Bluebirds keep record intact (From Western Telegraph)

Bluebirds keep record intact

Football Mitsubishi Welsh Premier

HAVERFORDWEST COUNTY 1 WELSHPOOL TOWN 1

This wasn't an altogether unsuccessful afternoon for the Bluebirds, as they kept their unbeaten record intact and moved ahead of Porthmadog and Newtown into seventh place, but they will still be disappointed not to have got the win their territorial dominance deserved.

Welshpool are certainly not as good a side as some the Blues have beaten already this season and at the end of last season. However, they played intelligently to their limitations by funnelling back in defence, waiting, with a packed defence, for the Blues to come at them, and then relying on counter-attack.

Thus the Blues' apparent midfield dominance may have been something of an illusion. Colin Loss and Adie Harris did however have good games.

Harris in fact picked up a yellow card in the second minute and did well to keep his cool for the next 88, for he then became the subject of some Welshpool niggling, and referee Richards awarded four free kicks in Adie's favour in the rest of the first half. In support of Adie and Loss were Wayne Jones, marauding dangerously down the left flank all afternoon, and Lee John posed a real danger, particularly in the first half.

The Blues defence was more of a conundrum. Wyn Thomas played very well again, Eston Chiverton had his best game for a while and Deryn Brace was near to immaculate. They also played the ball out of defence very coolly and stylishly.

The only problems came when they were a little too cool, and handed Welshpool what were perhaps their only three real chances of the game.

Welshpool in fact had a good defence and one very good striker. Centre forward Steve Rogers looked extremely dangerous in their few breakaways, while their centre backs Cookson and Wilding won virtually every ball in the air and ex-Wolves keeper Scott Brown commanded his area well enough to snuff out any dangerous Blues' cross passes.

Up front, against packed Welshpool ranks, the strikers had a tough time. Hard though Chris Miller battled, he could make very little headway, while Rhys Griffiths, who had won plenty of ball in the air at Aberystwyth on the Tuesday, could connect with very little.

It was a case really of a game in which the Blues stroked the ball around a midfield they were allowed to dominate, but in which the final ball never really had the penetration. The Bluebirds, sponsored by Coors Brewers and Eddie's Snooker Bar, made a graceful and easy start, but the Welshpool goal was never really threatened. Wyn Thomas headed a Darren Ryan corner just wide, a crossfield move saw Wayne Jones shoot over, and Miller, fed by John, did nearly find his way in on the 14th minute, only for his left foot shot to be blocked on the line.

Then, in the 19th minute, almost in Welshpool's first real attack, Rogers nipped into the gap created by a misdirected header and beat Lee Kendall from eight yards. But still the Blues came forward. A Lee John dart put Ryan in and he shot wide. Then Ryan's free kick fell to Griffiths whose snap shot was just palmed out by Rogers. John's lovely chip through to Miller saw a cross which Jones fired wide and a Ryan free kick broke to Loss whose drive was well pouched by Brown.

The second half started with Kendall doing well to hang on to Christian Courtney's snap shot, and Blues fans could reflect warily that Courtney's shot was nearer to scoring than almost any home effort of the first half.

And then the play moved back to the other end and was indeed encamped there for a while. Griffiths shot high from Jones' free kick, and Miller shot just wide after Ryan's chip had put him through. A fine move involving Dylan Blain and Griffiths saw Miller only being forced out at the expense of a corner.

There were just a few moments, halfway through the second half, when sloppiness in defence nearly let in Rogers and Chris Roberts, and Kendall's save from Roberts' swerving shot, which he tipped over, was a spectacular moment.

And only finally, in the 73rd minute, did the equaliser come, when a free kick from Wayne Jones spun loose in the area and Chiverton pounced to thump it home.

The remainder of the match saw dangerous chances at either end, first when Blain chipped a corner back in and Thomas headed inches over, and then when the ever-dangerous Rogers pinched a ball which fell between Chiverton and Kendall, and Brace had to dart back to clear. The Blues got the point, but will be left thinking of all that unconverted pressure and the two points that got away.