There was a low key start by both sides before Michael Waters picked up a loose ball and played it through to Shaun Best who kept his composure and sidefooted past the keeper to give us a fifth minute lead. Damon Thomas then won the ball in the middle of the park and he played it forward to Ian Jones but he was flagged offside. Pontardawe's first meaningful attack saw a couple of poor challenges before Karl Lewis tidied up and cleared the danger. 

Shaun Best then blocked an attempted clearance the ball falling to Ian Jones, he tried to go around the keeper but was forced wide and the chance was lost. We then had a couple of free kicks around 25 yards out, the first for a foul on Ian Jones was headed clear but picked up by Steve Davies who was fouled. Michael Waters took the free kick, Shaun Best headed it but straight at the keeper. On 19 minutes Pontardawe had a free kick which Leon Cosker held and found Ian Jones, the ref then gave a free kick against Ian. This was a feature of the match, a lot of stop-start and a lot of unnecessary whistle with advantage not being used. It did nothing for the flow of the game.

After 22 minutes Pontardawe equalised and it was no surprise it came from a dead ball situation. They had a left wing corner which we only partially cleared, their 11 Vinnie Wattleworth played a 1-2 on the edge of the box and left us for dead. He had the easiest task in the world to knock it past Cosker in goal. 

On the half hour Pontardawe had a free kick 25 yards out which we cleared to Ian Jones on the edge of the area. The ref gave them another kick for hand ball 20 yards out and central. Jock Fairbairn took it, beat the wall and hit the post, the ball cannoning away to safety. We went down the other end and an inviting cross from Steve Davies was missed with the goal begging. 

Another run from Steve this time down the left was cut short by yet another foul, Michael Waters played a short ball to Ian Jones whose shot was well wide. In the second minute of added on time we conceded a penalty. Needless to say Pontardawe had a free kick which we headed away from goal but the ref then blew for the penalty against one of the players on the floor. Ashleigh Richards took the kick and Leon Cosker thanks to some inside info from Dai Rees dived to his left to make an excellent save and allow us to go in on level terms. The second half continued in the same stop-start fashion, on 51 minutes we replaced Steve Parry with Justin Williams with Justin going to right back and Karl Lewis moving over to the left. We went 2-1 up after 56 minutes, no surprise it came from a free kick. Dan Williams took it 35 yards out and played a beautiful ball over the Pontardawe back four for Ian Jones to attack it and head home from 10 yards. 

Our next opportunity came after 64 minutes when following a throw Steve Davies crossed to Ian Jones but he just couldn't break free from the defenders and the ball was cleared. Two minutes later we had a corner which fell to Karl Lewis who chose to shoot rather than play Ian Jones in and the chance to extend the lead was gone. Some fussy refereeing saw Pontardawe players being booked after 3 55 60 67 and 74 minutes, most were for comments made rather than foul play. However it's an indication of the stop-start nature of the game. Kieran Howells replaced Damon Thomas with 5 minutes to go and Pontardawe had several free kicks and corners in the last minutes but we managed to keep our goal intact. 

There were 6 minutes of added on time in the second half with Michael Waters getting booked for time wasting as he didn't jump the barrier to retrieve the ball. The fact that nobody did it for the whole game but waited for a ball to be kicked on from the dugout just shows how inconsistent the referee was.

Lido side  Leon Cosker  Karl Lewis  Steve Parry  Dan Williams  Steve Cox  Damon Thomas  Steve Davies  Dan McGrath  Shaun Best  Ian Jones  Michael Waters

Subs    12 Justin Williams for Steve Parry 51
          14 Corey Thomas for Shaun Best 89
          15 Kieran Howells for Damon Thomas 85
          17 Rory McCreesh

Bookings  Steve Cox  24 - Michael Waters 90 + 4

Attendance:75

Report by Peter Reynolds.