The Saints progressed to the semi final of The Emrys Morgan Cup after beating local rivals Gwernyfed 0-3 in the quarter final at Talgarth.
Gwernyfed started the brighter in the early stages seeing plenty of the ball but not causing any real pressure on The Saints back four, the first real sign of danger came when Matt Myles whipped in a ball which Liam Bannister got his head to but Bryan Kirkham pulled off a great save by diving down to his right and tipping it around the post for a corner. Gwernyfed Captain Alan Davies had to leave the field of play after 15 minutes with a hamstring problem, this gave the Saints a lift and Kevin Jones nearly scored a volley after a Rob Snedden cross, his effort going inches wide. The Saints were awarded a free kick on the 20 minute mark 5 yards into the Gwernyfed half and Captain Chris Preece hit a long hopefull ball towards goal which deceived everyone including the home keeper Corey Billen with the ball slipping through his grasp into the back of the net to make 0-1 Saints. The pattern of play continued throughout the rest of the half with homeside seeing a lot of the ball in midfield but not making a lot of use of it, a Gavin Perry lob while Kirkham was off his line went high over the bar, up the other end a Ben Bevan effort was saved by Billen. Sam Powell and Sam Mayglothling were working overtime in midfeld breaking up play from the 3 central midfield players of Gwernyfed stopping their forward runs. The half time whistle went with the score 0-1.
The second half saw the Saints come more into the game with Snedden and Bevan causing problems for the homesides wingbacks Myles and Rees, Austin Mellor cleared several dangerous balls into the box but was helpless on the hourmark when Phil Davies linked up with Bevan down the left and Bevan whipped a ball across the face of the goal to the unmarked Kevin Jones who scored with his right foot at the back post 0-2. Gwernyfed to thier credit didn’t give up and 5 minutes later ex Saint Rob Mac headed a Bannister cross over the bar from close range and a Brian Dyer effort went inches wide of the goal. The game was over on 70 minutes when The Saints were awarded a free kick out on the right and Bevan whipped in a teasing ball which Kevin Jones got a touch at the near post to make it 0-3. The Saints did have one more glorious chance which fell to the hard working Josh Wisniewski but the ball got stuck underneath him with the goal at his mercy. The referee blew his whistle to the delighted Saints players and large following. 0-3.
I’m pleased with the result but still feel we have yet to play well against our rivals even though we’ve beaten them twice, saying that we’ve gone there and scored 5 times in 2 games without conceding. What we’ve done is battle as a team to get the result which is perhaps the answer up there not pretty tip tap football.
I thought the back 4 were superb along with Bryan when called upon, he again pulled off a great save when it was 0-0 and we were up against it. The whole team worked really hard even the boys that came on Joe, Gavin and Josh rolled their sleeves up and got stuck in. I’m giving the man of the match to Chris just edging Havo.
Team-B.Kirkham, R.Jones, C.Preece(c), M.Havard, P.Davies, B.Bevan(G.Williams), S.Powell(J.Davies), S.Mayglothling, R.Snedden(J.Mayglothling), K.Jones, J.Wisniewski.