The Saints got off to a good start in The Spar Mid Wales league after winning 1-4 at local rivals Presteigne.
Scorers- C.Preece(2), K.Jones(1), S.Goodwin(1).
A fantastic start in the Spar League for the Saints saw them come away with the 3 points against Presteigne on Wednesday night. After taking an early lead through Chris Preece , Sam Williams equalised however, further goals from Kevin Jones, Steve Goodwin and a second for Preece gave the Saints the start in the league that Chris Baynton and his assistant Vernon Weale were after.
The Saints couldn’t have wished for a better start as from the kick off they gained a corner on the right and from Tom Weavers cross Chris Preece headed home at the far post. Following this the Saints had plenty of possession and were looking comfortable on the ball however, they let the home side back in to the game and then started playing too much long ball which we were not able to keep well enough.
Presteigne’s equaliser came from a long ball down the middle and unfortunately Wes Evans slipped on the greasy surface and Sam Williams was on to the ball in a flash. He took the ball in to the box side stepped a covering defender and came back on to his left foot for a neat finish past Becksy into the bottom left corner.
Shortly after Hay were back into the lead, at which time it was probably against the run of play, when Becksy kicked a long clearance which Kev Jones dealt with superbly, holding off a defender and beating the advancing keeper right footed .
Presteigne created a couple of other chances with the best falling to Joey Price who beat two defenders and got himself in to the box only to shoot straight at Becksy. A 20 yard Williams free kick also went wide of the Saints right hand post.
At the other end Kev and Weavs both had good chances to increase the lead before half time with Kev going through and shooting narrowly wide. Weavs was left on the far post with only the keeper to beat and from a tightish angle hit the side netting. HT 1-2
In the second half both keepers were bought into action more often with both making some very good saves. Luke Brimfield in the Presteigne goal made one outstanding close range save from Josh Wisnieweski , denying Wis a deserved goal on the night.
The Saints continued to make chances with Dan Jones doing very well down the right before pulling the ball back to the edge of the box where Wis fired over. It seemed that the important third goal may not come however, from a left sided corner Wis got a great near post header cleared off the line only for Steve Goodwin to cap a fine display by firing home from 5 yards. Presteigne kept pushing and had a couple of corners which were dealt with by good defensive headers by Evans and Preece.
Preece’s night was not over yet though as Wis skinned a Presteigne defender on the right hand side bye line and played Preecy in to the box where he managed to beat the keeper from an acute angle to really put the icing on the cake.
The Saints introduced young Will Goodwin for Weavs wide left and a little later Stu Davies replaced a tiring Sam Maglothling in central midfield. With about 15 to go Garry Keeble came on for Chris Preece wide right.
A very satisfying first result in the Spar although it is recognised that in fact this overall performance can be improved upon in the coming weeks and months. Well done to all players, including the two unused subs Josh Davies and Liam Pugh, and management – you have had a great start. Lets kick on from here and improve again.
Team;Steve Price,Dan Jones,Gavin Williams,Steve Goodwin,Wes Evans,Josh Wisniewski,Chris Preece(Garry Keeble),Sam Mayglothling(Stu Davies),Brian Dyer,Tom Weaver(Will Goodwin),Kevin Jones. Unused subs;Josh Davies,Liam Pugh