NATHANIEL CARS WELSH FOOTBALL LEAGUE RESERVE DIVISION WEST
AFC LLWYDCOED ........ 5 ABERDARE TOWN ........ 3
LLWYDCOED gained a late victory thanks to four goals from Callum Henry, two from penalties and a cracker from young Matthew Jones.
The Town played their part in an absorbing match they led 1-3 early in the second half.
The Llwydcoed management team of Steve Jenkins and Jonothan Price made three changes from last week with Lewis Bansal, Matthew Phillips and Luke Evans receiving the call-up.
The match began and Llwydcoed raced into an early lead a superb diagonal ball out of defence by defender Stuart Evans gave Callum Henry the opportunity he accepted, showed excellent skill controlling the pass and rounded the Town goalkeeper David Gregory to score. What a start.
The Town responded and began to threaten the Llwydcoed goal and soon equalised through Tom Evans after some excellent play by their midfield, the Town were dominant by passing the Llwydcoed midfield with Ricky Evans, Liam Lewis and Sam Phillips combining. They had some excellent chances that were missed and a shot from Levi Jones that crashed against the bar. More pressure from Town saw the Llwydcoed goalkeeper Callum Quinton pull off a top save, stopping Scott Griffiths from scoring. Llwydcoed’s defence was by far the busier thanks to Richard Morgan and Stuart Evans they organised to stop the threat, but after Llwydcoed turned defence into attack through Conner Waters, the Town scored a deserved second goal from Tom Evans. The first half finished with Llwydcoed very fortunate to be only one goal in arrears.
The second half started with Llwydcoed making an immediate substitution with young Connor Williams making his début. The second half began with Llwydcoed making a tactical switch with Luke Garthwaite playing in a more defensive role, it seemed to stop the threat of Ricky Evans and Llwydcoed began to control possession with Luke Evans, Rob Evans and Connor Waters linking up the play but back came the Town.
They threatened the Llwydcoed goal and won a penalty and Liam Lewis scored.
The match was the Town’s to lose. Llwydcoed responded. The elusive Callum Henry scored straight away to reduce the score, the match was now wide open. Both teams using their substitutes Matthew Jones for Llwydcoed the Town’s defence had not pressured for any sustained time when it was Sam Phillips was dominant but he could not do anything to stop Llwydcoed they had a 20-minute purple spell and equalised when Callum Henry was fouled to equalise from the spot. More pressure saw the hosts’ Luke Evans and Luke Garthwaite winning possession and create chance after chance, they won a corner and won a penalty for a handball offence stopping a Richard Morgan header. Up stepped Callum Henry to score and complete his hat-trick. Llwydcoed’s midfield had turned the game on its head, could the Town create another opportunity?
Llwydcoed remained solid and they had more chances after the Town goalkeeper David Gregory made a series of saves. Llwydcoed’s Matthew Jones finished off a lovely move with a top shot to seal victory.