AUTOCENTRES GWENT COUNTY DIVISION TWO
LLANHILLETH ATHLETIC ...................... 1 LUCAS CWMBRAN ....... 5
LLANHILLETH Athletic slumped to a 1-5 reverse at the hands of Lucas Cwmbran after having to play the second half with only 10 men following the dismissal of Nathan Thomas at the Park.
The midfielder received his second yellow card within three minutes following two over-zealous challenges, the latter on the stroke of half-time.
Athletic were playing their first game on home soil for over four months following postponements and double fixture bookings, their last fixture on the Park being August 27, 2016.
The hosts welcomed back Paul Nicholls after over 12 months out with a serious knee injury and although originally named as a substitute he started at left-back after an 11th hour withdrawal by veteran defender Michael Hurn.
The visitors took the game to their opponents from the off and only some resolute defending kept the scores level, Lucas thought they had opened the scoring when Ryan James headed home at the back post, but his effort was ruled out for offside.
When the deadline was broken, it was a fortunate break for Cwmbran that saw Alex Fry toe-poke home after blocking a clearance low down that left him needing treatment and both teams seeing the funny side of his injury.
Llanhilleth were sparked into action and Michael Bond saw his ferocious drive whistle past the post, but as their inability to break down the visitors’ defence frustrated the home side, tempers started to flare and Gwyn Warner soon found himself in the referee’s notebook.
Goalkeeper Nicky Townsend kept the visitors at bay palming away a goal-bound effort, but soon after Thomas received his first caution and shortly after his second and the hosts knew the second half would be an uphill struggle.
Lucas extended their lead within three minutes of the restart through striker Alex Cooke, James scoring soon after with a header to make it 3-0.
Nicholls left the fray after giving a good account of himself on his first game back, replaced by Ethan Pitt, but with a minute Cooke had bagged his second and the game was all but over as a contest.
The home defence were under constant bombardment and a tremendous treble save from Townsend denied another goal, but he left soon after through injury to be replaced by Warner between the sticks.
Bond fired home a consolation goal following smart work down the right by Robbie Davies, but this only fired the opposition as they went on the offensive for the final 10 minutes, forcing Warner to make a string of fine saves to deny Lucas until Jamie Arnold finally scored in the last minute.
Both sets of players were left to reflect after the match with the visitors left in disbelief that they had only mustered five goals when a doublefigure scoreline would have done them justice but for the efforts of the two Llanhilleth goalkeepers used.