The Saints lost 4-5 to Llanrhaedar FC in an end to end thriller, the win puts the visitors top of the league.
Saints goalscorers were Brendan Hackett, Steve Morgan(2) and Stu Davies.
Llanrhaedar scorers were Marc Griffiths(3), Iwan Matthews(2).
The Saints played into a very strong wind in the first half and found themselves 0-1 down after 6 minutes from a goal scored by Marc Griffiths. The lead was doubled in the 12th minute when Griffiths scored with a wind assisted cross come shot from wide on the left which looped over keeper Tom Lewis.
The leagues top scorer Iwan Matthews was thwarted by Lewis on two occasions but his persistence paid off when the nippy strikers found himself in on goal and this time he made no mistake in putting his side 0-3 up.
The Saints thought they should of been awarded a penalty when Rob Snedden was tripped in the box, however,the referee gave a free kick on the edge of the area which came to nothing.
With the wind howling down the pitch Llanrhaedar had other chances to extend their lead but it was The Saints who scored the next goal, in the 40th minute a through ball found Brendan Hackett who rounded the keeper to score. 1-3.
On the stoke of half time the visitors hit the inside of the post, the ball was cleared and the whistle went. Ht 1-3.
Playing with the wind in the second half it was soon 2-3, Hackett beat his marker on the right and whipped in a ball which Steve Morgan slid in to score. More Saints pressure followed and Morgan got the ball in the back of the net but his effort was flagged offside. Not long after Morgan scored a great header at the back post from another Hackett cross from the right. 3-3.
At this point it looked like there was only one team going to win, however, to their credit the visitors dug in deep and from a rare attack at the time Matthews scored his second to put his side back in the lead 3-4.
Llanrhaeder were now back in the game after all The Saints earlier pressure. They were awarded a free kick on the halfway line which was taken quickly, the ball some how found it’s way to Griffiths who ran through and scored. 3-5.
The Saints then piled on the pressure but just couldn’t find the net, I lost count the number of corners we had. In the 92nd minute Captain Stu Davies bundled the ball over line from another corner making it 4-5, unfortunately there was just enough time for Llan to take the restart before the final whistle went. Ft 4-5.
At 3-3 I would of bet my house on us winning this game, we had gone from 0-3 down to 3-3, we had the wind, they were arguing with each other and we were attacking from all angles. I have my own ideas what wrong but saying that they dug in deep and got a deserved win in the end because we took our foot off the gas. Our man of the match for me was Brendan Hackett, a goal and two assists plus his work rate closely followed by Matty James who put in a quality shift.
Team –
Tom Lewis, Jordan Baker(Rory Hackett), Matt Croose, Steve Goodwin, Will Goodwin(Chris Preece), Matt James, Stu Davies(c), Rob Snedden(Ryan Davies), Jack Biggs, Brendan Hackett, Steve Morgan.
