We had to come from behind to defeat Maesteg Park at a wet and windy Marston's Stadium. Andrew Pearson was unavailable but Gareth Scantlebury and Shaun O'Leary made their first appearances of the season while there were places on the bench for Karl Reynolds and Karl Roberts. 

Kieran Howells and Craig Martin both scored their first league goals for the club. As expected from the changes made, we started slowly allowing Maesteg to knock the ball around and find some sort of rhythm. They had the first effort on goal in the third minute when a right wing cross was headed wide. On 8 minutes Scants had his first action in goal when he comfortably held a long range shot, we went up the other end and Damon Thomas played Steve Davies in but he shot at the keeper. We were now starting to get some rhythm into our game and Chris Latham picked up a ball wide right but his cross into the box was headed wide. On the quarter hour we had our first corner but Shaun O'Leary's delivery was to close to the keeper and he held it under no pressure. Steve Davies was fouled just outside the area, Shaun took the kick and found Paul Evans in space 8 yards out but his shot went wide. Steve Davies with his pace was proving a thorn in the side of Maesteg and he again got down the right wing and crossed to Carl Edwards but his header went over the bar. From the goalkick Steve picked up the ball in midfield beat a couple of players and shot, Chris Barlow in the Maesteg goal made an excellent save tipping Steve's shot over for a corner. Just when it looked as though our play was going to bring us a goal we went behind, sloppy defending deep in our penalty area saw two defenders slice their clearances, the second went straight to Scott Fisher on the edge of the area. All he had to do was go forward a few yards and place the ball wide of Scants to put the Park ahead. 

The lead only lasted 6 minutes and again Steve Davies was at the heart of our attack, he again flew down the right wing, his cross was blocked and fell invitingly to Kieran Howells who had time and space to pick his spot. We had a free kick 25 yards out which Craig Martin took but his free kick just cleared the crossbar. Just before half time we again gave the ball away at the back but this time recovered in time to clear the danger. The first few minutes of the second half again saw us struggle to get into the game but Craig Martin knocked a long ball forward to Damon Thomas wide left, he crossed for Chris Latham but the keeper just beat Chris to the cross. Shaun O'Leary then played the ball wide right to Steve Davies but his cross just beat the onrushing attackers. Carl Edwards crossed from wide left and found Chris Latham in a good position but Chris was leaning back when he shot and the ball flew over the bar. Despite all this attacking play Maesteg were still in the game and on 69 minutes they had a free kick 25 yards out in a central position but the shot was straight at Scants. A minute later we were awarded a free kick 35 yards out on the left, Dan Williams played it in to Craig Martin who was unmarked wide right in the area and his header looped over everyone and just under the crossbar to give us the lead. With 7 minutes to go Karl Reynolds replaced Carl Edwards, Steve Davies crossed to Karl who was 10 yards out completely unmarked at the far post, unfortunately Karl's touch wasn't the best and the chance to seal the game had gone. 

Despite that we had no real scares in the final minutes until Aaron Keefe decided to stick his leg out at a ball which was going through to Scants. Luckily the ball had no pace on it otherwise it would have been an equaliser, as it was Scants was able to dive onto the ball and clear. Seconds later the full time whistle sounded to give us the three points.

Squad line up for Maesteg game.

Afan Lido side:

Gareth Scantlebury  Chris Latham  Craig Martin  Dan Williams Paul Evans  Carl Edwards  Kieran Howells  Shaun O'Leary  Damon Thomas Steve Davies  Aaron Keefe

Subs  12  Karl Roberts
         14  Carl Payne
         15  Karl Reynolds for Carl Edwards 83
         16  Corey Thomas for Steve Davies 90
         17  Mitch Patton