Haverfordwest County V Caernarfon Town FC
Saturday 25 March, 14:30
Battling Cofis Gain Much Needed Point.
Haverfordwest 2 – 2 Caernarfon.
Caernarfon travelled to Haverfordwest on saturday looking to bounce back from two poor performances and claimed a vital point in their battle to stay in the Cymru Premier League.
In his first match in charge, new Town manager Richard Davies found himself without the influential Noah Edwards and with a number of players carrying knocks, but the man charged with turning the team’s fortunes around placed his faith in an attacking line up that ultimately gave him the performance that he was looking for, full of fight and determination.
The Cofis began well and created the first opportunity of the match in the fifth minute, a Ben Wynne throw into the box being punched out by home stopper Zac Jones and the ball landing at the feet of Rob Jones, whose effort from twenty yards sailed inches wide of the keeper’s right upright.
The hosts went ahead in the ninth minute courtesy of a good finish from Jack Wilson, who found himself on the right side of Joe Faux to get on the end of a long Jamie Veale delivery into the Caernarfon box.
The lead lasted just two minutes as the Cofis hit back through Gruff John, who was first to a low Dion Donohue corner, and struck from six yards out to level the score.
A last ditch tackle by Oscar Borg on Darren Thomas thwarted the number ten’s chances of giving the visitors the lead two minutes later after being put through by Danny Gosset and for the hosts, Daniel Hawkins should have done better than hit his effort directly towards Josh Tibbetts half way through the half.
The remainder of the first period was pretty even with both sides threatening the scoreboard again just before the break, Caernarfon through Ben Wynne who saw his effort from twenty five yards comfortably kept out, whilst Dylan Rees could not find the target from close range after getting on the end of a delivery into the box.
It was the hosts who began the second period strongest, and Jack Wilson went close to restoring their lead in the fifty fourth minute, when he chanced his luck with a decent effort from an acute angle that saw the ball miss the upright by a matter of inches.
Sion Bradley threatened on the hour mark when he gathered a delivery from Gosset, but he could not manage to keep his powerful effort from sailing over the woodwork.
Haverfodwest regained their lead in the seventy first minute after a well worked move, starting with a short corner, eventually saw Wilson deliver the ball across the six yard box, where Kyle Patten was well positioned to strike the ball past Tibbetts.
Caernarfon, however, showed the resilience again as they got back on level terms just three minutes later, although they can thank Jordan Evans for the goal, as he got on the end of a Ben Wynne throw into the box and headed into the roof of his own net.
The Cofis thought they had gone into the lead nine minutes before time when Marsh-Hughes got on the end of a Darren Thomas header and scored from close range but the latter was deemed offside, much to the visitors’ disappointment. Thomas was shown a second yellow card late on which saw Town down to ten men and they faced plenty of pressure in the closing minutes, but their desire to gain something from the match shone through and they travelled home with a well-deserved point.
The Cofis will be back at the Oval this Friday evening as they face Airbus in Richard Davies’ first home match as manager.
Tyn Lon Volvo Garage Man of the Match: Ben Wynne.
Team: Josh Tibbetts, Iwan Cartwright, Gruff John, Dion Donohue, Danny Gosset, Sion Bradley, Joe Faux, Ben Wynne, Rhys Alun Williams, Darren Thomas, Rob Hughes.
Subs (used): Lloyd Marsh-Hughes, Cai Powell-Roberts, Cai Griffiths. Not used: Ryan Woods, Fabrizio Murtas, Caio Evans.
