Sport
Bluebirds begin second phase with important win
ALHAGI Touray Sisay’s goal two minutes into the second-half was enough to give Haverfordwest County an important 1-0 win over 10-man Barry Town United in our opening game of Phase Two in the JD Cymru Premier.
After a relatively even first-half at a sun-drenched Jenner Park, the striker found the net from a tight angle shortly after the interval, and it proved to be the winning goal as County recorded consecutive victories in the league for the first time this season.
The hosts had opportunities to level the scoring, and thought they had done so when Clayton Green’s header from close range was pushed onto the crossbar by the impressive Lee Idzi, with the officials ruling that the ball had not crossed the line.
This victory sees the Bluebirds leapfrog the Dragons into ninth place in the standings, three points behind Cardiff Metropolitan in seventh – who currently occupy top spot in the Play-Off Conference.
Manager Nicky Hayen made three changes to the side that beat Cefn Druids 2-0 last week, with captain Dylan Rees returning from suspension while Corey Shephard and Ricky Watts came into the midfield in place of Kurtis Rees and the injured Kieran Lewis.
The first opportunity of the game fell County’s way. Dylan Rees’ ball over the top picked out Touray Sisay, but the striker saw his shot from inside the area saved by Kelland Absalom.
The Bluebirds had been on the front foot in the opening 15 minutes, but they had to be alert defensively when Jordan Cotterill found space before seeing his shot blocked by Elliot Scotcher.
County’s best opportunity of the half fell to Jordan Davies. After squick interplay in the attacking third, the ball was worked to the unmarked striker on the right side of thee area, but his shot was parried onto Touray Sisay by Absalom, before rebounding back into his grasp.
On the half hour mark, Idzi pulled off an excellent diving save to deny Rhys Abbruzzese’s speculative effort from distance, before getting down well to save Rhys Kavanagh’s shot from close range shortly after as the team’s went into the break level at 0-0.
However, a matter of minutes after the restart, the Bluebirds countered at pace before the excellent Shephard slid a through ball into the path of Touray Sisay, which he calmly slotted between the legs of Absalom to give County the lead.
This goal gave Hayen’s side confidence, as they continued to be on the front foot and looked the likelier team to find the second goal of the afternoon.
But just before the hour mark, the Linnets thought they had drawn level. A free-kick from the right side was met by the head of captain Green, with the ball coming back off the right post and into the path of Idzi, who pushed it onto the crossbar before Scotcher hooked it to safety.
Gavin Chesterfield’s side claimed the ball had crossed the line, but the officials ruled otherwise and the score remained at 1-0.
Green was involved again five minutes later, again with a header, but this time he couldn’t direct it on target as the ball flew wide of the right post.
With just over 20 minutes remaining, the hosts were reduced to 10 men when Cotterill was shown a second yellow card for a late challenge on Dylan Rees.
This allowed County to lower the tempo and see out the game relatively unthreatened in the closing stages, as Hayen’s side held on pick up a crucial three points.
Next up for the Bluebirds is Cefn Druids at the Ogi Bridge Meadow next Saturday, March 12 (Kick-off: 14:30). The game will see Hayen take to the home dugout for the first time since being unveiled as our new manager,
Sport
Swifts eyes on double.
Monkton Swifts reserves have blown away the second division this season and now have the double in their sights. They face Merlins Bridge reserves in the semi final of the second division cup and lived up to their favourites tag.
Swifts won comfortably with key player Butland getting three assists and Josh Sture grabbing a brace. Waterman and Rhys Sture added the other goals as outstanding Monkton won 4-0.
Herbrandston and Johnston played in the other semi final and this was a much harder fixture to call. The promoted Herbie a younger and perhaps less physical outfit in comparison to the Tigers. Johnston quickly took control of the game when they found themselves two up after just 29 minutes.
However when Scott Murray was shown a red card just eight minutes later, Herbie would have been confident of staging a comeback. Despite being a man light, Johnston held Herbie until the final minute of the 90, when Alex Ouzman gave Herbie late hope. The Tigers held firm however and progress to the final where they will be underdogs. A tag that I’m sure the players and manager Steven Allen won’t mind too much.
