Hay St. Mary’s Reserves breezed past bottomed placed Saint Harmon at Forest Road, with a convincing 8-0 victory. With Alec Winstone out banned, Sam Bradley took over the captaincy whilst there was also a return on the bench for Dan Jones, who had been missing with a back injury for the past month and Toby Johnson, who had been suffering with an ankle injury.
The Saints had an early opportunity to take the lead, when Jon Sly was felled in the box but Ben Bevan’s spot-kick was screwed wide. Bevan made up for the miss though soon after when he headed in at the back-post. Bradley then doubled the advantage when he won another penalty and converted it with ease. Johnson’s rasping drive smashed the cross-bar before Sly made it three before half-time, when he controlled Jamie Howard’s strike and tucked it away in the corner from close-range.
The Saints continued to attack ferociously in the second-half in the wet conditions, although the pitch held up well. They added further goals when a Bevan corner was headed into the net by a Saint Harmon player. Sly grabbed his second of the afternoon when a cross from the right deceived the goalie and flew into the far post. The hard-working Lloyd Holland made it seven when he poked home after a goal-mouth scramble. Bevan came close to making it eight when his powerful long-range effort smashed against the post before an eighth was scored by Kevin Goodwin, when he cut in from the left, beating two before firing in at the near-post through the defender’s legs. Ian Jones had a very quiet afternoon but had to be on his toes late on when he made a good reflex block after some slack defending. In the final moments, sub Courtney Metcalfe won a third penalty of the day and took it himself, firing powerfully off the bar and into the net.
The Saints were guilty at times of individuals trying to do too much at times; too often players wanted to score and were doing a little too much but when the side were knocking it around, there was some very good football on show. Next up for the Reserves is a trip to CP Llandaras next Saturday.
Saints: I. Jones, G. Ratcliffe (D.Jones), S. Bradley, C. Ward, Z. Snape, K. Goodwin, T. Johnson (A. Simmonds), L. Holland, J. Howard (C.Metcalfe), B. Bevan, J. Sly.