CLUN SUNK AT THE LIDO!
AFAN LIDO 4 PONTYCLUN 1
Pontyclun travelled to Port Talbot on Saturday to take on Welsh League division one side Afan Lido in the Welsh Cup.
Pontyclun got proceedings underway on a bright but showery afternoon kicking towards the sea end of the ground. As expected the home team dominated the opening 10 minutes of the match as Pontyclun were pushed back on the defensive.
After all that pressure it was no surprise when Afan Lido finally opened the scoring in the 17th minute. A ball played into the edge of the area was not cleared by the Pontyclun defence and it broke to Lido’s Elliot Thomas on the edge of the box and his low shot entered the net past the despairing dive of James Billington in the Clun goal.
Pontyclun had to wait until the 21st minute for their first real opportunity of the match. Good battling down the left by Jamie Williams forced the Lido defence to concede a corner. The ensuing kick was cleared by the home side who immediately went on the attack. Good running down the wing by Lido’s Cai Owens saw him advance the length of the pitch before getting in a shot on the edge of the Clun area which was pushed behind for a corner by James Billington.
The corner from the left was played high and deep into the Pontyclun area and under pressure from a Lido forward Clun’s Jordan Lawrence was unfortunate to head into his own net from six yards.
Despite being two goals down Pontyclun still whenever possible managed to take the game to their opponents and in the 33rd minute created an opening. A Shaun Moss free-kick into the area found Chris Bullock but unfortunately the Pontyclun centre-forward could only head tamely over the bar.
With the home team now in control of affairs the game edged tamely towards half-time although two minutes from the interval good battling by Chris Bullock on the right flank resulted in him squaring the ball to the unmarked James Gronow on the edge of the Lido area but he could only shoot weakly at the Lido keeper. This proved to be the last significant action of the half and the interval arrived with the home team leading by two goals to nil.
Pontyclun began the second period strongly and enjoyed the majority of the possession in the opening stages of the second period. In the 47th minute they had a chance to reduce the deficit when Matthew Trigg centred the ball into the Lido area. Chris Bullock rose to meet the cross and was unlucky to send his effort just wide of the left hand post.
Although Clun were enjoying the better of the exchanges at this point they nearly went three down when Lido’s Kieran Cullen flashed a header just wide of the post.
The home team were always dangerous on the attack though and in the 57th minute the Pontyclun goal had another let-off when a Lido header crashed against the bar. Four minutes later though Lido did extend their lead. A cross deep into the Pontyclun area by Lido’s Chris Hartland evaded the despairing hands of James Billington and Lido’s Kieran Cullen was on hand to head the ball into the net from close range at the far post.
In the 68th minute Lido went further ahead. Once again it was Lido’s Chris Hartland who advanced down the right into the Pontyclun area before getting in a low shot. James Billington got down to save but the ball squirmed from his grasp straight into the path of Kieran Cullen and the Lido forward once again made no mistake from close range to register his second goal of the match.
With the home team now unassailable the game essentially petered out as a contest as the closing minutes ticked by although Lid’s Kieran Cullen did spurn a good opportunity for his hat-trick from close range.
As the game entered its closing stages Pontyclun continued to battle away and in the 44th minute substitute Chris Darlington had an opportunity to reduce the arrears but he could only shoot straight at the Lido goalkeeper from the edge of the area.
Nevertheless in the first minute of stoppage team the large travelling Pontyclun contingent did have something to celebrate when the team pulled a goal back. Good play by Chris Bullock in the Lido area resulted in him laying the ball off to harry Flint and the Pontyclun midfielder smashed the ball into the net from 10 yards.
This proved to be the last action of the game and the referee’s whistle sounded with Pontyclun beaten, but by no means disgraced, by four goals to one.