The Saints put on their worst performance of the season in a 4-1 victory over Newbridge-On-Wye FC.
Goalscorers were Josh Davies, Brendan Hackett, Rob Snedden and Jake Atkinson.
Newbridge came with a game plan and for 45 minutes it worked very well, with a lone striker they had ten behind the ball for most of the evening. It was the visitors who had the first chance after a slip by Rob Snedden a snap shot clipped the top of the bar, up the other end Adi Lawford’s shot came back off the post with the keeper beat.
The Saints became more and more frustrated as the half went on, totally dominating possession but in reality creating very little against a stubborn Newbridge side.
In the 41st minute the visitors counter attacked, our defence all stopped whilst shouting for offside which it clearly wasn’t, the ball was played into the area from wide right and tapped home from close range. 0-1
I think this was the kick up the backside we needed because straight from the restart Josh Davies scored from the edge of the area after Newbridge failed to clear their lines. Ht 1-1.
At half time manager Gareth Jenkins brought on Kevin Jones and Brendan Hackett to liven things up.
It was Hackett who put us 2-1 up from the penalty spot which was in the 50th minute after a foul on striker Rob McNamara. The visitors continued to frustrate the Saints and on a rare attack the ball was cleared off the line by a Saints defender.
We had numerous chances after this but the Newbridge stand in keeper made save after save with all different parts of his body.
Rob Snedden made the game safe in the 75th minute after getting on the end of a Josh Davies header that had been flicked on. 3-1.
Centre half Jake Atkinson scored a quite bizzare goal in the 88th minute, he made a strong tackle just past the half way line and the ball flew some 40 yards over the Newbridge keepers head into the top corner for 4-1.
The wet conditions didn’t help us one bit but to Newbridge’s credit they defended very well and kept us a more quiet than a lot of teams have here at Forest Road.
The match sponsor Harry Mackintosh from The Swan Hotel chose Matt James as man of the match.
