Haverfordwest County 1 Caernarvon Town 2

Referee: Ryan Kenny
Assistants: Daniel Beckett and Ceri Louise Williams
Fourth Official: Dean John

Haverfordwest County felt the disappointment of a home defeat against Caernarvon Town, who were just two points ahead of the Bluebirds at the start but were clearly delighted to snatch victory when, like the home side, are plagued by injuries and could only muster two subs.

In what would have been an entertaining tussle for any neutral onlookers in a small crowd there was no shortage of incident, some fine saves made by both keepers and six yellow cards, four of them to the visitors.

Indeed, the scoreline could have been 3-3 at half time but the only goal of the half fell to The Canaries after 31 minutes when Noah Edwards made a telling run across the home defence for right to left and fired home a diagonal left-foot low drive that evaded Lee Idzi’s outstretched glove and into the opposite corner.

Chances galore at both ends

Idzi had previously made a string of quality saves from the very first minute as he tipped a left-foot pile driver from Darren Thomas over the bar, saved well after Michael Hayes had been pit through by a lovely pass from Daniel Gossett and then pushed a Hayes’ low  shot onto the upright.

At the other end Haverfordwest had their first chance after four minutes when a goal-bound volley by Wilson struck a defender and was deflected for a corner, Mason Jones-Thomas pounced on a defensive error by Caernarvon but his ball to Sisay saw the big striker unable to create that vital first touch – and another mazy run by Thomas-Jones earned a foul outside the box but Wilson’s free kick flew the wrong side of the bar.

Six yellow cards as tension builds

And so the Canaries went in at the interval with a 1-0 lead and as the temperature mounted on the field referee Ryan Kenny issued yellow cards to Gossett (35’), and Steve Evans (45’) for the visitors and Dylan Rees (42’) for Haverfordwest.

Both sides took time to settle after the break but Haverfordwest took off Sisay after 54 minutes, replaced by Alaric Jones, who had been a flu victim in the week and so unable to start – and as the new formation took time to bed in it took a superb double save by Idzi to deny Darren Thomas and then Cai Jones from the rebound after 55 minutes.

But five minutes later Caernarvon doubled their lead from a sustained goalmouth melee where three close-range efforts were somehow blocked but then Cai Jones finally squeezed the ball through a forest of legs and into the net.

It was a body blow for The Bluebirds and as both teams refused to give an inch there were yellow cards after 63 minutes for Kyle Patten (Haverfordwest) and Noah Edwards, who was followed into Mr Kenny’s book by keeper Ojrzynski after 85 minutes for wasting time.

Bluebirds bag a goal – but not a point!

In that frantic period The Bluebirds pressed forward and Thomas-Jones grabbed a 68th minute beauty as he fired home after his first effort was blocked, Fawcett watched a left-foot volley fly just off target and loud appeals for hand ball in the box were ignored by the referee.

But although the home side might have thought they deserved a point there was no late reprieve and so they now stand in a precarious tenth place, only missing out on being in the bottom two on goal difference – but knowing that the positions are so tight that a couple of wins will see them move quickly out of the danger zone.

Manager Wayne Jones:

“Of course we are disappointed because we know that we should have taken something out of the game – but I have to accept that we gave away two goals we should have kept out – and missed chances.

“But without making excuses, which I refuse to do, we are currently asking players to fit as square pegs in round holes because of injuries and are having to include four academy players, including two 16 year olds, for our matches – and we will look to strengthen our squad in the next transfer window.

“We are currently in the relegation zone but can take a welcome rest next week and then regroup for our next round of matches and aim to climb quickly up the table.”

Haverfordwest County:
Lee Idzi: Jazz Richards; Kyle Patten; Ricky Watts; Dylan Rees:  Danny Williams; Elliott Scotcher; Mason Thomas-Jones; Jack Wilson: Ben Fawcett; Alhagi Sisay (Alaric Jones 54’). Subs: Wojciech Gajda; Iori Humphreys; Kieran King; Lucas Davies.

Caernarvon Town:
Jacub Ojrzynski: Joshua Bailey; Gruffydd Williams; Steven Evans; Daniel Gosset; Michael Hayes; Darren Thomas; Noah Edwards; Ryan Williams; Cai Jones; Bobby Beaumont-Broadbent.  Subs: Calum Huxley; Gwion Dafydd.
 

Captions:

Danny Williams closes in on goal

Mason Thomas-Jones - heavily involved for The Bluebirds . . .

. . . And shows good ball skills

Match officials - Ceri Louise Williams, Dean John, Ryan Kenny, Daniel Beckett