu to hospital but was informed we matched them in the second half and only a great save by the home keeper denied Kevin Jones an equaliser. ft 2-1
Victoria Avenue.