Reds ruin Blues' night (From Western Telegraph)

Reds ruin Blues' night

HAVERFORDWEST COUNTY 0 LLANELLI 2 The Bluebirds shaded the first half of a very fast game before the visitors' superior fitness saw them home with late goals, one of them in injury time.

The FBM-sponsored Bluebirds started at a blistering pace, and Chris O'Sullivan and Lee Hudgell set up a series of raids which stretched Llanelli's defence to the full. There were several moments during the first half when a Blues goal seemed just a whisker or so away, notably when an O'Sullivan cross whipped in from the right and Richie Adams' goalward flick hadn't really got the strength to threaten Duncan Roberts' goal.

The Reds rapidly got back into the game though and attackers Cortez Belle and Ivan Nofuentes looked very dangerous up to the 18-yard line, but the Blues defence closed them down very well, with player-manager Deryn Brace and Rob Jones outstanding. There were few clear-cut chances before the break.

From the 60-minute mark Llanelli began to push forward more, and there were the first signs that the combination of the extra fitness of Llanelli's full-time pros and the pace of the first half was beginning to take its toll.

Blues keeper Lee Kendall was pushed into one superb tip around the post to keep out a Stuart Edwards header, and then the first goal came from Edwards in the 68th minute when he scrambled the ball in after a goalmouth melee.

The Blues then set up a wave of attacks in the last 20 minutes. Adams hammered one ball over the bar after O'Sullivan's fine cross had come in from the right, and then they came nearest to a home goal when Hudgell went on a carving run through the heart of the Reds defence.

His shot was scrambled out to Tim Hicks, only for a desperate last-ditch tackle by Stuart Jones to rob the striker right in front of goal.

Then, as so often happens, as the Blues threw everyone forward in search of the equalizer, they were hit on the break.

Llanelli's Craig Williams produced a clinical finish for the second goal on 90 minutes.

The match sponsors were Gravell's Renault Garage. The programme sponsors were Heatherton Country Parks, and the match ball sponsor was David Lee of White Lodge Kennels.

The Bluebirds now lie fifth in the table and will be keen to hang on to that spot, since the fifth-placed finisher in the Welsh Premier gets exemption to the second round of next season's FAW Premier Cup. Sixth-placed Port Talbot lie just two points behind them, and the Blues have a very stiff run-in, being due to play TNS twice as well as Welshpool and Port Talbot away. Saturday's away game at Welshpool will be a real test, after which the Blues return to the Bridge Meadow to play TNS on Friday, March 31st.

County: Kendall; Brace. Hudgell, Blain, Wyn Thomas, Jones, O'Sullivan (Woodrow, 81), Hicks, Adams, Rossiter, Palmer.

Subs not used: Catlin, Owain Thomas, McNabney, Christopher.

Bluebirds tote

No winners last week. The numbers were22, 34 and 44. This week's prize money will be £1,000.