THE HERALD FRIDAY JANUARY 20 2017 Like us on Facebook facebook.com/thellanelliherald


71 Sports Keeper’s blunder proves costly Reds shine under Stebo rainbow


Llandovery AFC Drefach


1 2


AFTER a minute silence for


the late Graham Taylor, a genuine nice guy of football, Llandovery AFC’s footballing year got under way with a home game to Drefach, Llandovery’s bogey team in Division 2. The game started brightly,


with Llandovery pushing forward searching for the opening goal, forcing the away team to sit deeply as they got used to the pace of the game. In a game that was always


going to be about the counter- attack, Drefach broke through the Llandovery defence and their striker found themselves one-on- one with Llandovery goalkeeper Alan Ormston, with the goalkeeper denying the striker the opportunity to get his name on the scoresheet with a perfect slide tackle. Minutes later, Llandovery right


winger Daniel Pearce continued his scoring ways with a cool finish that left the opposition stunned. With Drefach one down,


they had to attack and tested Llandovery’s defence at every available opportunity. Breaking through once more, Drefach’s striker met Ormston, who robbed the striker of possession for the second time in the match. Llandovery captain Josh


Archer settled the team’s nerves by orchestrating the team from the middle of the park and worked his socks off throughout the game to break down the opposition’s style of play and create chances for the lads ahead of him. With Chris Challenger and


Huw Jones-Davies alongside Archer, Llandovery’s attackers, Chris Davies, Luis Simao and Daniel Pearce, were able to put the


opposition’s defence into a spin and found themselves with chances that were unfortunate not to hurt the Drefach side. Experience was key in


Llandovery’s defence, with Alan Brown and Tobi Rees at the heart of the defensive line and with Lewis Bailey and Ross Davies bossing the flanks. In the second half, Drefach


fought hard to grab the equaliser and were rewarded for their efforts when the muddy pitch slowed a back pass to Llandovery’s keeper, who was too committed to stop, and turned inside out by the Drefach striker who found himself with an open goal and smashed the ball into the back of the net. The goal’s sting put the fight


back into Llandovery, who started to stroke the ball around the pitch, taking as few touches as possible so they could force themselves back into the game. Ormston was called into action


again and did well to make several saves, including a volley from the edge of the box that saw the keeper diving low to his left to push the ball away for a corner. But it was Ormston who cost


Llandovery the game after failing to deal with a low shot at his near post when the ball struck his side and bounced into the goal, leaving the goalkeeper thumping the ground in frustration and disappointment. Being a team that refuses to


back down, Llandovery’s outfield went back to their attacking ways and forced the Drefach defence to work hard to stop the home team from equalising and won set-pieces in deadly areas, but were kept out by a stubborn opposition. Despite losing the game,


Llandovery can hold their heads up high for their fighting spirit and never-back-down attitude.


Tomas treble gives Seaside easy win Seaside


Penllergaer


7 0


SEASIDE closed the gap on


league leaders Evans and Williams with a comfortable 7-0 win over Penllergaer on Saturday (Jan 14). The home side took an early lead


in the opening minutes when a cross from the left was headed in from 10 yards by Marc Smolka. The lead was doubled after


nine minutes when a cross by Sean Rogers resulted in the defender scoring an own goal. On 15 minutes, it was three wh


en Callum Thomas scored with a low drive to the bottom corner from 30 yards. With two minutes of the first


half remaining, Leon Goddard played in Ben Honeybun who made no mistake from 12 yards. Only five minutes of the second


half had passed when the home side were reduced to 10 men when Marc Smolka was sent off. This did not affect the game as


Seaside made it five after a fine run from Sean Rogers, who hit a superb strike from 25 yards which flew into the back of the net. On 71 minutes, it was six when


Owain Goddard’s strike came back off the post to Callum Thomas to tap into an empty net. With 12 minutes left, Callum


Thomas completed his hat trick with a shot from just inside the box to make the final score 7-0. On Saturday (Jan 21),


Penllergaer will be looking to put this result behind them when they are at home to bottom side Gorseinon. Seaside are also at home against


mid table Tumble United on the same day.


when a beautiful cross from the stand side found him in a couple of yards of space with the Abergavenny defenders appearing to stand still. Jones made no mistake as he volleyed the ball into the left hand corner of the net to make it 1-0 going into the interval. With the rainbow now spanning


Llanelli Town Abergavenny Town


2 0


THEY say you can find gold


at the end of the rainbow, but for Abergavenny Town, all they could find was pasta, garlic bread and a pint of Stebo's best ale after the game on Saturday (Jan 14). To be fair, the visitors did play some


good football and they came close on a number of occasions. Man of the match Craig 'Hovis' Morris was the only thing in their way and he made sure he was in the way as much as possible, coming off his line bravely as the last man in defence to deny the Blues a goal. The air also appeared to be blue as


the referee and linesmen came in for the wrath of both sets of players and coaching staff. It got to the point where the ref took out the yellow card nine times and eventually the red card for some lip from Abergavenny's Brett Anderson. No oranges at half time anymore at Stebo; it is a quick clean up, some liquids and back onto the lush green pitch. Last time the Reds and Blues played,


it was a close game until the Stebo Gold that is Lee Trundle got three in the last minutes of the game. Absent for this important cup quarter final, it certainly


Alan Evans alan.evans@herald.email


was a test for the Reds to prove that they are indeed less of a cowardly lion and scarecrow and more determined than Dorothy. There were moments when one could see where Trundle was needed. There was a shortage of physical strength up front. Jordan Follows donned the lucky 10 shirt. He came close a number of times but the finishing was not there and the Abergavenny keeper, Tom Inge, pulled off a fair few cracking saves. Trundle's stand in was Luke Jones,


no stranger to goal-scoring himself. True to form, he got the Reds off the mark


from Parc Howard to Pemberton and the Parc y Scarlets Stadium, where west is not wicked but best, The Herald half expected Judy Garland to be played over the tannoy and for us to be told that the Wonderful Wizard of Trunds was about to come on and liven up the game and the crowd who, by now, were sneaking off to the club. Those who opted to be first at the bar may have just missed the final goal in stoppage time as Jordan Follows repeated his previous forays into the box but this time he made no mistake and sent it into the bottom right hand corner of the net to take the final score to Llanelli Town 2 – Abergavenny Town 0. The Reds now join Bridgend Street,


Caerau Ely and Haverfordwest County in the semi-finals of the competition. The Reds have a vital league game


on Saturday (Jan 21) at Stebonheath with the visit of AFC Porth, who are currently third in the table. Kick off is at 2pm.


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