Caerau Ely  2
Justin Hollis (Pen 41') & David Evans OG (90+1')

Garden Village  0

Welsh League Division 2
Saturday August 27th, 2005

A less than impressive Garden Village performance saw them lose their second match of the season against a Caerau Ely side who didn't really look that good themselves. They took the lead through a Justin Hollis penalty just before half-time, after Steven Evans handled the ball in bizarre fashion, and wrapped up the points a minute into injury-time when a weak shot made its way into the net via David Evans.

Village also had David Rimmer sent off after Caerau's second goal for swearing at the referee; the two dismissals came just days after Ashley Richards saw red at Ammanford. With Evans and Rimmer now suspended for our three matches in September, our discipline record has to improve.

Ashley Richards was missing through suspension while Lee Waite, Marc Lloyd and Richard Uffendelle were unavailable. Youngsters Craig Smith, Michael Hughes and Owen Williams were all involved for the first time this season.

It was the visitors who started the brightest and should have taken the lead as early as the 8th minute. Ben Brown turned past his man out on the right before crossing low to the unmarked Carl Alfei at the back post, with the goal gaping the midfielder could only curl his shot over the top. Paul Bromage was in a similar situation mid-way through the half when he was put through by Chris Thomas, the ex-Seven Sisters man was one-on-one with Caerau 'keeper Kirk Allen but he dragged his shot wide of the target.

Steve Evans had a shot saved by the goalkeeper on 27 minutes but shortly before the break he was needed at the back to clear a Justin Hollis shot off the line after the nippy forward beat Dai Rimmer for pace to go through on goal. The two of them paid crucial roles in the games next major incident 3 minutes later when Steve Evans handled in the area and gave away a penalty. After Evans was dismissed by the referee Hollis stepped up to strike the ball home from the spot.

The home side should have made it two in stoppage-time but the Mark Snell, who had a very solid game between the sticks, pulled off a fantastic save from point-blank range.

Village started the second-half similar to how they started the first, but still found it hard to get the ball in the net. Ben Brown crossed to Carl Alfei 4 minutes into the half but, similar to his effort in the first half, struck it over the top.

The game did die down after that with most of the play contested in the middle of the park, but things did get interesting just after the hour when Caerau's manager, , was sent to the stand by the referee after continuously spurting foul language which prompted supporters to complain.

Alex McInch struck the bar for the home side a minute before the end from a well-struck free-kick, and as it looked increasingly likely that Caerau were going to walk away with the single goal win, they struck again in injury-time. The ball was put into the box from a free-kick on the by-line and was met by a poorly struck shot which unfortunately struck David Evans and slowly made its way into the net. After the goal went in, Dai Rimmer protested against the referee after a foul was committed on Michael Hughes, the ref wasn't interested and when Rimmer took his protest too far he was shown a straight red.

Not the greatest performance but if we had taken our early chances we could easily have gone on to win this one. There's no game next weekend due to the big clash between ourselves and England, but the week after see's us in Welsh Cup action at Croesyceiliog before we're back in league action the week after that when we host ENTO Aberaman.

Village: M Snell, N Lloyd (C Smith 32'), D Rimmer, D Evans, D Selvage, C Alfei (M Hughes 78'), P Bromage (O Williams 48'), C Thomas, S Evans, C Blake, B Brown.