Garden Village  3
Ashley Richards (30') & David Rimmer (70' & 90')

Porthcawl Town  2
Christian Pascoe (15' & 50')

Welsh League Division 2
Saturday August 20th, 2005

Garden Village made it two home wins out of two with this success against Porthcawl Town on Saturday, but needed an injury-time strike from David Rimmer - his second of the afternoon - to seal the win. The visitors twice took the lead through Christian Pascoe but were pegged back on both occasions after strikes from Ashley Richards and David Rimmer for his first.

There was a debut for goalkeeper Mark Snell who this week joined from Neath Athletic, he was in to replace Matthew Martin. The influential pair of Ben Brown and Marc Lloyd were both unavailable so they were replaced by Craig Blake and Carl Alfei in the starting eleven.

Porthcawl took the lead after quarter of an hour through Pascoe after he broke into the box to head in the opener which was poorly defended by the home side, but Village were on level terms soon afterwards through a superb individual goal from Ashley Richards. The ex-Skewen striker ran through three defenders before slotting the ball under the oncoming Will Alston.

The home side squandered a number of chances to take the lead and the score remained level until the break.

Village started the second-half as they finished the first, strong and attacking, but were caught out 5 minutes into the half as Christian Pascoe scored his second. A carbon copy of Pontypridd's second goal last weekend, the home side had everyone pushing forward but when Dayle Selvage lost possession Porthcawl had us in a 3-on-1 situation and Pascoe slotted home his second.

We started to struggle afterwards and were unable to punish Porthcawl with our poor finishing and final ball into the box, but hope was somewhat restored when David Rimmer scored in bizarre fashion 20 minutes from time. The defender struck a free-kick from near on 30 yards towards goal, Alston was in two minds on whether to catch or punch the ball away, his final decision worked marvelously in Village's favour as the visiting 'keeper punched the ball into his own net.

Chances were starting to come our way more often but we still struggled to convert and a draw looked increasingly likely, not a bad result considering we didn't play all that well throughout most of the match. But the players, management and fans will be extremely pleased knowing that we can play badly and still produce the goods after a winner came from nowhere right at the death.

In the 92nd minute Ashley Richards was brought down right on the edge of the box and Pontypridd referee Allen Griffiths awarded us a free-kick. A confident Dai Rimmer coolly stepped-up to take responsibility and he didn't disappoint, drilling the ball past a helpless Will Alston to claim a dramatic winner for the boys in black & white.

Manager Bob Lloyd feels that his side could have done better: "We made quite hard work of it. We really struggled to make it out of first gear.

"We didn't play particularly well but at least we got the win."

Saturday's Division 2 Results

Ammanford 2 - 0 ENTO Aberaman Ath.
Caerau Ely 1 - 1 Pontypridd Town
Caldicot Town 4 - 1 Cardiff Corries
Garden Village 3 - 2 Porthcawl Town
Gwynfi United 3 - 2 Pontyclun
Merthyr Saints 2 - 3 Croesyceiliog
Morriston Town 5 - 2 Troedyrhiw
Penrhiwceiber Ran. 4 - 2 Tredegar Town