A brace by midfielder Brendan Hackett and one each from Rob McNamara and Kevin Jones saw the Saints pick up three points after a 1-4 win at Abermule. The win sees the visitors go above “Muler” in the league table.
Striker Kevin Jones was back among the goals after a long lay off.
After a long lay off due the adverse weather conditions it took the Saints 20 minutes to get going, the pitch was bobbly as expected from all the rain, considering how windy it was we passed the ball around well and in the 22nd minute Brendan Hackett opened the scoring, he headed in at the back post from a Kevin Jones cross 0-1.
The Saints were well on top now and on 35 minutes it was 0-2, a flowing team saw the ball threaded through to Hackett who was one on one with the keeper, the youngster curled his effort around him for a well taken goal. The home side struggled to get into the game, the visitors did have a couple more chances but failed to take them before half time. Ht 0-2
The start of the second half started with more Saints pressure and in the 53rd minute Rob McNamara broke down the right before crossing into the box where Jones finished from 12 yards for his first goal back after his lengthy injury break 0-3.
Goal keeper Tom Lewis got an assist in the 65th minute, his long clearance saw a mix up between the Abermule keeper and a defender, McNamara was quick to react and nipped in between them to make it 0-4 and pretty much game over.
With 20 minutes to go Abermule got a consolation goal after the Saints failed to clear a corner, a header looped oer Lewis giving him no chance 1-4. Both teams tired in the last 20 minutes after such a long lay off this was expected and the game became a little scrappy, no more goals were scored, the ref blew his whistle which the Saints run out 1-4 winners.
Two goal Brendan Hackett.
I spoke with a few of the older lads who were full of praise for our two young full backs, Adam Finn and Rory Hackett, I was also told Chris Preece never stopped running all game and Jamie Howard’s passing was very good. It also seems Abermule struggled with our front runners with Brendan causing all sorts of problems, overall a pretty good team performance all round.
Team- Tom Lewis, Adam Finn, Stuart Davies(c), Sam Bradley, Rory Hackett, Jamie Howard, Chris Preece, Jack Biggs, Brendan Hackett, Rob McNamara, Kevin Jones (Steve Jones).