THE NATHANIEL CAR SALES WELSH FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION TWO
PONTYPRIDD TOWN ... 4 AFC LLWYDCOED ........ 1
LLWYDCOED’S recent three-match winning run came to an end against promotion favourites Pontypridd who scored three late goals after Llwydcoed had held them at bay for long periods.
The visitors goalkeeper Ryan Griffiths was their Man of the Match with some fantastic saves.
The match started with Llwydcoed manager Lee Williams making one change with Liam Price receiving the call filling in for Morgan Andrews (holiday).
The opening 15 minutes saw the Town creating chance after chance. The crossbar and post saved Llwydcoed from conceding and then a series of excellent saves from Ryan Griffiths kept the score goalless.
The Town were attacking through Danny Hooper, Ellis Bellamy and Luke Gullick and from this they opened the scoring through Gavin Beddard. The Llwydcoed players responded to this torrid opening and showed brilliant character and began to build through Jay Woodford, Ioan Evans and Luke Garthwaite bringing the excellent Rikki Evans into attacking positions and they did not have to wait long for the equaliser, the Town goalkeeper David Burnett miss-kicked his clearance to Ioan Evans he gained possession slipped it through to Rikki Evans to score.
Back came Town through Andy Smith and Danny Hooper but the Llwydcoed defence/midfield were organised with Stuart Evans settling his team down.
The rest of the first half was Llwydcoed’s best spell with Scott Walters in superb form breaking out of defence through Luke Garthwaite, Jay Woodford finding Liam Price in space. The match had swung towards Llwydcoed. It was the Town defence who were under pressure whose defenders Rhys McCarthy and Nyron Bird had to combine to stop the danger. Chances came and went through Liam Price who was unable to pick out a Llwydcoed player when through on three occasions. An exciting first half finished level.
The second half started much better for Llwydcoed than the first thankfully they had the best chance early with Ricky Carter forcing an excellent save from Town goalkeeper David Burnett. More good play by Llwydcoed through Gabriel Williams and Scott Walters allowing Rikki Evans to attack the Town defence who knew they were in the game. A brilliant response by the young Llwydcoed players. The Town came through this difficult period and regained their composure, they began to control possession a major factor for this was the Llwydcoed players had not played since December 16 so the match fitness was not as it should be. The visitors’ defence/midfield were being pushed back on the defensive. The Town won a free kick and the Llwydcoed goalkeeper Ryan Griffiths made a miraculous save moving one way and saved the deflection as it was moved the opposite way tipping it over the bar. Back came the Town and they finally broke open the Llwydcoed shape with Luke Gullick, Gavin Beddard and James Hill scoring to give them the platform for victory.