BRIDGEND TOWN  5 - 2  GARDEN VILLAGE

FAW Welsh Cup Round 2
Saturday September 30th, 2006

Garden Village were dumped out of the Welsh Cup at the second stage on Saturday by a Bridgend Town side who will host Welsh Premiership outfit Airbus UK in the third round.

The home side got themselves off to a flying start by taking the lead after only 2 minutes with a well struck shot into the top-corner of the net. Village 'keeper Dale Hulland was called into action on 5 minutes to make a double save on his line while at the other end both Steven Evans and Steve Devonald failed to find the net.

Bridgend got themselves a second on 8 minutes with a lob over the defence and Dale Hulland, who was off his line, into the same top-corner as their first.

The visitors started to raise their game as the game went on and did manage to create some chances, notably Rob Shannon's header which was tipped over the top by Bridgend's impressive young shot-stopper but no corner was given.

Village did manage to get themselves a goal on 33 minutes through Ashley Richards who converted Marc Lloyd's low right-sided cross into the bottom corner from close-range.

Richards was also involved in a well-worked move right at the start of the second-half, his lay-off to recent recruit Derek James saw the former Garw midfielder strike wide.

The difficulty of this tie increased as the home side restored their two-goal advantage by the 51st minute. Dale Hulland had made an excellent save from point-blank range but the Coychurch Road outfit scored a third with a thunderous header from the resulting corner.

By the 65th minute the tie was all over as a contest with Bridgend scoring a fourth; Michael Harvey failed to clear the ball and that allowed the hosts to regain possession and score from close-range.

Village did have a fair amount of chances as the game was drawing to a close with Jamie Evans, Phil Myles, Ashley Richards all having a go but the Bridgend 'keeper, who was on trial with Swansea City last season, couldn't be beaten.

He was beaten, though, by David Rimmer who headed a consolation for Garden Village in the very last minute, but that wasn't to be the last of the action as Bridgend again penetrated the visitors' defence to score a fifth from inside the area 2 minutes into injury-time.

Village: Dale Hulland; Michael Harvey, David Rimmer; Jamie Mansell; Marc Lloyd, Derek James (Mark Napieralla, 58'), Freddy Treloar (Phil Myles, 58'), Steven Evans (Jamie Evans, 58'), Steve Devonald; Ashley Richards, Rob Shannon.

Attendance: 50 (est)