CWMBRAN 0-1 AFAN LIDO

Report by Alan Howells

McCreesh scores late goal to defeat league leaders Cwmbran.

On a very cold night at Cwmbran Stadium our under 21's defeated league leaders Cwmbran by 1 goal to nil. Both sides attempted to play football on a quagmire of a field, more suitable for raising cattle than playing football ( I have never seen the playing surface at Cwmbran so poor).  

The first half created very little chances for both sides and no goals.  

The start of the second half Cwmbran came very strongly into the game, but Afan Lido defended extremely well from all areas of the field, culminating in Wyn Walters making 2 excellent saves to keep Lido in the game.

 Lido had their fair share of possession, but failed to create any good scoring opportunities.  With time running out and the game looking to end scoreless, a long through ball from Daniel Williams found Liam McCreesh and he flicked the ball over the advancing Cwmbran goalkeeper to score with only 2 minutes of normal time remaining, sending the Lido players, Managers (Phil Holmes and Brian Thomas) and the few fans delirious. 

Lido then had to endure 8 mins of added time from the referee, before gaining this tremendous result. It was a real gutsy performance from all the Afan Lido players . 

This result now puts Afan Lido firmly back in the hunt for the Southern title and further progression into the North/South semi finals. 

Lido team: Wyn Walters, Richard Miles, Janson Whitlock, Craig Martin, Rhys Owen, Daniel Williams, Ceri Williams, Liam McCreesh, Kieran Howells, Chris Piper, Scott Bamsey and substitute Josh Cokeley (replaced C Martin 70 minutes).