Steve Goodwin and Sam Powell in action.
The Saints bowed out of The Welsh Cup after a lackluster performance at Welsh League division 2 side Caerau Ely.
The Saints played into a strong wind in the first half and nearly took the lead in the 4th minute when Steve Goodwin won the ball in the middle of the park after a poor kick from the home keeper, Goodwin lobbed the ball back over the advanced keepers head but it went inches wide. Caerau’s first chance came from a corner on 15 minutes when an unmarked players point blank header was heading towards the top corner but Steve Price tipped it over the bar.
On 17 minutes Captain Chris Preece won a header but was kicked in the head and had to leave the field of play for treatment, from the resulting free kick Price found Kevin Jones who held off the centre half and slipped a pass to Gavin Williams, Williams dropped his shoulder in the box and beat 2 men before finishing well from 14 yards out 0-1.
Caerau saw loads of the ball due to the wind and got a deserved equaliser on 25 minutes with their striker shooting from the edge of the box into the bottom corner. 10 minutes later it was 2-1 to the homeside with a through ball which their striker latched onto after outpacing The Saints defence.
Price had to make a couple saves from long range efforts but besides that The Saints coped quite well with the conditions and must have felt confident going in at half time just 2-1 down with the strong wind in their favour in the second half. ht 2-1.
The first couple of minutes of the second half were as expected with the visitors putting pressure on Caerau which resulted in a couple of corners, from the second corner there was a goalmouth scramble which finally got cleared up the pitch, a mistake from a Saints defender played in an advancing Caerau midfilder who scored to make it 3-1.
On the hour Price was again called into action making a brilliant one on one save from the home striker, The Saints did have a couple of good long range efforts first from striker Jones whose goal bound shot was well saved and Tom Weaver whose 25 yard effort was again well saved. The rest of the game the homeside dominated and in truth could of scored several more but for some poor finishing and good goalkeeping from Price, Caerau did add 2 more in the 75th minute after a defensive mistake and in the 80th minute after a quick free kick caught out the visitors. ft 5-1.
This was a strange game, as I felt very confident we would go through at half time but our second half performance was one of the worst I’ve sen in a long time and to be fair to Caerau they played excellent attacking into the wind.
We wish Caerau the best of luck in the next round where they will face Afon Lido from The Welsh league division 1 at home.
Team- Steve Price, Josh Wisniewski, Chris Preece(c), Stuart Davies(Tom Weaver), Phil Davies, Gavin Williams, Steve Goodwin, Josh Davies, Bryan Dyer(Sam Powell), Kevin Jones, Will Goodwin(Jamie Howard) unused sub Ian Jones.