Nathaniel MG Cup, Round Two

Haverfordwest County 6

Goytre United 2 

One of this game’s highlights was a four-star four-goal performance from Danny Williams, but that was only part of a superb all-round display of passing football which must have left a good United side feeling at times as if they had come down West and got caught up in a rodeo.

One of the real benefits which Lee Trundle is bringing to the Bluebirds is not just his goal-scoring (even though he now has 7 from 5 games) but his ability to split defences with a single pass. Three times in the first 20 minutes he opened the Goytre defence up like an oyster with beautiful 30-yatd passes which sent fellow attackers in on goal.

But Goytre are a good side who play a fast Route One game and they kept coming forward, which for a while tended to rush the Blues into responding with a long-ball game too.

But the home side were able to compose themselves and began, from the half-hour mark, to string together dangerous sequences of crisp 10-yard passes.

The harvest was a 2-nil lead by half-time. In the 38th minute Williams produced a fine finish to a cracking move started down the left by Leon Luby and in the 45th minute produced an equally good one to round off a move begun by Nicky Palmer.

Early in the second half Kyle Stuart seemed to be dispossessed while he was on the ground and the emerging ball was chipped against the bar by a Goytre midfielder.

Then followed a blitz of four goals in five minutes. On 50 minutes, Goyt’s Corey Francis dived forward to head in a corner. On 53, TRUNDLE produced one of his trade-mark stingers to restore the 2–goal advantage.

On 54, midfielder Adam Jenkins stormed through make it 3-2. And on 55, it was Danny williams with another smart finish to round off his hat-trick.

Goytre were now two down with half an hour to go, but by no means beaten. There was the possibility of extra time so they could still have won the match.

And the reason they didn’t was that they were pushed back into constant defensive mode by a spirited display of Blues attacking which if anything now stepped up its tempo.

In the 75th minute sub Ashley Bevan, Martyn Carroll and Trundle combined to send Williams in for his fourth cracking finish.

In the 79th minute it was Williams who picked up a ball from Palmer, went down the right and sent over a lovely cross for Bevan to thump in at the far post.

Manager Wayne Jones will have been heartened by this display, not just by the fine performances from the regular fine performers, like Williams, Trundle, Alaric Jones, Sean Pemberton, Elliot Scotcher and sub Ricky Watts, but by good performances from Stuart, Carroll, Tom Dyson, Bevan, from flying winger Jack Wilson, from Leon Luby, showing his ability as a defensive full-back as well as his known ability going forward, and from the evergreen Palmer, with yet another neat and dependable showing in midfield.

On Saturday, September 29th, the Blues are at home to Goytre in the league, kick-off 2.30pm.

Haverfordwest: Kyle Stuart; Martyn Carroll; Leon Luby; Sean Pemberton (Ricky Watts, 67); Alaric Jones; Tom Dyson (Ashley Bevan, 67); Jack Wilson (Fraser Finlay, 58); Elliot Scotcher; Danny Williams; Lee Trundle; Nicky Palmer.  

Subs not used: Ben Fawcett; Steve Hall (g/k); Mark Davies.