WELSH LEAGUE

DIVISION 2

ABERDARE remain winless after this capitulation against no more than a decent, hard-working outfit and this disappointingly in front of good home support for this Friday night fixture.

There was a return to the starting line-up after a long suspension for Lewis Holder, with Richard Ingram also returning to bolster the midfield.

Things began brightly with Rhys Tandy producing some neat touches and the front line of Seb Haggett and Elliot Morris causing a few early headaches for the Village rear guard. The visitors were producing little to trouble the hosts and it came as no surprise when Town opened the scoring in the 19th minute. Holder broke up a Village break, slotting a pass to Tandy who found the overlapping Josh Powell with a sweet pass and who in turn, after a run toward the byline put in a cross which retreating centre back Jack Jenkins could only head against his own crossbar. The ball rebounded into the path of the alert Haggett who swept home clinically for a deserved lead.

Aberdare continued to look comfortable but the complexion and course of the game was to change in a mad few minutes just on the half-hour mark. Powell and Village’s Mickey Morris were involved in a bit of handbags and went into referee Jones’ book as did Sion Williams of Village for some after-theevent verbals. The free kick was Village’s, awarded for Powell’s initial push and it was to prove so costly. The ball was floated into the Town penalty box and keeper Clint Forbes could only flap into the path of Kurtis Morgan who rifled home.

Two minutes later and a similar hoof into the box was not dealt with and Morgan snatched his second.

The game had turned on its head and a shellshocked Aberdare found it difficult to regain the early composure though before half-time there was a third booking for the visitors with Jenkins the recipient of the yellow card.

Elliot Morris, who had been out of sorts for a few days leading up to the game, was replaced at half-time by John Phillips but it was not long before Village added a third when another high ball into the Town penalty area saw the defence again switched off with Jenkins, who had come up for the preceding set piece finding himself unmarked and gratefully converting the gift presented him.

Andrew Ellis and latterly Rikki Evans were introduced in an attempt to freshen things up but even when Village were reduced to 10 men after a straight red was brandished at Callum Silcox for kicking out at Town central defender Leigh Hartshorn, they absorbed the pressure with reasonable comfort up until the last 10 minutes, including several minutes of injurytime allocated by the official.

During these final throes, Haggett struck the base of the post, a Hartshorn header was cleared off the line and a Rikki Evans thunderbolt tipped away superbly by Dafydd Jones.

But these late salvoes should not hide from the fact that this was generally a lethargic display lacking a cutting edge and any semblance of the dynamism required to compete at the top end of this league.

The outcome thus leaves Town adrift at the bottom end of the division perilously close to the relegation area and although only early into the season already sees the alarm bells begin to ring.