Haverfordwest County 2 Caldicot Town 0

Haverfordwest County returned to winning ways with victory over already-relegated Caldicot Town at the Conygar Bridge Meadow Stadium but it is fair to say that The Bluebirds were still not firing on all cylinders but in the final analysis a win is a still a win no matter who the opposition is.

Indeed, in a fairly quiet first half there were relatively few scoring chances and the visitors’ mixture of very young players and old-timers must have been pleased to have a clean sheet after they already lost 2-3 at home against The Bluebirds and having won just eight matches from 29 starts.

Good debut for teenage keeper Nick

A plus for Haverfordwest County was the fact that 17 year old goalkeeper Nick Jones made a useful debut and linked well with his back four of Matthew Broome, Stefano Antoniazzi, Spencer Williams and skipper Sean Pemberton, who was his usual powerhouse self and always posed a threat for corners slung into the danger zone by Lee Hudgell.

The best chances for Haverfordwest came in the final five minutes of the first period when Greg Walters released Rhys Dalling but he mishit a low shot and it was saved by Ashley Palmer – and a second Dalling half chance was blocked by a desperate lunge from Caldicot skipper Matt James.

Tempo increased as Speake comes on

Whatever co-coach Sean Cresser had to say at half time certainly seemed to galvanise The Bluebirds into raising the tempo, with Walters, Watts and Hudgell to the fore alongside Kristian Speake, who came on for Jamie Evans and immediately made an impact, heading a clever free kick from Williams against the near post.

Steffan Williams’ superb free kick was touched on to the bar by Palmer and a Hudgell free kick was saved low down by the busy Caldicot keeper.

Goals finally arrive

At last the goal came to ease home supporters’ frustrations and it was skipper Pemberton who powered a Matthew Broome free kick into the roof of the net.

Within three minutes the lead was doubled as Rhys Dalling fired home from inside the box and the closest that Caldicot came to scoring was a raking drive by Saf Supinski which flew just over the bar.

So The Bluebirds’ win keeps them in third place and they travel to play Port Talbot on Friday evening in search of success against a team they smashed 6-2 a few weeks ago at the Conygar Bridge Meadow Stadium.

Haverfordwest County: Nick Jones: Matthew Broome; Sean Pemberton (Capt); Stefano Antoniazzi; Spencer Williams: Ricky Watts; Greg Walters; Lee Hudgell; Rhys Dalling: Jamie Evans; Steffan Williams. Substitutes: Kristian Speake; Nicky Palmer; Alfie Stottor; Fraser Finlay

Caldicot Town: Ashley Palmer: Tyler Huggett; Ollie Smith; Jarred Patterson; Matt James (Capt); Tony Wallis; Liam Mead; Gavin Withers; Saf Supinski; Ben Smith; James Gidney.
Substitute: Mark Williams.

Referee: Ben Williamson    
Assistants: Pedr McMullen & Gareth Elliott