Bluebirds surrender two-goal lead in a game of high drama (From Western Telegraph)

Bluebirds surrender two-goal lead in a game of high drama

Haverfordwest County 2 NEWTOWN 2

This was high drama indeed, as the Blues surged into a two-goal lead within thirteen minutes, only to see the win snatched from them by two late goals in the wake of some hotly-disputed refereeing decisions.

Referee Whitby has put in controversial appearances at the Meadow before, and on this occasion any hopes he may have entertained of being elected to the Friends of Haverfordwest County were finally blown. The red card awarded to keeper Gary Haman in the 63rd minute was not disputed by the Blues' bench, but they were deeply unhappy with a plethora of yellow cards and at least one of the Newtown goals.

The first yellow card came as early as the second minute, when Simon Heal was booked for a seemingly innocuous challenge.

The sparky midfielder replied in the best possible fashion with a goal a minute later. Some neat interpassing on the left saw new signing and ex-Barry player Steve Hookings leather over the sweetest of first-time left-foot crosses. The Newtown defence was thrown into the most awful tangle and Heal pounced to welt the ball home from eight yards.

Even better was to follow. In the 13th minute Tony Wallis was put through the middle by a fine through ball from Wayne Jones and whacked in a shot from 20 yards which left keeper Andy Hughes no more than a spectator.

But even at this early stage, there were signs that the mid-Walians were going to be no pushover. In the 10th minute, Jamie Edwards, their most dangerous attacker, drove a free kick against the post, with Haman looking static. Edwards continued to look a real threat but increasingly Eston Chiverton got on the case and, having shifted to the right side of defence after an injury to Deryn Brace in the fifth minute, contrived to close down the dangerous Newtown winger.

The 30th minute saw Newtown hit the woodwork again, through Mark Williams, but around all this the James Williams-sponsored Bluebirds were putting some lovely moves together.

Chiverton and Adie Harris were as solid as ever, Hookings had a fine debut at left back, and the midfield looked really good. Colin Loss was forever at the heart of the action, prompting and spreading, while Heal and Chris O'Sullivan (originally sub, but who replaced Brace in the fifth minute), were both venturesome and dangerous.

Up front, Wallis foraged hard and the returning Richie Adams had a very good game, darting dangerously forward without getting the breaks on the day.

An instance of this came in the 29th minute, with a quite lovely attack, a fine triangular move involving Heal, Adams and Wallis, whose final cross was met at the far post by Adams' thumping header which keeper Hughes just managed to fingertip around for a corner.

Richie could have done with that goal to get a little confidence back after an indifferent start to the season, but more displays like this can do him nothing but good. Indeed, in the 41st minute it was his run and cross which sent O'Sullivan through, only for the dapper winger's shot to go just wide.

The second half saw more impressive Blues' attacking, notably when Chiverton powered his way forward and Adams carried the move on, only for the final pass to go astray.

Then came the disastrous 63rd minute when Haman was adjudged to have fouled Andrews just outside his box and was sent off. Wayne Jones went in goal, but, with ten men and a stand-in keeper, the Bluebirds were always going to have a struggle on hand.

Impressively, they hit back with a burst of high quality attacking and could in fact have left Newtown dead and buried with a fine move in the 69th minute. O'Sullivan went on a lovely jinking run, and timed his final pass to perfection, squaring to Wallis, six yards out on the final post, only for the striker to fire wide.

Nobody will convince the Bluebirds' bench that the goal which Newtown pulled back in the 79 minute was not suspect.

The visitors' Justin Wickham went over on the edge of the Blues' box and, although Adie Harris was in attendance, there seemed no sign that he had been in contact with the Newtown winger.

The free kick was played in by Edwards and, with Wayne Jones ill-equipped to command the ball, it broke to Sean Hazelden, who thumped into the roof of the net. But did Hazelden initially control the ball with his hand? An irate Blues' bench certainly thought so.

Dylan McPhee's equaliser in the 84th minute was obviously a sickener to the Blues' camp, but to their credit the Blues came back again and could so easily have pinched the win in the 90th minute when a fine five-man move saw the final pass just eluding Adams.

The Blues will reflect now that they did earn a point, lie now in 12th place, scored two good goals and, most importantly, put up a fine performance. Last night (Tuesday) they were due to play away to bottom club Llanelli and on Saturday entertain Flexsys Cefn Druids, kick-off 2.30 pm. The programme sponsors on Saturday were Thompson (Pembs Launderers and Dry Cleaners) and the match ball sponsors were Don and Nesta Twigg.

The two mascots were Matthew Richards, a striker with Merlins Bridge Juniors, and Kern Cunningham, a right sided defender with the same club.