Pontypridd Town 1 Caerleon 3
Ponty gave another Jekyll and Hyde performance on Saturday with a dreadful opening spell which put the visitors out of sight being followed by a competitive second half display.
The home team were missing a number of players through suspension and unavailability and a reshuffled team looked completely out of sorts from the first whistle with Caerleon’s Chris Pearce missing an open goal chance after only two minutes. Jacob Daly was looking lively on the right hand side for Ponty but Pearce missed another decent chance after six minutes when he volleyed over from the edge of the six yard box. A goal looked inevitable and it arrived two minutes later from a set piece on the edge of the home area. The kick was taken by Simon Trueman and although he did not appear to get a good connection, the ball got past the wall and bounced past Chris Golton’s fingertips into the corner of the net.
The visitors only had to wait another three minutes to go two up when some dreadful defending presented Kristian Hanbury with an open goal. There was no doubting that the goal was deserved but the manner in which it was scored left a sour taste as the Caerleon player showed a lack of respect and a level of arrogance far above his ability by going on all fours to push the ball into the net with his head.
Ponty improved slightly after this but the visitors still held the upper hand and Chris Jones scored with a good header from a corner just before the half hour mark. The Dragons finally began to stir after this set back with Daly firing just wide and Vinny Avery bringing a full length save from Jon Chorley. They then got on the scoresheet a minute before the break when the hard working Ebony Dixon netted with a header from a corner.
Ponty looked a different team after the break and Daly brought an excellent fingertip save from Chorley immediately after the restart. A goal at that stage would have given the match a different complexion with the home side now winning much more of the ball and getting forward at every opportunity. Nevertheless, chances were rare until the seventieth minute when an Avery cross following a good move was punched away and Rassul Abdul shot across the face of goal almost immediately after another decent sequence of passes had given him a sight of goal.
However, the visitors were still a threat and Pearce was worked clear with fifteen minutes to play only for Golton to foil him with an excellent block at his feet and another agile save from the rebound.
The deficit was almost reduced with a minute to play when Daly wriggled clear but dragged his shot wide of the far post seconds before he again made space for himself on the right but put his cross just too high for Dixon.
Ponty now face a daunting trip to Ton Pentre this Saturday before a sequence of games against teams at the wrong end of the table which will ultimately have a big say in deciding their fate this season.
Pontypridd Town: Chris Golton; David Delaney (sub. Chris Ridgeon), Tommy Saleh, Craig Green, Matthew Phillips, Lee Harriman (sub. Luke Hooper), David Avery (sub. Stuart Parr), Wayne Antoniazzi, Jacob Daly, Ebony Dixon, Rassul Abdul. Sub not used: Sion Courman.
This other match report has been posted on the internet by a groundhopper and can be seen with pictures on:-