TOWN UNDONE BY POOR SPELL
CARMARTHEN Town fell to fourth place in JD Cymru South after this home defeat on Saturday.
The Old Gold went into the contest in second place in the table, with visitors Briton Ferry Llansawel just a place and a point behind them.
But while Town supporters were hoping for another performance of the quality witnessed in their previous league match against Llanelli, they went away disappointed.
From the start the visitors poured forward with a series of penetrative attacks. Initially the Old Gold defence, centred around the experienced pairing of Lee Surman and Scott Tancock, coped well. But increasingly goalkeeper Ifan Knott was called into action.
Almost inevitably given the pressure the Town goal was under, Ferry took the lead. Alex Gammond sent across a 16th-minute corner and former Carmarthen striker Luke Bowen timed his arrival to perfection to power a close-range header beyond Knott’s reach and into the roof of the net.
The Old Gold responded positively and on 21 minutes Liam Thomas threaded a fine pass to Bradley Gibbings on the edge of the penalty area. He immediately struck a fierce drive, only for keeper Rhys Wilson to drop quickly down and claim the ball.
However, Town maintained this spell of attacking play and were duly rewarded after 24 minutes when Gibbings sent a fine cross to the edge of the area and Dyson fired home. Even though Wilson got a hand to the ball, it hit the post and bounced into the net.
Soon afterwards Carmarthen took the lead. A Ferry defender sent a woefully weak back-pass to Wilson which Thomas comfortably intercepted and promptly drove the ball beyond the stranded keeper and into the empty net.
In the closing 15 minutes of the first half the Old Gold enjoyed their best spell of the match. And Thomas went close to extending their lead when Jordan Vickers embarked on a typically express sprint along the right flank before crossing the ball into the goalmouth where Town’s alltime top scorer sent his close-range header narrowly over the bar.
But Ferry made an explosive start after the interval and put the Town defence under immediate pressure with a stream of penetrative raids. And they were back level within two minutes.
A swift move through midfield opened up the home defence and finished with a fine cross from the left into the goalmouth and Bowen planted his firm header into the corner of the net.
And worse was soon to follow for the Old Gold as another rapid break led to the ball being crossed into the packed area and Tyler Brock forcing it beyond Knott’s reach.
Town at least managed to respond when Gibbings burst into the area, but his drive was kept out by Wilson.
But moments later the visitors pulled two goals clear when another cross into the goalmouth gave Bowen the opportunity to complete a hattrick against his former club.
Yet Carmarthen continued to search for goals. Rickard embarked on a dazzling run, passing three bewildered defenders before seeing his powerful shot slide narrowly wide of the post,
Then Rickard struck a 20-yard volley that Wilson turned around the post at full stretch.
And on 83 minutes Gibbings once more tested Wilson with a 15-yard drive that the keeper was quickly down to claim.
But this flurry of activity was too late, with the game effectively lost in that 15-minute period at the start of the second half.
Carmarthen’s next fixture is away against current league leaders Barry Town this Saturday (2.30pm).