Garden Village  3
Chris Thomas (20'), Paul Dickie (88') & Ashley Richards (90')

Croesyceiliog  2
Jodie Jenkins (77') & Unknown (90+3')

Welsh League Division 2
Sunday May 7th, 2006

Garden Village dented Croesyceiliog hopes of finishing second with an impressive victory over the already promoted side at Stafford Common on Sunday.

Chris Thomas put the home side ahead with his first goal of the season in the first-half but the Torfaen club were back on level terms with less than 15 minutes to go through Jodie Jenkins. Paul Dickie and Ashley Richards both scored very late on as Village were on course to make it six consecutive matches unbeaten; although the Cockerels pulled one back from a free-kick deep into injury-time, Garden Village held on for a well-deserved victory.

There were two changes in the starting line-up from the team that drew at ENTO Aberaman four days before with Jamie Mansell and Nigel Rogers replacing Owen Williams and Paul Bromage, while there were places on the substitutes bench for the returning David Evans and young Matthew Cannon - who has only made a handful of first-team appearances.

The home side made a strong start start and should have taken the lead as early as the 6th minute when Paul Dickie scuffed his shot inside the area after skipping past three defenders. Croesyceiliog had an even better chance five minutes later when they clipped the outside of the post from a free-kick but Garden Village were able to find the back of the net first on 20 minutes.

A long ball into the opposition half was left by the three Garden Village front-men and the most unlikely of players to follow it up, captain Chris Thomas, shrugged off the three defenders tracking him and took the ball to the edge of the area before striking it low into the bottom corner with the outside of his foot. It was only the second time that he had found the net since joining the club in March of last year.

Excellent play on the right between Craig Smith and Ashley Richards almost resulted in the top-scorer putting the home side further ahead three minutes later, but he failed to correctly connect with his shot, and with just over 10 minutes left of the half Mark Snell was called into action to make an excellent save to keep Village's slim lead intact.

Village started the second-half brightly and came very close to a second on 51 minutes; Nigel Rogers met a Marc Lloyd corner with his head which was cleared off the line, it was followed up by David Rimmer who forced the visiting 'keeper into making a fine save. Rimmer was also involved in the next move two minutes later, his well struck cross-field ball landed at feet of the Craig Smith on the right, the youngster took the ball to the byline and crossed into the centre where he found Paul Dickie but the striker could only head over.

Nigel Rogers and Marc Lloyd both had chances before Mark Snell was forced into making another excellent save on 67 minutes, pushing the ball was past the post from a close-ranged effort.

Ashley Richards did have the ball in the net with 15 minutes to go, and excellent lob over the top of the goalkeeper, but it was ruled out for offside. The one-goal advantage was cancelled out two minutes after that when former Barry Town and TNS striker Jodie Jenkins capitalised on a mix-up between Snell and Rimmer to tap home from close-range.

The home side came close to restoring their lead 6 minutes from time when Marc Lloyd fired a free-kick just wide, and five minutes later the visitors had their manager sent away from the dugout by referee Phil Davies.

After failing to convert many chances throughout the match, Garden Village were lucky enough to find the net on two occasions in the final two minutes to seal a deserved victory over the Woodland Road outfit. Paul Dickie restored the lead on 88 minutes when he headed home at the near post from a Marc Lloyd corner, and two minutes later Steven Evans fed Ashley Richards who struck the ball past the goalkeeper from the edge of the area to round off an excellent afternoon for Garden Village.

Croesyceiliog did pull one back three minutes into injury-time with a curling free-kick into the top-corner, but the home side held on to win the first of three home matches in the space of six days.

Good luck to Croesyceiliog in Division 1 next season.

Village: Mark Snell; Jamie Mansell, Steve Bater, David Rimmer (Matthew Cannon 78'); Craig Smith, Steven Evans, Chris Thomas (David Evans HT), Nigel Rogers, Marc Lloyd; Ashley Richards, Paul Dickie.

Not Used: Owen Williams.