The Saints put in a poor performance today going down 2-0 to Welshpool Town FC. Two first half goals playing down the slope in the first half was enough to give the home side three points.
Welshpool scorers were Will Thomas and Martyn Ziemann.
The Saints won the toss and played up the slope in the first half. Welshpool played with a compact midfield and defence, leaving Will Thomas up top on his own. Thomas however, was causing our defence all sorts of problems cutting in from the left and firing shots from the edge of the area, one effort clipping the outside of the post.
Brendan Hackett responded for us by beating his man but his shot flew over the bar in the 10th minute.In the 15th minute the Welshpool keeper saved a Steve Goodwin header from a corner, the follow up was also blocked before being cleared to safety.
Welshpool had a succession of corners which we struggled to deal with, each corner aimed at captain Martyn Ziemann, who finally found the net in the 33rd minute. Just 2 minutes earlier Ziemann thought he had scored but for a brilliant goal line clearance from Tom James. In the 38th minute Thomas cut inside from the left danced his way across the eighteen yard area before shooting a low effort into the bottom corner of Lewis’ goal. 2-0. Lewis made a couple of good saves to keep the impressive Thomas out, the half time whistle went with Welshpool leading 2-0.
The second half saw The Saints have most of the possession but we struggled to break down the well organised Town defence. Hackett was unlucky when he saw his long range effort hit the underside of the bar and then bounce around in the box before being cleared to safety.
From a quick throw in Thomas saw his effort kept out by Lewis from a good reaction save. With the last throw of the dice Rob Snedden was brought on and the midfielder nearly scored with a 30 yard effort but again the crossbar came to Towns’ rescue. Ft 2-0
A poor performance where we looked like we were lacking energy. The Gaffer is struggling at present to put a settled side out, at this standard you can’t afford to have 3 or 4 missing each week let alone 5 or 6.
Man of the match for me was Tom Lewis who made several good saves or it might have been more when they were on top in the first half.
Team –
Tom Lewis, Sam Bradley(Rory Hackett), Jordan Baker(Rob Snedden), Matt Croose, Steve Goodwin, Stu Davies, Brendan Hackett,Ryan Davies, Rob McNamara, Matt James, Tom James(Adi Lawford).
