Tish tame lacklustre Vikings (From Western Telegraph)

Tish tame lacklustre Vikings

St Ishmaels 1 Hakin 1

Referee: Chris Stapleton

Its not often that a drawn game can be classed as a shock result but when you consider that St Ishmaels were promoted last season from Division Two and Hakin were playing following a 16-0 win against Haverfordwest County only a few days beforehand, a shock is all it can be.

Anyone watching the game on Saturday would never have believed that Hakin would not walk away with the three points on offer. After all, they were the first to score and did so after only a few minutes when Joff Lennon struck one passed Tish keeper, Andrew Pawlett. But then they made the mistake of relaxing which allowed the battling villagers back into the game.

Anything that Hakin threw at them was dealt with admirably by the home side defence which was led by Rob Thomas who was outstanding throughout and at the other end of the pitch, talented striker Adam Davies was making a nuisance of himself with his mazy runs at the Hakin goal.

It was no surprise then that it was Davies who brought one back for the homesters after about 20 minutes was played and they had other chances to score when Steve Parkes hit the woodwork and Neil Flynn went close.

Neither side was able to break the deadlock in the second half and with the wind picking up it became a lot harder for the teams to play football. Tish continued to hustle and not even Hakins top striker Paul Jones was able to break the deadlock, as Pawlett stood firm between the sticks for the villagers.

Naturally, Hakin manager Chris Tansey was disappointed with his teams display, but was full of praise for the home side with the way the denied his team any chances to score saying:

Things didnt go right for us and we didnt put their keeper under enough pressure. They hustled us and fully deserve the draw and we didnt deserve to win.

St Ishmaels: Andrew Pawlett, Neil Holmes, Glyn Griffiths, Rob Thomas, Scott Devonald, Hugh Kucjy, Mark Devonald, Darren Picton, Neil Flynn, Adam Davies, Steve Parkes, Mark Davies, Dan Morgan.

Hakin: Jason Morgan, Nigel Armstrong, Kristan Bennett, Karl Rhead, Gerrard Grey, Steve Mathias, Brett Hawkridge, Gary Dawes, Paul Chapman, Paul Jones, Joff Lennon, Andrew Postlethwaite, Paul Turner, Adam La Rosa.