Cimla United 1--- Pontardawe Blacks 3

S. Lupton

Match-day Squad: Calim Bowen, James Edwards, Owen Evans, Luciana Linchano, Steffan Lupton, Morgan Pemberton, Luke Phillips, Matthew Phipps, Cameron Underwood, Ben Wyatt.

The Cimla team will view this result as a disappointment following their excellent run in recent weeks. The squad appeared a little tired for this early morning start, perhaps a consequence of the excellent partying skills they had demonstrated late into the previous night at the club’s Halloween bash.

The first period saw the contest start evenly, with the home side seeing early chances fall to Morgan and Owen. However it was Pontardawe who opened the scoring following a corner which the Cimla defence unusually struggled to clear. A smart save from Steffan in goal prevented the away side from increasing this lead. Then it was Cimla who were unlucky not to level the score as Cameron hit a well stuck effort into the side netting. The match settled into a fairly even contest which saw both sides involved in some end-to-end play. It was Pontardawe who got the important second goal when a break down the right saw a ball across the Cimla goal find an unmarked player on the far post who finished neatly. Just before half-time the majority of spectators felt it was sure to become 3-0 as a Ponty striker was put through on the Cimla goal by an excellent pass from midfield, he controlled it well and hit a thundering effort on the Cimla goal but Steffan had come off his line and flung himself at full stretch to make an outstanding diving save.

It remained 2-0 at the interval and the Cimla boys, encouraged by their recent second half performances felt that could overturn this deficit in the second period.

Calim replaced Steffan in goal at half-time and this almost paid an immediate dividend as his strong run was unlucky not to find Owen. Then an effort from Morgan, deflected by Cameron was pushed wide for a corner by the visiting keeper. The Cimla defence looked more assured in the second period as James, Matthew, Ben and Luke were all interchanged and involved in some determined tackling. This part of the game also saw Luciana unlucky not to latch onto balls across the Pontadawe goal. As Cimla searched for the goal that would bring them right back into the game, a break from Pontardawe saw Calim make a good initial stop only to see the ball unluckily rebound from the post into the path of the attacker who then had a simple tap home. The home side refused to give up and was rewarded for its efforts when Steffan thumped home an effort through a number of Pontardawe defenders to reduce the deficit to 3-1. As time was running out, many of the home supporters were about to celebrate a second Cimla goal but somehow from a scramble in the Pontardawe goal the home side were unable to force the ball over the line. The final whistle sounded on the end of a well contested game.

The boys will surely look forward to putting this defeat behind them when they train this week for another contest with Pontardawe, as they travel to take on the Reds next Saturday.