Hay Reserves came through a tough match at St. Harmon with a 3-0 victory; Andrew Harris was without a host of regulars due to injury, and work commitments with a number of fringe players introduced on the day. The Saints had to be patient in front of goal, with all three strikes coming in the last half-hour, with Kevin Goodwin grabbing two before John Sly ended proceedings with the third.
On a difficult pitch, made worse by a swirling wind, the Saints struggled in the first-half to create any clear-cut chances. Free-kicks from Zack Snape and Jamie Howard were speculative whilst Liam Pugh’s burst out of defence gave him the opportunity to strike from 30 yards but the ‘keeper gathered with ease. Lee Miles showed good strength and skill on a couple of occasions around the area but couldn’t finish his chances, going close with one shot which went just past the near-post. The hosts were playing on the counter-attack but failed to create any chance of note in the first-half. The Saints were threatening from a series of corners, with headed efforts from Snape and Toby Johnson, playing in a central defensive role, cleared off the line. As half-time approached, the Saints thought they had a penalty when Sly was bought down inside the area and the referee pointed to the spot; however, after a discussion with the home linesman, the penalty was over-turned and a very debatable offside decision was awarded.
Harris opted to keep things the same for the start of the second-half but the Saints were still struggling to find that elusive first-goal. Jake Atkinson and Howard tried their luck from long-range but failed to hit the target. St. Harmon nearly took the lead with their only real shot of the game, when a long-ball was chased down by their striker, who beat the offside trap but was foiled by the out-rushing Chris Lloyd. The manager then decided to change to three up front, with Goodwin pushing up top and they were soon rewarded when a ball in from the right broke to Goodwin, who smashed in with his left-foot from a tight-angle. Sub David Evans did all the hard-work when he beat two men with some nifty touches and good pace but failed to hit the target from an excellent central position. Hay were soon celebrating a second though, after good work on the right-wing from Tom Wilkes, who beat his marker before playing a ball across the face of the goal where Goodwin was waiting; he dragged the ball back past his man before firing in from close-range. Pugh nearly scored a bizarre goal when he hammerd a huge clearence from the half-way line and it looped towards goal with the ‘keeper trying to catch the ball but dropping it and the ball fell agonisingly wide of the post. Late on, a Goodwin corner was headed goalwards by Evans, with the ‘keeper blocking it on the line before Sly followed up lashing in from five yards out to make it three. In stoppage-time, Goodwin weaved his way round a couple of defenders but saw two close-range efforts blocked by some last-ditch defensing, as he went in search of his hattrick.
It was always going to be a tough encounter for the Reserves, with the number of men they were missing and although they dominated the match throughout, they had to be patient in front of goal. At the end of the day though, it’s the result that counts and not the number of goals you score. A number of players shone all the day, with Gareth Ratcliffe having a tidy match at right-back, after making the step-up from the thirds. Next up for Hay is the visit of Rhosgoch on Tuesday evening, in what is sure to be a good encounter. Fingers crossed that the players missing today will be fit to return on for this game.
Reserves: C. Lloyd, G. Ratcliffe, L. Pugh, T. Johnson, Z. Snape, J. Atkinson, T. Wilkes, J. Howard, K. Goodwin, L. Miles, J. Sly.
Subs: A. Simmonds, D. Jones, D. Evans.