The First Team won 1-4 at Newbridge this afternoon in difficult conditions. Goalscorers were Stu Davies, Brendan Hackett, Jack Biggs and and OG.
We played with the wind in the first half and in the first fifteen minutes created eight chances that were all put wide or saved. Newbridge defended very deep so it was hard to break them down.
The breakthrough came after a mazy run by Jack Biggs who then cut the ball back back from the byline and whilst under pressure from two Saints players a Newbridge defender sliced the ball into his own net. 0-1.
We were awarded a penalty in the 34th minute for a shirt pull on striker Kevin Jones when he was in on goal. Brendan Hackett put his effort inches wide.(The size 4 ball didn’t help!).
More chances followed but in the difficult conditions we just couldn’t get that second goal. Ht 0-1.
We expected Newbridge to come more at us in the second half but again we had them pinned back deep into their own half whilst playing into the wind. Alfie Stonefield of Newbridge was having a good physical battle with Kevin Jones but this left spaces for our wide players to exploit but again we were guilty of wasted chances.
The Gaffer brought on club captain Stu Davies and within five minutes he scored the second goal, after a jinking run in the box he finished well with his left foot. 0-2.
Just when we thought we had some breathing space the home side were awarded a free kick just inside our half, a long punt forward was misjudged by keeper Tom Lewis and ended up in the back of the net. 1-2.
“Jenko” then made another change which saw striker Jones come off, he pushed midfielder Matt James up front. James gave gave Newbridge a different problem with his twists and turns and from one referee Chris Corfield awarded another penalty when Stonefield brought him down. Hackett had no hesitation in taking the second penalty, this one was buried to make it 1-3.(with a size5!).
With just a couple of minutes left a back heel by Kieran McCarley was intercepted and Jack Biggs beat a couple of players before scoring with a low drive to make the final score 1-4.
The lads were dominant throughout but to their credit the Newbridge back four played very well and made life difficult for us. The conditions were bad, it was blowing a gale all game.
We created a lot of chances and would probably would of scored more if we hadn’t had such a long break between games. The attacking players did well but I thought our defence was excellent today, I don’t recall Newbridge having many chances, the punt into the box for the goal and one after which Tom saved, besides that the back four stopped anything going near our keeper which is no mean feat in those conditions.
The Gaffer chose Tom James as his man of the match, solid in defence and supported well when going forward.
Team –
Tom Lewis, Tom James, Jordan Baker(c), Steve Goodwin, Josh Davies(Sam Bradley), Chris Preece, Matt James, Jack Biggs, Brendan Hackett, Rob McNamara, Kevin Jones(Stu Davies).
