In a battle between two recent winners of the Emrys Morgan Cup, Hay St. Mary’s Reserves put in a clinical display in front of goal to overcome Tregaron Turfs 9-3 on the day in round two of the competition. Youngster Darren Horrigan grabbed the match ball with four goals, whilst strike partner Kevin Goodwin grabbed two. Jamie Howard, Chris Preece and Rhys Edwards were also amongst the goals on a windy and wet afternoon in Ceredigion.
Manager Andrew Harris made the long-journey over the Cambrian mountain with just twelve players, with Edwards the solitary substitute.
The pre-match talk was to get a good start to the game and not concede any early goals. Yet, it was the complete opposite as the Saints started quickly and found themselves one up after just three minutes. A through ball was latched on by Goodwin, making his first-appearance for Hay after a few years away, and he swept the ball into the corner. Tails up, Hay soon added to the early strike when a quick throw by Gavin Williams was collected by Goodwin, who beat his man at the by-line to cut back for Howard; his strike from ten yards bobbled in the corner for his first goal in three years. Further chances followed with the pace of the attacking trio Williams, Goodwin and Horrigan causing all sorts of problems for the Turf#s back-line. Liam Pugh in the sticks for Hay had a little to do in the first-half, with a couple of long-range efforts failing to hit the target. Horrigan was soon to get in on the act, when strike partner Goodwin found him in acres of space on the edge of the area and he made no mistake, finishing low to the ‘keepers left. As half-time approached, Horrigan grabbed his second, this time finishing a neat-move by blasting high into the corner again from around 18 yards.
3 Years in the waiting but he finally netted a goal.
With Hay in complete control at half-time, Tregaron came out with all guns blazing in the early stages. They were soon given a life-line when a deep cross into the back-post saw Tom Weaver fumble his man in the back to give away a soft penalty. A yellow card followed and the Turfs had the chance to get back into the game. The spot-kick was poorly struck however and Pugh made a save, but the rebound fell nicely for the onrushing left-winger who blasted home. Hay looked a little shell-shocked by the goal and Tregaron’s belief grew once more when a cross from the right caught in the wind and deceived Pugh, looping over his head to make the score 2-4. Despite these goals, the Saints always threatened on the break and as the game opened up more, the chance to exploit the space in the final third became more apparent. Goodwin and Horrigan again linked up, with the former sending the latter through on goal and once again, the youngster was clinical with a right-foot finish which went below the ‘keeper’s dive. Tregaron continued to press and once again created some nerves in the Hay defence when a bullet of a left-foot shot from 25 yards left Pugh stranded. Tregaron were finding a lot of space through the middle so some tactical genius from Harris was needed; he opted to move Horrigan out wide to the right, and pull Howard into central midfield with Jake Davies and Preece. That change assured things and Hay ran riot in the final 15 minutes. Firstly, Goodwin scored the pick of the goals when quick-feet saw him race away from three players before hitting an early left-foot strike into the bottom corner from 20 yards. More goals were to follow, as Williams’ excellent cross from the left wing was superbly finished by Horrigan, with a deft touch of his right-foot. Preece then added an eight for the Reserves, finding space on the right-hand side of the box, cutting past his man and stroking the ball into the far corner. The final goal of the game was scored by another young striker, this time Edwards. He raced onto a through ball and despite seeing his first-shot saved by the ‘keeper, he followed up well to power the ball into the net for his first senior goal, a strike that delighted his team-mates and manager, and that I’m sure will be remembered for sometime by Edwards.
Tregaron were a little bit of an unknown quantity going into the game but they were brushed aside by an excellent attacking display from the Saints. There were a number of notable displays across the park, including a solid defensive pairing of Steve Jones and Stuart Rees, the midfield energy and tenacity of Chris Preece, who seemed to be everywhere, Howard who scored, and also assisted three, and the encouraging partnership up top between Goodwin and Horrigan, which saw them score six goals between them. Man of the match though has to go Horrigan, who for a 16 year old, is playing well beyond his years and was lively every time he touched the ball. The Tregaron defenders will be having nightmares about him for weeks to come.
Next up in the Emrys Morgan is the third-round is a home-time against Llanfyllin FC, who beat Ffostrasol 7-3 yesterday. The game is scheduled for Saturday 29th November at Forest Road. The Reserves are next in action on Saturday 15th November, away at Sennybridge, in what will be a tough test.
Reserves: Pugh, D. Jones, S. Jones, Rees, Weaver, Howard (1), Davies, Preece (1), Williams, Goodwin (2), Horrigan (4)
Sub: Edwards (1)