Bluebirds lose out to late Cambrian goal (From Western Telegraph)

Bluebirds lose out to late Cambrian goal

11:06am Wednesday 26th September 2012 in Sport

Haverfordwest County 1

Cambrian and Clydach 2

The legacy of a 30th minute red card for Chris Holloway left the Bluebirds with just too much to do, despite a spirited second half performance.

The man in the picture in the first five minutes was Cambrian’s lanky Mike Jones, who injured himself in a clash with Peter Blain in the first minute, had a stinging shot brilliantly saved by the same player in the second, collected a yellow card after impeding Steff Williams in an off-theball incident in the fifth minute, and then came off with his injury.

But that left several dangerous attackers in the Cambrian ranks, with top striker Jason Bertorelli, even though he had a quiet afternoon by his standards, still menacing, and the lively James Mahoney, who subbed for Jones, looking particularly dangerous.

That left two equally lively attackers on the Blues side, in wingers Williams and Richie Lewis, both as effervescent as ever.

Andy Hill increasingly won ball in the air after a quiet start, so the exchange of goals on 12 and 13 minutes was no real surprise.

In the 12th minute the Blues rearguard was slow to close down raiding full back Steve Turner, and his cross found the predatory Mahoney for the finishing touch. A minute later, Williams was put away down the right by Holloway and he crossed perfectly for Lewis to turn and fire past keeper Howells from 12 yards.

Cambrian were getting very sharply into the tackle and conceding a fair quota of free kicks, but the real shock came in the 23rd minute when a tackle by Holloway was deemed to be a red-card one and the Blues went to ten men. They weathered ten torrid minutes in the aftermath of this decision but by halftime were beginning to fire again.

The real pivot of the afternoon’s action came after 43 minutes when Williams seemed almost through on goal, only to go down heavily as a Cambrian defender came up alongside.

To the Bluebirds’ side, bench and fans there was a clear view of this as a free kick and almost certainly a card, but referee Becket was unmoved by the crescendo of objection.

To Williams’ credit he began the second half with a brilliant run, going past three defenders before squaring a ball which narrowly evaded Lewis. The Bluebirds were clearly minded to go for the win, ten men or not, and a second half of repeated attack at both ends followed.

Williams, Lewis, Hill, Rob Morgans and Owen Thomas all threatened, even if some of the clearest chances fell to the visitors in breakaways. They missed a few chances when they should have done better and Blain pulled off four terrific saves in the last quarter.

The winning goal, which denied the Bluebirds a point they really deserved, came in the 85th minute, when Liam Hutchinson curled a sweet free kick around the wall.

This Saturday the Bluebirds are away to Caerleon in the League. On Saturday, October 6th, they are away to Brecon in the Welsh Cup and fans who would like to travel on the bus should contact the club.

Haverfordwest County : Peter Blain, Ricky Watts, Antonio Facciuto, Lee Bevan, Gareth Elliott, Owen Thomas, Steffan Williams, Chris Holloway, Rob Morgans (Jordan Smith, 68), Andy Hill (Jamie Evans, 78), Richie Lewis. Sub not used: Chris O’Sullivan.