Hay Reserves went down to a late 3-2 home defeat to Talgarth Town in the Mid Wales South League Cup. Andrew Harris’s men got off to a flying start with goals from Alec Winstone and Kevin Goodwin to shock their opponents but a penalty from Brian Keddle before the break paved the way for a route back into the game for Town. They took that in the second-half, despite a red-card, with goals from Gav Perry and Gareth Aplin.
The first-half saw both sides threaten early on with Mike Ward holding the ball up well before turning and shooting just past the post from 20 yards out. At the other end, Keddle and Rob McNamara’s intelligent runs were keeping the Saints back three of Sam Bradley, Liam Pugh and Winstone busy but early efforts at Ian Jones didn’t extend the ‘keeper. Hay nearly took the lead when Tom Wilkes was fouled just outside the area; Jamie Howard took the resulting free-kick which was superbly struck, and he was only denied a goal by a slight hand from the ‘keeper and the inside of the post/crossbar, with the ball rolling across the line before being cleared. The Saints were celebrating a goal soon after though when a Kevin Goodwin corner was lifted into the area, and Winstone was on hand to head in, with his effort too powerful for the ‘keeper to hold. Talgarth reacted positively, with a Perry free-kick well stopped by Jones and a follow-up effort striking the crossbar. Matty Drew was also denied by the impressive ‘keeper, at blank-range with Jones superbly closing down the midfielder’s strike. Talgarth were made to regret these missed chances when a lifted Gareth Ratcliffe pass wasn’t dealt with by the defenders and Goodwin fired past the goalie with a powerful left-foot half-volley. Hay though couldn’t hold out for the rest of the half as Talgarth found a way back into the game when Howard mis-timed a tackle inside the area and a penalty was given; Keddle took it and scored, despite Jones guessing the right way.
The second-half was always going to be difficult for Hay with Talgarth sure to attack from the off, and they nearly equalised when a soft free-kick in the opening minute of the half was conceded. Perry took it with power but Jones held on. Long-range efforts from Wilkes and Howard failed to trouble the away ‘keeper as Talgarth pushed forward in numbers; McNamara twisted and turned inside the box but saw his effort blocked whilst Drew sent in a long-range shot but failed to hit the target. Talgarth managed to equalise mid-way through the half when a run by McNamara on the right resulted in his cross being acrobatically converted by Perry inside the area. Hay were playing on the break with Goodwin, and sub David Evans doing their best to chase down everything but chances were hard to come by. Talgarth were reduced to ten men when Gareth Pugh was shown a second-yellow card but it was the visitors who made that elusive final breakthrough when sub Aplin was given too much room to exploit and he broke into the box before firing past the onrushing Jones to hand the tie to Talgarth.
Given the changes in personnel in recent weeks for Harris, his team put up a good performance against one of the strongest teams in the league. Jones in particular put in an excellent performance, making some key saves whilst Ceri Ward also impressed in a central midfield role, where he worked tirelessly. Next up for the Saints is the visit of Radnor Valley on Friday evening, where Harris will be hoping to have one or two new faces in the squad.
Saints Reserves: Jones, Ratcliffe, Bradley, Pugh, Winstone, Snape, C. Ward, Wilkes, J. Howard, M. Ward, Goodwin.
Subs: Williams, Simmonds, Evans.