Division 2:

Milford United 3-1 St Ishmaels

A SPECTACULAR strike from Ryan Wilson and second half goals from Leighton Edwards and Chris Thompson gave Milford United their first points of the season as they were too strong for St Ishmaels at Marble Hall.

Tish did strike themselves in the second half through a fortuitous goal from Allistair Robertson, but The Robins created the better openings in both periods and ran out worthy winners.

Phil Marchant’s men should have been ahead early on when Liam Davies made ground down the right wing and squared the ball to Leighton Edwards, who shot wastefully wide from close range.

Home centre back William Goodall headed an Ashley Mathias corner wide, before Tish had their best chance of the first half when a Jack Palmer cross found Gareth Cheshire, but the striker neglected the chance to shoot and his ball back across goal was cut out.

Then on the half hour mark, Wilson gave The Robins lead in sublime fashion, curling a 25 yard shot over Tish keeper Jonathan Pawlett and into the top corner.

Both Andrew Palmer and Andrew Mathias were off target with free kicks for Tish before the home side thought they had doubled their advantage before the break when Ryan Mansell beat Pawlett to the ball and tapped into an empty net – but the goal was ruled out for offside.

Cheshire headed a Joel Morgan corner over early in the second half, before Edwards seemingly made the game safe for Milford when he rounded off a flowing move by heading home a Davies cross.

Right winger Davies impressed again moments later as he cut through the Tish defence and shot from a tight angle, but his effort was blocked by Pawlett.

At this point Tish were struggling to get a foothold in the game but they were given a lifeline with 24 minutes left when full back Robertson saw his cross loop over home keeper Jason Rickard and into the net.

It set up a tense finish, but Robins striker Chris Thompson put the game to bed with 12 minutes remaining, firing home from close range after the Tish defence failed to clear a Wilson corner.

Milford substitute McCauley Mckay nearly added another late on as he headed just wide, but The Robins comfortably saw out the closing stages to deservedly claim their first league win of the campaign.

Milford United: Jason Rickard, Neil Mathias (Daniel Coe), Chris Davies, Ryan Mansell (James McCarthy), Scott Griffiths, Williams Goodall, Ryan Wilson, Ashley Mathias, Chris Thompson, Leighton Edwards (McCauley Mckay), Liam Davies.

St Ishmaels: Jonathan Pawlett, Allistair Robertson (Tom Aldred), Joseph Bate, Marc Devonald, Brennan Devonald, Andrew Howells, Joel Morgan, Andrew Palmer (Ed Richards), Gareth Cheshire, Jack Palmer, Andrew Mathias. Sub not used: Jordan Milich.

Referee: Gareth Elliott.