WELSH LEAGUE 2

ABERDARE TOWN ........ 1 AMMANFORD TOWN .. 4

ONE thought things would return to normality after a remarkable couple of weeks of newspaper splashes national and international, radio interviews, TV items and social media frenzy with the brief video going viral of the Risca United encounter, played out and completed in blizzard conditions.

But player dissension culminating in ultimatums saw Aberdare unbowed and field a below-strength line-up who proudly gave all, the final result flattering the visitors with two late goals.

The conditions were clement for this encounter with in-form Ammanford, arriving on the back of three straight wins.

The Aberdare lineup showed several changes with central defender Andrew Fenaroli drafted in as stop-gap keeper with a halffit Matt Flynn and flu victim Ben Gibbs coming in and starting debuts for Rhys Harris and Corey Thomas.

Within five minutes Thomas had seen an 18-yard effort fizzing past the post and moments later made no mistake with a shot from a similar distance finding the net to the left of Amman keeper James Kirkwood.

Ammanford hit back but Fenaroli produced a series of excellent saves defying his lack of experience in this specialist position.

As pressure mounted Gibbs cleared off the line with strong appeals for handball and the resolute Rhys Williams and John Phillips blocked further raids. But inevitably pressure had to tell and an unlucky Fenaroli saw a stop rebound to the alert Rhys Fisher who prodded home.

Just five minutes later the visitors were ahead with referee Wayne Tregonning pointing to the spot and Matt Fisher converting.

The second half play was very even with neither side really threatening, consistently tame finishing resulting from several well-constructed moves.

With not really a bench to call on Matt Flynn was a veritable passenger for the last 30 minutes bravely playing through the pain barrier as was Corey Thomas with cramp that ultimately became so severe that assistant manager Gareth Harbord was called into action.

But still Aberdare more than held their own with Rhys Tandy continuing to cause problems and Seb Haggett fighting a gutsy sole battle up front.

Captain for the night Jordan Coles was certainly displaying his leadership qualities with Matthew Glassey and Rhys Harris working tirelessly to maintain a foothold on proceedings. The efforts of the side were a credit warmly appreciated by the home support, and they only succumbed during the dying embers of the match with late goals for Gavin Jones and Rhys Davies cruelly giving the scoreline a distorted impression to the 95 minutes of football.

Aberdare are reeling from the events of the last six days but with a two-week break ahead, are confident that the ship can be steadied and 2018 can be met with heads high and fears of relegation quickly despatched to the bin and the journey starts on Saturday seeing a home fixture with Swanseabased West End and a 2pm kick off at Aberaman Park.