Micky's Pembrokeshire
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Friendly Football:
Sully scores two as Bluebirds do just enough
Haverfordwest County 2 Tata Steel 1
Referee: Alan Boswell
Assistants: Gareth Elliott & Adrian Harries
Two second half goals by Chris O’Sullivan helped Haverfordwest complete their six-match pre-league season fixtures with an undefeated tag that included this, their fourth win.
But this was a workmanlike, if unspectacular success over the sort of side they can expect to meet in the Welsh League: physically hard, uncompromising and quite hard to break down.
It was certainly the case in the first half as the Bluebirds had plenty of possession but no real shots on goal as Tata Steel went closest through Chris Parfitt and Dahi Alwadi, both shots comfortably saved by home keeper Craig Morris.
All changed after the interval
But that changed after the interval as young subs Matthew Ellis and Jay Brockway combined on the right to create space for O’Sullivan, who coolly planted a left-foot shot past the stranded Matthew Stanton in the Tata goal.
That goal came in the 54 th minute and 13 minutes later the Bluebirds doubled their lead when a good through ball sent Anton Owen away on a run before he was hauled down in the box. O’Sullivan took the spot kick but drove it straight at Stanton but was lucky that the rebound flew back to him so that he could drill the ball home at the second attempt!
Long range goal and a golden chance missed
Ricky Watts fired over the bar after a careful build up and Tata fought back when a speculative long-range shot flew over Morris’s head and into the net with only five minutes left.
The Bluebirds looked odds-on to add a third goal soon afterwards as they had three players clear and only Stanton to beat – but when Matthew Ellis squared the ball to Galdo the young striker made a hash of it and the golden chance went a-begging! But Gareth Elliott, Kristian Griffiths, Simon Gilderdale and David Evans bottled things up at the back and the homesters were good value for victory before they start their league programme at home next Saturday!
Haverfordwest County: Craig Morris; Simon Gilderdale; Kristian Griffiths; Gareth Elliott; David Evans: Ricky Watts; Chris O’Sullivan; Gareth Taylor; Richard Lewis: Alex Galdo; Anton Owen. Subs: Jay Brockway, Matthew Ellis; Phil Catlin; Alex Squires.
Tata Steel: Matthew Stanton; Lee Shrimpton; Rhodri Lewis; Danny Williams; Justin Williams; Matthew Herman; Dahi Alwadi; Lee McLaughlin; Chris Parfitt; Matthew Lavis; Carl Clement. Subs: Mike Davies; Tom Edwards; Dan Stanton; Les Redwood; Steve Lewis.
Photos :
Chris O'Sullivan nets the first Haverfordwest County goal
Aerial action from the Bridge Meadow
Ricky Watts on the ball
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