Garden Village  0

Penrhiwceiber Rangers  2
Sam George (23') & Dean Brown (90+2')

Welsh League Division 2
Wednesday May 10th, 2006

A goal in each half was enough for Shamrock Travel Cup finalists Penrhiwceiber as they defeated a lacklustre Garden Village side in our penultimate match at Stafford Common this season.

Sam George and substitute Dean Brown were the culprits that denied the home side the three points, but their goals helped propel the Cynon Valley side up to sixth place as they completed their Second Division campaign. Attentions for the players and management at Glasbrook now turn towards the League Cup final against Pontardawe Town, at Maesteg Park FC, next Friday (May 19).

Garden Village went into this game knowing that six points from their remaining two games would have seen them set a club record for most points obtained in a Welsh League season. The previous record of 65, recorded in the championship winning season of 2001/02, would have been beaten by one point had we beaten Penrhiwceiber and Garw on Saturday.

Chris Thomas was missing from the starting line-up after he was injured during the win over Croesyceiliog on Saturday and was replaced by dual-registered midfielder Nicky Palmer. The Haverfordwest County player, who was recently named in the Welsh Premiership team of the year, came through the ranks at Stafford Common and was happy to help out as his parent club finished their season on April 29.

Defenders Jamie Mansell and Matthew Cannon, as well as forward Owen Williams, were also missing so there was room on the bench for reserve team players Lee Sullivan and Josh Davies; left-sided defender David Evans, who has been a fixture for the 'fourth' team during their successful Carmarthenshire League Reserve First Division campaign, was also named on the bench.

The home side started well and were denied a stonewall penalty by Llanelli official Wayne Stephens when Stuart Evans handled inside the area, a sign of the luck we were in for on the night, and Steven Evans was unable to direct his shot on target minutes later. Garden Village had probably the better chances during the first-quarter, although Ryan Brockman had a good shot saved by Mark Snell on 15 minutes, but the home sides' heads went straight down when the visitors opened the scoring mid-way through the half.

Young wing-back Sam George, who troubled the home defence during the match with his pace, struck a fierce free-kick with his left-foot from the right-hand edge of the area into the far top-corner, with the aid of the woodwork, to put his side ahead. Village's best chance to draw level came 10 minutes before half-time when David Rimmer shot over the top after intercepting a short free-kick from Marc Lloyd.

The second-half was just as frustrating as the first. Garden Village found it difficult to play the ball about which resulted in a lack of opportunities to trouble Paul Nicholas in the visitors' goal. Our first proper chance fell on the hour when Marc Lloyd took the ball to the byline - after being put through by Nicky Palmer - and put the ball across the face of goal to Ashley Richards, Village's top-scorer controlled the ball well but could only find the legs of Nicholas when shooting at goal.

Mark Snell pulled off a great save from substitute Richard Veale on 68 minutes but what summed up Garden Village's evening was to fall five minutes later. Marc Lloyd was grounded inside the area and the referee had no choice but to award a penalty, consolation for the spot-kick not rewarded to us within the opening 45 seconds of the match. Up-stepped David Rimmer and most people inside the ground had little doubt that the defender would score his sixth goal of the season, that unfortunately was not to be the case as he dragged his penalty about a foot wide of the left-hand post. Things just weren't going our way on the night.

Penrhiwceiber wrapped up the win with a simple goal two minutes into injury-time. Richard Veale had space on the right and also had time to slot the ball across the face of goal to the back post where fellow substitute Dean Brown was waiting to tap it into the net.

Our final match of the campaign against Garw on Saturday is a 12.30pm kick-off at Stafford Common. Victory over the promoted side would take us level on 63 points with fifth-placed Troedyrhiw; the only way that we could finish above them is if we were to beat the Blandy Park side by 18 goals!

Village: Mark Snell; David Evans, Steve Bater, David Rimmer; Craig Smith (Josh Davies 66'), Steven Evans, Nicky Palmer, Marc Lloyd; Nigel Rogers (Lee Sullivan 55'), Paul Dickie, Ashley Richards.

Not Used: David Evans.

Penrhiwceiber: Paul Nicholas; Jordan Coles, Stuart Evans, Ian Jones, Gavin Keepings, Chris Keepings, Nathan Manley, Ashley Williams (Richard Veale 66'), Ryan Brockman (Dean Brown 88'), Paul Parker, Sam George.

Not Used: Ryan Roberts.