Match Report: Penybont 2-0 Barry Town

An unforgiving westerly wind swept the emerald artificial blades of grass at the DragonBet Stadium as Penybont greeted South Wales rivals, Barry Town in a critical end-of-the-season clash. 

Both sides went into this fixture with high hopes of seizing all three points and progressing up Group 1 to heighten their chances of European success. 

Barry seize early advantage

The Good Friday encounter commenced at 2:30 and immediately both sides launched their campaigns with extreme intensity, however the dull weather conditions made it difficult for either side to produce a high quality level of football.

The first opportunity of the clash went the direction of Barry as a shot from distance was acrobatically parried over the bar by Luke Armstrong. Merely two minutes later, a Barry through-ball found the clinical first touch of Ieuen Owen who made no mistake in slotting a near-post finish to pull the visitors ahead. 

Barry didn’t relent and by the Bont left corner flag, Nathan Wood was forced into putting in a crucial sliding challenge before a few minutes later, Luke Armstrong made a firm claim to deny Barry. 

Bont presented with promising opportunities

Bont saw this as an opportunity to launch an offensive on the opposite end of the pitch as Alex Cvetkovic struck a curling power strike that rattled the woodwork aggressively but certainly had Barry with their hearts in their mouths. 

Unfortunately, this Bont offensive wasn’t destined to last as Hulbert hit a simple finish to double the Visitors lead in added time in the first half. With that, the referee put whistle to lips to conclude the first half. 

Second Half

As the referee got the second half underway, Bont began playing with an increased feeling of intensity and urgency as the boys in blue began to dominate possession. 

On the hour mark, Rhys Griffiths deemed it a suitable time to make a rare triple substitution as Clayton Green, Noah Daley and Billy Borge replaced Nat Williams, Chris Venables and Ioan Phillips. 

Final Push

These changes seemed to increase the current of play in favour of Penybont as Clayton Green fired a menacing shot narrowly wide of the woodwork with 15 minutes remaining. 

In a final push for a comeback, captain Kane Owen replaced Joe Woodiwiss in an effort to add his experience and expertise to the tie. 

Unfortunately it simply wasn’t enough in the end and Barry returned East with all three points and Bont head into their final game of the season away to Caernarfon at the bottom of Group One. 

Penybont Starting XI:

Armstrong; Ludvigsen, Williams, Woodiwiss, Davies, Wood, Pritchard, Venables, Cann, Phillips, Cvetkovic

Barry Starting XI:

Ratcliffe, George, Sainty, Margetson, Willmott, Owen, Cuddihy, Williams, Hulbert, Barton, Richards

MOTM: Alex Cvetkovic

Next Up: Penybont travel North for the final game of the season against Caernarfon. 

What does this mean?

Bont moved down to 6th place in the table. 

Ben Lewis