Caernarfon Town FC V Haverfordwest County AFC
Saturday 16 December, 14:30
Town in Agonising Defeat.
Caernarfon 0 – 1 Haverfordwest.
In what is generally known as a six pointer, Caernarfon welcomed Haverfordwest to the Carling Oval on Saturday.
Both sides are fighting for a position in the top six of the Welsh Premier League at the end of the first Phase and a victory for the hosts would have seen them strong favourites to win the race. However, the visitors knew that a victory for them would put them back into the mix and close the gap between the sides to just three points.
Conditions were not the best for a free-flowing match and the strong winds certainly made things challenging for the ball carriers in the side. As a result, the action was predictably laboured and, with the sides well matched, most of it was played between the two boxes.
Haverfordwest started extremely strongly, and they enjoyed almost total possession for the opening five minutes, finding their patterns of play almost immediately and pinning Caernarfon into their own half. They should have gone ahead within ninety seconds after a Martell cross was met in the six yard area by Hawkins but he somehow managed to shave the outside of the upright with his effort.
It was the hosts who were next to threaten the scoresheet when Zack Clarke made a fine break upfield from inside his own half and set up Danny Gosset, whose fine effort from the edge of the box sailed inches wide of the upright.
Town’s young goalkeeper Hari Thomas pulled off a fine save three minutes later to deny Martell, gratefully holding on to the ball at the second attempt after the striker had looked odds on to score from six yards. Thomas was forced into action twice more in the next few minutes, denying Hawkins on both occasions with fine saves.
Caernarfon finally began to settle down half way through the half and when Sion Bradley found Adam Davies in the box in the twenty fourth minute, Town’s top scorer was frustrated to see his goalbound effort blocked by a desperate defender, the ball found Clarke six yards out and his low effort was cleared off the line and, much to his disbelief, his second effort was headed off the line.
Thomas did well to get his hands to a Wilson free kick that was headed into the far corner of his net and, for Caernarfon, Bradley saw his low effort deflected into the grateful hands of visiting keeper Zac Jones.
The Cofis continued to boss possession at the beginning of the second period and Clarke should have done better eleven minutes into the half after Bradley put him through but he narrowly missed the target from twelve yards.
Town couldn’t make their possession count and near misses by Dion Donohue and Adam Davies were as close as they got before the visitors broke the deadlock. The clock showed seventy two minutes when Hawkins found Dyer with an excellent ball that evaded the Caernarfon defence, and the twenty year old finished impressively past the advancing Thomas.
Caernarfon threw everything at the visitors from here on in and went close to pulling themselves level through Bradley’s free kick, which Jones acrobatically palmed away from his goal, whilst Joe Faux was unlucky with a back heel effort from four yards that was hit directly at Jones. With four minutes of injury time played, the Cofis really should have clinched a draw after Bradley pulled the ball back from the byline and it was somehow scooped up over the bar from a yard out, as a melee of players met it.
Tyn Lon Volvo Garage Man of the Match: Hari Thomas.
Team: Hari Thomas, Gruff John, Dion Donohue, Phil Mooney, Ben Maher, Marc Williams, Sion Bradley, Zack Clarke, Louis Lloyd, Adam Davies, Danny Gosset.
Subs (used): Darren Thomas, Iwan Cartwright, Ben Wynne, Joe Faux. Not used: Tom Pritchard, Cai Griffiths, Harry Hughes.