It ended all square at the Marston's Stadium which on balance was probably a
fair result. We edged the first half but once again conceded the second. Steve
Davies was unavailable as he's playing for the university today so the final
100% appearance record has gone. We started well and should have taken the lead
in the first minute. Leon Cosker threw the ball out to Michael Waters who fed
the overlapping Steve Parry, he crossed low into the area, the defence made a
hash of it and the ball fell to Ianto who instead of hitting the target lofted
his effort over the crossbar from 15 yards. We had a couple of free kicks which
the normally reliable Dan Williams would hoist into the area but several of his
kicks lacked his normal delivery and opportunities were lost. Following a spell
of Caerleon pressure Michael Waters picked up the ball in midfield and fed
Kieran Howells as he entered the box. As Kieran shot a defender managed to
divert the shot for a corner, the shot missing the post by inches. Caerleon
cleared the corner but only after a goalmouth scramble.
On 25 minutes we scored and it
came out of nothing, the Caerleon defence on times looked suspect and just
before we scored a defensive clearance hit Michael Waters before they managed to
clear. From the next attack the same defender sliced his clearance to Michael 25
yards out, he took aim and fired low into the left hand corner of the net giving
the keeper no chance. Straight from the kick off Caerleon should have equalised,
former Cwmbran player Kristian Hanbury had time on the edge of our area but shot
inches wide with Cosker beaten. On the half hour we had a free kick out on the
touchline in line with the edge of the box, Michael Waters crossed, Ian Jones
headed but straight at the keeper. Michael Waters and Steve Parry linked up
again and Steve fed Dan McGrath who beat a couple of players but was crowded out
on the edge of the area. He managed to slip the ball to Ian Jones but he shot
wide from the edge of the box.
5 minutes before the break we
had a free kick 30 yards out in a central position, Ian Jones took it but hit a
defender with the ball trickling through to the keeper. On half time, Steve
Parry again made ground and crossed for Corey Thomas but Corey's shot lacked the
power to beat the keeper. 5 minutes into the second half Steve Cox fed Kieran
Howells who in turn found Michael Waters but his cross was to close to the
keeper, however we picked up the keeper's clearance and played the ball into the
box but Dan McGrath was penalised for a foul. Just before the hour we broke with
Dan McGrath, Corey Thomas, Dan McGrath again and Ian Jones involved but when we
got to the edge of the area no-one took control. We tried a couple of one-twos
but the chance was lost. It cost us because within two minutes Caerleon
equalised, we conceded a series of free kicks down our left side and a superb
cross was met at the far post with a diving header by their 11 Chris Jones who
gave Cosker no chance. Two minutes later it could have been worse as we were
opened up again but the striker mishit his shot allowing Cosker to fall on the
ball.
On 70 minutes Steve Parry,
Michael Waters and Kieran Howells again combined and fed Dan McGrath but he shot
over the bar from 30 yards. It was frustrating as when put them under pressure
the Caerleon defence looked vulnerable but our final ball let us down on several
occasions. With a quarter of an hour to go Corey Thomas played a lovely ball
through to Ian Jones but the keeper was quickly off his line to smother the ball
just before Ian could make contact. We had a series of throws on the left side
allowing Steve Parry to use his long throw but if we did make the header we
didn't pick up the second ball. In added on time we attacked down the right, the
ball was crossed hard and low beating the keeper's dive but unfortunately for us
we had no-one in place to score.
Lido side:
Leon Cosker Justin Williams
Steve Parry Dan Williams Steve Cox Kieran Howells Karl Lewis Dan McGrath Ian
Jones Corey Thomas Michael Waters
Subs:
12 Damon Thomas for Kieran Howells 86
14 Shaun Best for Corey Thomas 76
15 Shaun Morgan for Ian Jones 86
17 Rory McCreesh
There were no bookings in the match!
Attendance:102
Report by Peter
Reynolds. |
