Cwrt Herbert Blacks 4--- Cimla United 1

C. Underwood

Match-day Squad: Calim Bowen, Dafydd Davies, James Edwards, Luciana Linciano, Steffan Lupton, Toby Oliver, Morgan Pemberton, Luke Phillips, Matthew Phipps, Sam Rowe, Cameron Underwood, Ben Wyatt.

This was always likely to prove a difficult away fixture as Cwrt Herbert had been scoring for fun in the early weeks of the season having already scored almost 30 goals. Cwrt Herbert started brightly but were kept at bay by some good initial defence, and very good goalkeeping and clearances from Dafydd. Cwrt Herbert opened the scoring after breaking out of midfield following some very good battling from both sides. It became 2-0 when a ball fizzed across the Cimla goal, was unlucky to be deflected and find the head of an attacker who headed home neatly into the top corner. Further pressure from Cwrt Herbert resulted in a third goal when a long clearance kick by Cimla was smartly returned and found the bottom corner of the net. Late in the first half, Cimla were unlucky not to reduce the deficit as Calim saw a well struck effort smartly saved and just before the whistle Cameron fired wide following an excellent ball through from Steffan.

It would have been all to easy for the Cimla side to let their head drop being 3 down at half-time, but Cimla clearly took belief from their recent away match second half performances.

Cimla were much quicker to close down Cwrt Herbert in the second period and produced their own long spells of pressure forcing a number of corners. The Cimla defence looked far more assured, and on a rare occasion where the defence was beaten, Steffan who had moved into goals for the second period, saved bravely at the feet of a Cwrt Herbert forward. Excellent energy was shown throughout the period by the whole Cimla team who refused to give Cwrt Herbert an easy ride. However, the excellent Home side managed a fourth goal despite the improvement shown by Cimla. This still did not deter the Cimla team who then gained just rewards for their efforts when a quickly taken throw-in put Cameron through on goal to finish expertly reducing the deficit to 4-1, and giving Cimla a thoroughly deserved share of the goals in the second half. Handshakes at the final whistle indicated that both sides felt that they had played in a very good game of football. Cimla should clearly be able to take plenty of positives from their excellent second half performance as they prepare for yet another away trip next week.