Match Report: Penybont 1-1 Cardiff Met
Under a clear night sky, Penybont greeted ‘Group A’ challengers, Cardiff Met to the DragonBet Stadium, in what the large Bont crowd were certain would be a highly competitive League meeting.
The midweek fixture kicked off at 7:45pm and from the moment the ball started rolling it became immediately evident that this was to be a tightly contested clash. Only seconds into the game, Bont keeper Dan Higgs was forced into making an early save as Met began in a hungry fashion. Their press paid off, and just three minutes into the tie, Mwandwe slotted a composed finish across the face of the goal, to put the Visitors ahead. The current of play almost instantly turned in favour of Bont and Noah Daley composed a shot that went clean through on goal, before the linesman raised his flag in denial of the Bont number 11. Bont continued to push on for the equaliser and after a clever cross into the box, Nathan Wood nodded a powerful header narrowly wide. Just a minute later, a 50/50 challenge, featuring Bont’s Clayton Green momentarily stopped play as players from both sides found themselves on the floor, injured. Momentum capsized briefly as Higgs lunged at the ball to make an acrobatic save at the near post. However, action at the other end of the field flipped the focus of a passionate Bont crowd as Daley was denied from a close range effort. Another Daley opportunity presented itself as he lofted an audacious bicycle kick effort over the bar to conclude the first 45 minutes.
The second half got underway with just one Bont change as Woodiwiss replaced Ludvigsen at the back and once again, Noah Daley found himself in a position of menace as a first time power strike was cleared off the goal line by a Met defender. Just 2 minutes later, as Bont were on the prowl for a leveller, the Cardiff Met goalkeeper, Samuel Seager saw red for denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity. As a result, an Owen Pritchard free kick was parried away by Seager’s replacement, Kelland Absalom in the Cardiff net. Merely minutes later, as Bont seized total control over the game, Ioan Phillips capitalised on Met’s 10 man situation and found the net from inside the penalty area to pull the game level! Bont made their second and final substitution of the match as Little replaced Cvetkovic in an effort to add Little’s experience to the game. Bont pushed on and just as a winner seemed overwhelmingly likely at the end of 8 added minutes, the referee concluded the game with the full time whistle to see both sides return to their respective changing rooms with a point apiece.
The Bont boys in blue ended Phase 1 in a dominant fashion in third place and look to extend their European hopes going into the second part of the season!
Ben Lewis