The Saints came away from Presteigne tonight with all 3 points after a 1-4 win.
Goalscorers were Rob McNamara(2), Matt James and Adi Lawford.
Rob McNamara opened the scoring after 57 seconds, Matt James picked the ball up in his own half and ran 40 yards before passing the to “Macca” who controlled it and lobbed new signing Simon Hamer in the Presteigne goal.
Presteigne’s winger, another new signing was causing problems on the left for Sam Bradley with his pace but to be fair to Sam I thought he got the measure of him after 15 minutes and got the better of him over the 90.
On 30 minutes we went 0-2 up, striker Kevin Jones turned his man and just when everyone thought he would shoot he crossed an inch perfect ball to the back post which McNamara headed in past the diving Hamer.
The 15 minutes leading up to half-time we dominated and really should of added to our total, we missed 3 or 4 good scoring chances from poor finishing and good saves by Hamer. Ht 0-2
We started quick in the second half and in the 48th minute a good passing move went through 4 or 5 players finished with Matt James smashing an angled shot into the corner of the net which put us 0-3 up and we seemed well in control.
To Presteigne’s credit they kept battling and out of the blue a good cross into the box was headed in past Tom Lewis by Duanne Anning for 1-3.
The home side got their tails up and had their best spell of the game, Lewis made a good save from their number 9 Christian Edwards not long after there was a big shot for a goal after Adi Lawford cleared off the line, it must have been close to being over from the reaction of the Presteigne players. More Presteigne pressure followed, they were awarded a penalty for an arm across a player, in my opinion they were both “at it” and the ref who had a good game got this one wrong. Striker Edwards took the penalty but Lewis at full stretch, saved it by tipping the ball around the post.
The Gaffer made a couple of changes which saw James drop into a deeper midfield role alongside his brother Tom, this worked and we got back on top. With ten minutes to go striker Jack Biggs beat his marker on the edge of the box and slipped the ball to winger Lawford who scored from 10 yards to put us 1-4 up which made the game more than safe. Ft 1-4.
A good win tonight with a few regulars missing, it shows our strength in depth. Presteigne had 2 or 3 new signings on show who were very good players, I can see them picking up soon and surprising a few teams.
Tom lewis was very good tonight when called upon especially his penalty save, Chris Preece stepped in to help out and led the back line well, however,it was our youngest player who again stood out, man of the match goes to Matt James.
Team –
Tom Lewis, Sam Bradley, Jordan Baker(c), Chris Preece, Josh Davies(Rory Hackett), Gavin Williams(Adi Lawford), Matt James, Tom James, Phil Davies, Kevin Jones(Jack Biggs), Rob McNamara.
Two goal man Rob McNamara.
Man of the match Matt James and keeper Tom Lewis.