LATE LAPSE COSTS CLUN!
PONTYCLUN 1 BRECON CORRIES 1
Brecon Corries were the visitors to a bright and sunny Ivor Park on Saturday for a South Wales Alliance League fixture.
After a quiet opening the first chance of the game fell to Brecon in the 4th minute but their forward could only shoot straight at Andrew Ringsell in the Pontyclun goal. A minute later Pontyclun had their first goal scoring opportunity but Matthew Trigg’s effort was easily saved by the Brecon custodian.
The opening quarter of an hour saw both sides an even share of the possession but neither created much in the way of goal-scoring opportunities, a pattern which continued for much of the first half.
Pontyclun’s best chance of the game so far came in the 28th minute. Good work by Sam Shilton and Jamie Williams saw the ball played into the Brecon box where the onrushing Chris Darlington sent his header just wide of the post.
After creating little else in the way of goal-scoring opportunities in the remainder of the half, Pontyclun twice narrowly failed to take the lead in the closing minutes of the period. In the 42nd minute Sam Shilton found himself one on one with the Brecon goalkeeper in the area but the visiting keeper pulled off a magnificent save to push his goal-bound effort to safety. A minute later the same player had another chance to open the scoring when he ran into the box and got in a firm header which flew just over the bar.
HALF TIME: PONTYCLUN 0 BRECON CORRIES 0
Brecon almost took the lead in the opening minutes of the second half. A ball was played low into the Pontyclun area from the left. The Pontyclun defence missed it and it fell to a Brecon player 6 yards out. However, Andrew Ringsell came to the rescue as he blocked the effort which via the post subsequently went behind for a corner.
Pontyclun were again denied in the 58th minute. Tom Tweedy beat the Brecon offside trap and found himself one on one with the goalkeeper who again managed to palm his effort away to safety. A couple of minutes later Pontyclun once again came close to opening the scoring when the onrushing Kieran Lawrence narrowly failed to connect with the ball in the area before the Brecon goalkeeper.
With Pontyclun now dominating the play it came as little surprise when they took the lead in the 77th minute when the ball was played to the advancing Matthew Trigg on the left edge of the Brecon area. As the visiting goalkeeper advanced to meet him the Pontyclun left-back calmly shot low under him into the far corner of the net.
As the minutes ticked by it seemed that it looked to be only a matter of time before Pontyclun extended their lead. Three minutes from time the Clun missed a glorious chance to do so. Substitute Craig Williams’ cross from the right found fellow substitute Jacques Tertois unmarked on the edge of the six yard area. With the goal at his mercy the Pontyclun player managed to miss his kick and the chance went begging. Two minutes later the same player looked to have made amends for his earlier miss when he put the ball into the net only for the referee to rule out the effort for an infringement.
As the large home crowd began to savour the prospect of the first home win of the season the game had a sting in the tail as right on the stroke of full-time, very much against the run of play, Brecon secured an equaliser. A long ball forward down the Brecon left was missed by the hesitant Andrew Ringsell on the edge of the area and Brecon’s Gareth Aplin took full advantage of the Pontyclun goalkeeper’s indecision as he nipped in to put the ball into an unguarded Pontyclun net.
This proved to be the last significant action of the match and the game ended with the teams tied on a goal each.