NATHANIEL CARS
LLANTWIT MAJOR ...... 1 WEST END ..................... 0
AN 11th goal of the season from top scorer Rob Jones settled the outcome of this run of the mill encounter at Windmill Lane, writes Tony Poole.
Llantwit Major had only experienced the thrill of the chase once since December 9 when drawing 1-1 at leaders STM Sports.
A 2-1 win at Croesyceiliog on January 13 was their only subsequent outing – and it showed against former Welsh League champions West End from Pryderi Park.
The Windmillers looked rusty early on, but they soon brushed it off with Kyran Gardner sliding in Rob Jones only for him to shoot over the top.
A promising move involving Sammy Snaith and Gardner then came to grief owing to an off-side flag.
Soon after Rob Jones worked the goalkeeper with a testing free kick, and a rare raid from the West Enders led to Jamie Miller making a crucial intervention.
But in the run up to half time, Llantwit cranked up the pressure to produce the match winner.
They won a succession of corners, and Rob Jones didn’t know too much about the ball pinging off him and nestling in the net.
Into the second half and once more Snaith was well positioned to double the lead, but he failed to do so.
Manager Karl Lewis then sent on recent Port Talbot Town acquisition Michael Hartley, who put some jam on their display.
The ex-Bryntirion Athletic star served Jonny Butler with a grand pass only for the goalkeeper to pull off an equally fine save.
Substitute Ben Cripps then missed out one-on- one, but West End continued to mimic a one-paced racehorse.
They did force Jack Landsdown into tipping one shot over the bar, but other than that there was little in the way of goal threat.
This Saturday Llantwit Major have the return derby at Dinas Powys – the reverse fixture ended 2-2 back on October 28.