Pre-season friendly:
Haverfordwest County 2
Trefelin BGC 2

Haverfordwest manager Sean Cresser declared himself satisfied after his side played out a tough first pre-season friendly with Trefelin BGC.

The testing encounter saw the Blues restricted to two set-piece goals but their younger players showed up very well in some competitive exchanges.

But they fell behind inside two minutes when Trefelin’s Jordan Edwards capitalised on a goalkeeping error.

Thereafter thee home side had more possession, linking neatly down the middle and on the flanks, while the visitors relied more on quick breakaways. Lee Trundle had a couple of early chances and one curled shot over the head of Mathew Stanton forced a fine retreating save from the keeper.

A fine ball from Alaric Jones sent Leon Luby in for him to shoot over, and Jones’ fine header back in from Danny Williams’ corner saw Luby shoot just over again.

After Williams hit the post in the 25th minute, an equaliser came in the 28th, when Trundle was fouled in the area and hammered the spot kick home himself.

The Blues continued to get the better of the game but often the final pass in a promising move would be out of kilter.

Then on the stroke of half-time, a lob from Shaun Best restored the visitors’ lead.

Even with the Blues making nine substitutions during the second half, the second half followed a similar pattern.

A combative Trefelin side conceded a string of free kicks and disputed a large number of them, creating a rather fraught atmosphere which reached a climax when a defender bundled Ben Fawcett off the ball and into the advertising boards, starting a five-or six-man tussle.

The lively Fawcett responded with a lovely run down the right and a cross which just evaded Trundle.

A stinging 25-yard shot from Elliot Scotcher forced a fine save from Stanton, but the second equaliser came in the 80th minute, when Jones was tripped on a surging run down the middle and Scotcher crashed a beautiful free kick around the wall.

A further free kick from Scotcher was close to a winner, but the Blues had to be content with the draw and a fresh insight into how rugged Welsh League football can be.

“As an exercise it was exactly what we were looking for today,” said Cresser.

"A number of elements that we’ll be exposed to week in, week out in the Welsh League were evident and it certainly wasn’t a game for the faint hearted.

"But I'm pleased with how the players, especially the youngsters, dealt with many of the different aspects of the game and the performance as a whole was excellent.

"The positives far outweighed any negatives, but we’ve still got plenty to work on."

The Blues have two more home friendlies this week - Goodwick United on Wednesday, July 25th, 7.30pm kick off, and Aberystwyth on Saturday, 2.30pm.