Sport
Tenby hit five against downbeat Bridge
On a beautiful day in Tenby, the hosts welcomed Merlins Bridge to The Clicketts, fresh from their West Wales semi final defeat midweek.
The Bridge squad was missing some influential players after picking up some injuries and the visiting team asked questions over the fitness of the pitch, which, according to the Bridge management, was too hard.
The referee waved these away and the game was on, with the Tenby squad clearly thinking they were already in the heads of the Bridge team.
Almost straight from Kick off Tenby set their stall out with some great attacking play, which Jerome Mansbridge benefitted from in just the second minute putting the home team ahead.
The bridge players weren’t at the races and Tenby capitalised scoring a further 4 first half goals, including a Mansbridge hat trick, leaving the away team bewildered and 5-0 down at half time.
What could have been a hugely embarrassing defeat for a team that harboured title hopes at the beginning of the season, turned around somewhat at half time, when Dai Davies, the club captain, almost singlehandedly dragged them to a much higher level in the second half, ensuring his players kept their discipline and worked hard against a very good Tenby team. Undoubtedly Merlin’s Bridge were the better team in the second period, but the damage had already been done in the first half, and despite Bridges best efforts, the score remained 5-0 to the home team.
In a game which saw Tenby jump to 4th in the league, they can be hugely proud of their season and will look to build on that for their next in Division one.
A fantastic game on a beautiful day with a good home crowd watching, the team from the Clicketts will be justifiably happy with their afternoons work.
Tenby 5-0 Merlins Bridge.
Sport
Preseli poses a challenge for novice crews
THE END of April will see the popular novice night rally organised by the Teifi Valley Motor Club being held in Pembrokeshire. On the weekend of 27th and 28th April, Rali Bro Preseli will see 75 novice crews tackling the winding and challenging roads that Pembrokeshire has to offer.
Clerks of the Course, father and son Richard and Jason Davies along with Aled Richards have a terrific route lined up for competitors. Starting as usual at the Crymych Mart, the route will appeal to all novice drivers and navigators.
“It will offer a bit of everything. It will be challenging but easy to follow with some whites thrown in the mix. Aled has designed the whole route and we’ve done the donkey work,” said Jason, now in his second year as Clerk of the Course.
As regular competitors, Jason and Richard wanted to give something back to the sport and they enjoy being on the organising side of the things.
Jason, who won the Bro Preseli with his father in 2013, explained: “We’ve competed in the Preseli on several occasions, and we decided to give something back to the sport and that’s why dad and I thought it would be a good idea to help.
“It’s interesting to see how it all comes together and the work involved, and there’s a lot of that,”
He also won the event with Tim Hand in 2016 and was fourth overall in 2019.
Aled Richards, Joint Clerk of the Course, knows the routes of Rali Bro Preseli like the back of his hand having only ever missed it once since its formation in 2003. He’s driven on four of them in 2005 – 2008 with the best result of a 4th place with Arwel Jenkins in the navigator seat.
Aled has been Chief Marshal on Rali Bro Preseli since 2013 before moving on to being Clerk of the Course this year and competitors can look forward to a great event.
Aled told the Herald: “This is the first time I’ve been Clerk of the Course, but we have a good team with Dylan Davies as Chief Marshal and Olwen Davies as Secretary.
“I live some 30 miles away from the actual route, but we’ve been around it twice and I’m confident it will be a good yet challenging night. Some of the whites are currently waterlogged but the farmers have been brilliant and offered to help clear the tracks before the event and we are very grateful.”
The rally, kindly sponsored by Arjay Factors and Home James Taxis, will have four official Spectator Points on the night and the locations will be available at signing on.
The Clerks of the Course and the Teifi Valley Motor Club would like to thank all those who have helped to organise the event – landowners, homes en route, petrol at Brian Llewellyn a’i Ferched, and the start and finish venues – Crymych Mart and the Teifi Waterside Hotel.
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