Milford Haven Sport
Haverfordwest County 7-0 Pontardawe
9:00am Thursday 2nd February 2012
MacWhirter Welsh Football League, Division one - ONCE Pontardawe had conceded two red cards in a rash 20-minute spell, the Bluebirds were set up for a fine haul of goals, all of them deserved and a few of them spectacular.
The first scorer was quicksilver winger Richard Lewis, as early as the ninth minute, when he exploited a brief dither in the visitors’ defence and darted in for a fine opportunist strike. But Lewis, who had been looking right at his best, suffered a bad ankle injury 10 minutes later and played no further part.
The Bluebirds were looking the better side at this time and though Pontardawe attacked quickly enough their finishing was never good, so that Blues keeper, the returning Peter Blain, had little more to do than one extravagant punch.
The game turned from contest to rout with two poor tackles from Pontardawe. In the 20th minute Owen Thomas was taken out by a bad two-footed challenge and Thomas, the victim of a similar knock a fortnight ago, expressed grievance. One brief scuffle later, it was Pont’s Kieron Howells who had his marching orders.
That setback would have enough for Pont to cope with, but as the Blues began to flow more and more, with Darren Griffiths and Nicky Woodrow prominent again, they conceded a second red, in the 44th minute, when the rampaging Woodrow was brought down on the edge of the box by Niall Thomas, whose departure followed. There was salt rubbed in the wound immediately, when Darren Griffiths curled a lovely free kick around the defensive wall for the second goal.
The interval allowed some of the tensions to evaporate and Pont came back looking to salvage something. But as the Blues played the ball wide and played it back again, fitness and skill started to tell. Three vigorous attacks on the hour mark led to a third goal when Dave Evans’ corner ran loose in the box and Dale Griffiths eventually drove in. Brother Darren scored the fourth when he shot home after another goalmouth scramble.
The most spectacular goal came on 71 minutes when Nicky Woodrow picked up a ball slipped through by Ricky Watts after a neat piece of ball-winning, ran on and cracked one in from 30 yards. Just two minutes later he completed a fine brace after being set up by Darren Griffiths. Sub Jay Brockway twice went close before the final goal in the 83rd minute when Anton Owens drove in after another Darren Griffiths cross.
Fourteen points from the last seven games have taken the Bluebirds up to fifth and this Saturday they travel to play Bryntirion, hoping to give their away record some of the quality of the home.
Haverfordwest County: Peter Blain; Declan John; David Evans (Gareth Elliott, 68), Dale Griffiths; Phil Cattlin (captain); Owen Thomas (Jay Brockway, 68); Anton Owens; Ricky Watts; Richard Lewis (Chris O’Sullivan, 20); Nicky Woodrow; Darren Griffiths.