The Saints lost 3-4 to Rhosgoch Rangers in a closely fought final.
Rhosgoch took control of the early exchanges but failed to really test Tom Lewis in the Saints goal bar a Trefor Lloyd long range effort whic hwas tipped over the bar by Tom Lewis, top scorer Joey Price hit a couple of long range efforts well wide. It was Saints striker Kevin Jones who had the first good chance but he put his effort wide after being put through on goal. Up the other end a diving header by midfielder Matt Croose went just wide, the opening goal came in the 25th minute, a neat one two with Trefor Lloyd saw Price finish from 12 yards to put Rhos 0-1 up.
Just a minute later Tom James played a lovely through ball to Josh Davies who hit his shot across Adam Jones to make it 1-1. Rhosgoch were back ahead in the 29th minute, Matthew Lloyd won a challenge in midfield, his pass found Price and again the striker was clinical in front of goal . Price netted his hat-trick goal after a good Rhos move, the striker hitting a first time volley that dropped over his shoulder giving Lewis no chance. The last six minutes leading up until half time saw a couple of half chances at either end but the scored remained 1-3 (Ht. 1-3)
The Saints came out after the break with more intensity in their game, after a winning a corner on the left, Brendan Hackett whipped it in and Jack Biggs out jumped the Rhos defence to score from 8 yards for 2-3. With their tails up it was soon 3-3, a lovely cut back by Kevin Jones to Hackett saw the midfielder score from an acute angle. At this stage I thought we were going to go on and win it, Hackett crossed into the box again Biggs out jumped his marker, his effort hit the underside of the bar and came down but was cleared to safety. Kevin Jones also put an effort wide when in on goal, to Rhosgoch’s credit after this they dominated for long spells, we struggled to clear our lines, Tom Lewis made a fantastic double save to keep the score at 3-3.
With 8 minutes to go Rhos had a couple of corners which Croose had gone close with powerful headers, from yet another he scored what turned out to be the winner.
The Saints put pressure on the defence late on, Adam Jones made a double save from Kevin Jones, we had a handball shout waved away by the referee, I couldn’t see from where I was so it would be unfair to comment. A Hackett free kick in the last minute clipped the top of the wall and flew to safety, the final whistle went with the score at 3-4 to Rhosgoch. (Ft 3-4).
This was an entertaining game from the off, Joey Price won the game for Rhosgoch with a hat-tick and was awarded the man of the match from the Presteigne committee. I thought our best player was Brendan Hackett who had another very good game in midfield.
I’d like to thank Presteigne FC for inviting us in to this well run competition, especialy Tom Ammond who has worked so hard in organising the fixtures.
Photos by Stu Townsend.
