A mixture of youth and experience were on show Wednesday evening as Hay Reserves beat Sennybridge 3-2 in the Corries Cup courtesy of strikes from Mike Havard, Steve Goodwin and Kevin Goodwin.
The Saints got off to a flying start when an early free-kick by S. Goodwin was put into the danger area and Havard provided the finishing touch with an instinctive finish. A superb counter-attack by Hay, following a ‘Bridge corner, allowed them to add a second. Tom Wilkes bought the ball forward before finding K. Goodwin who in turn set up S. Goodwin; the midfielder took one touch before superbly finding the top corner with a trademark strike from 30 yards. Soon after, Hay added a third when Havard’s vision saw him play a long pass over the defence to K. Goodwin and the striker lobbed the onrushing ‘keeper. Sennybridge battled their way back into the game towards the end of the half with a deep cross from the left was picked up by a forward run from their midfielder and he powered a half-volley into the back of the net via the post. Hay could have added a fourth after excellent link up between Wilkes and S. Goodwin with the latter forcing a good save from the ‘keeper from an acute angle, although he did have options for the pass.
The second-half had less incident but both sides still threatened. For Hay, S. Goodwin saw a free-kick tipped away whilst his younger brother Will Goodwin also went close with a long-range effort. Alex Simmonds volley forced the ‘keeper into a save whilst at the other end, the route one tactic was used reguarly by Sennybridge but Sam Bradley and Liam Pugh dealt well with it. Sennybridge pulled another goal back when a deep cross into the box wasn’t caught by ‘keeper Ben Barrell under pressure and the attacker nodded in to make it 3-2. Late on, Sennybridge were reduced to ten men when youngster Rhodri Morris kicked out at Simmonds, right under the nose of the linesman.
It was a pleasing start to pre-season for the Reserves and their manager Andrew Harris. The Saints started the game with some excellent football and thoroughly deserved their early lead although the performance dropped from then on, perhaps due to the heat. Harris will have cast his eye over a number of the younger members of the squad, with a couple making their senior debuts. There were many decent performances on the night but man of the match goes to Havard, who used all his experience and know how to guide the Saints to victory.
Hay: Barrell, Jenkins, Pugh, Bradley, Bounds (Williams), Howard (Simmonds), Havard, S. Goodwin, Wilkes, K. Goodwin (Davies), W. Goodwin.