Caernarfon Town FC V Pontypridd United AFC
Saturday 23 September, 17:15
Town Over the Moon with Late Winner.
Caernarfon 1 – 0 Pontypridd.
To win ugly is an oft used idiom used in all sports. It means that a team can win a match despite not playing at their best, or in a stylish or beautiful way, and sometimes even with a bit of luck.
But it doesn’t really matter, because the end result of victory really is all that counts in most sports, and football in particular, and whilst the Cofis deserved the points last night, it’s fair to say they did it by winning ugly.
Leading up to the fixture, last night’s visitors to the Oval, Pontypridd, had scored just two goals in their previous seven league matches and, just as tellingly, had conceded just three during that period. This suggested that Andrew Stokes’ side are a conservative side that would be difficult to break down and so it proved during a dour, if interesting, tussle between two competitive sides.
Caernarfon began the action well and were on the front foot early on. The could have gone ahead in the second minute after an early Phil Mooney effort had bounced up in the six yard area, with Adam Davies and Zack Clarke in attendance, but keeper George Ratcliffe somehow managed to get between the strikers and scoop the ball up in his hands.
Town went close again three minutes later when Sion Bradley’s curling free kick grazed the outside of the upright, with Ratcliffe at full stretch.
On fifteen minutes, a Mooney header at the far post was directed directly into the hands of Ratcliffe whilst Ben Maher also went close on the half hour mark, his powerful strike from twenty yards taking a deflection on the way to hitting the upright.
Pontypridd began getting into the match as the action entered the final third of the first half, although their efforts to break the deadlock mainly consisted of long-range efforts. The first, from Owen Pritchard in the thirty third minute, ended a good two meters wide of the target whilst the same player went a little closer but with ultimately the same result with a second effort as the interval approached.
Town’s Dion Donohue rescued his side in the thirty sixth minute with a superbly timed last ditch tackle to thwart Jan Maertins when he was well placed in the box.
The second period began with an early penalty shout for the hosts, as Louis Lloyd went down in the box following a robust tackle but referee Huw Jones was not interested and waved play on. A close range Adam Davies shot was blocked soon after and Darren Thomas’ effort from the rebound flew over the bar from twenty five yards. Marc Williams missed the target with his attempt from eighteen yards whilst Thomas saw another effort of his clear over the woodwork.
As the Cofis dominated possession, the visitors looked to play more on the counter attack and they looked dangerous when breaking upfield, especially whenever Curtis Hutson was involved. The striker was a constant dangerous with his pace and dribbling ability and he caused plenty of problems to Caernarfon’s defence.
Maertins will feel he should have done better when he found himself clear in the Caernarfon box, but his tame effort was comfortably stopped by home stopper Lewis Webb.
There was another miss at the other after Louis Lloyd’s cross evaded everyone but a stretching Clarke could not quite reach the ball at the far post and could only manage to divert the ball wide of goal from three yards. In the seventieth minute, Lloyd did well to beat his marker on the right flank as he ran to the byline and set up Davies, but the big striker could not quite manage a clean strike and his shot from sixteen yards ended well wide.
With the action entering its finally stages, and a goalless draw looking ever more likely, Caernarfon finally got in front. The clock showed eighty four minutes when Pontypridd half cleared a Bradley corner and Darren Thomas floated a ball to the far post. There was a melee of players in the box but it was Phil Mooney who rose the highest, and he headed the ball into the net from two yards.
The Cofis have had a nasty habit of conceding late goals this season and so the points were certainly not in the nag but Richard Davies’ side held firm to complete the job and gain the victory.
The three points sees Caernarfon sitting nicely in fourth position in the league and they will look forward to the visit of TNs to the Oval on Tuesday evening with the confidence of knowing they are capable of winning ugly when needs be.
Tyn Lon Volvo Garage Man of the Match: Louis Lloyd.
Team; Lewis Webb, Iwan Cartwright, Dion Donohue, Phil Mooney, Ben Maher, Marc Williams, Louis Lloyd, Sion Bradley, Adam Davies, Darren Thomas, Zack Clarke.
Subs (all not used): Tomos Pritchard, Joe Faux, Gruff John, Daniel Gosset, Ben Wynne, Cai Griffith.