Hay St. Marys’ Reserves were held to a 1-1 draw away at Talgarth Rovers in a local derby league match. Tom Pavey poked home mid-way through the second-half to hand the hosts a slender advantage, which was eventually breached by Saints’ captain Alec Winstone in the closing stages to mean the spoils were shared.
The opening stages were very scrappy, with Rovers showing the early intent; strong running from Danny Graham up front, and the Pavey twins on either wing caused the Saints defence problems. Returning ‘keeper Ian Jones blocked a powerful long-range effort from Scott Powell whilst at the other end, good link-up between Ollie Cooke and Mike Ward saw the latter fire a powerful half-volley into the body of the ‘keeper. Graham fired over from a tight-angle after a break but otherwise, the first-half saw few chances at either end as Hay disappointed.
The second-half saw Andrew Harris revert back to a 4-4-2 formation, with Kevin Goodwin replacing Haydn Williams five minutes in. The change in tactics offered the Saints more width, and they started to gain some kind of momentum in the attacking third. However, it was the hosts who took the lead when they won a free-kick on the right. Joel Weale delivered a deep cross and the ball broke to T. Pavey who poked in from six yards past the helpless Jones. Hay needed to respond quickly but were frustrated in front of goal, with many attacks breaking down. Goodwin made headway down the left on a number of occasions, with some Maradona-esque runs but too often, he was guilty of trying to beat one too many men. A superbly weighted Jamie Howard through ball found Goodwin but his left-foot strike was beaten away by the home goalie. Hay did find the equalising goal when Winstone, as so often, bought the ball out of defence, taking on a couple of men in midfield, before firing a low shot past the ‘keeper from 20 yards. He nearly repeated the feat with a similar move, but he saw his left-foot shot fly just over the bar. Rovers had a number of counter-attacks in the closing-stages as Hay pushed many men forward in search of an unlikely, and undeserved winner but they failed to find it, and each side would have to settle for a point.
The performance was the worst one put in the Saints so far this season; the chopping and changing in faces in the team has led to an unsettled team which has made it difficult for manager Andrew Harris, who will no doubt be looking for some consistency in his team-selection in coming weeks so that the Saints can get back to the form that saw them get off to a flying start this campaign.
Saints: I. Jones, D. Jones, Bradley, Winstone, Snape, H. Williams, J. Howard, T. Johnson, R. Snedden, O. Cooke, M. Ward.
Subs: A. Simmonds, W. Morgan, D. Evans, K. Goodwin.