A first half penalty miss proved to be the pivotal point of this Welsh League Division One match between Bridgend Town and Ton Pentre.
Bridgend Town took a shock lead inside the first minute at the University Playing Fields in Treforest Industrial Estate, which is acting as Bridgend’s home ground until they move to the Brewery Field next season, when Ian Turner prodded in a 20 second goal.
Despite the early set back the Rhondda Bulldogs were looking useful but struggled to create clear goal scoring chances. However, in the 9th minute a Steve Edwards run up the right opened space for the winger to cross into the Bridgend box. Chris Jones got a header onto the end of the cross but he saw goalkeeper Brendan Cropley hold on well to his effort.
Another dangerous Edwards cross in the 25th minute looked likely to cause the home team a further problem but fortunately for Bridgend Ian Jones took the ball off Chris Jones’s head without realising that his strike partner was better positioned. This allowed Bridgend to counter attack.
Bridgend moved the ball forward with ease and Raith Plant went one-on-one with Richard Jeffries. Somehow Jeffries denied a certain goal with a magnificent save.
In the 39th minute Chris Jones jumped to meet a high ball in the Bridgend box. Cropley rushed from his line and hurtled through the air missing the ball before crashing into Jones. Kevin Russell, the match Referee, immediately pointed to the spot for the foul on the Ton striker.
Ian Jones took responsibility for the penalty kick but Ton’s top goal scorer hit a poor effort straight down the middle of the goal allowing Cropley to make an easy and significant save.
The Bridgend goalkeeper denied the same player early in the second half when they met each other one-on-one. Cropley pulled off a good save to direct the ball over the cross bar.
On 50 minutes Bridgend doubled their lead when Rameer Outlow headed in from Anthony Waters’ cross from the right for a well worked goal.
Ton still believed that they could get themselves back into this match but Cropley was putting in an excellent display and was called into action when Liam Hutchinson’s perfect through ball for Chris Jones allowed the striker to get in a close range shot that was denied by the goalkeeper. Phil Clarke came in behind the parried shot but his follow-up attempt was charged down by Cropley for a fantastic double save.
Bridgend Town put the match beyond the Bulldogs in the 64th minute when Plant took advantage of a defensive blunder to score past his former club.
Scott Hillman added a fourth goal when he headed in from a corner kick on 72 minutes after he jumped above his marker in the Ton box.
Before the final whistle Ian Jones came close to scoring a consolation goal for the Rhondda Bulldogs but he was denied by another fine save by Cropley, who deserved his clean sheet for an excellent performance.
Match report © Ton Pentre AFC Press
VACANCIES
At the end of this current season our Chairman, Bryan Bees and Secretary, Stuart Jones will be stepping down from their positions.
Therefore, Ton Pentre AFC are looking for an ambitious duo to fill these very important roles and to take the club forward.
We are looking for interested and capable individuals to come forward and fill the following vacancies:
Football Club Chairman
Football Club Secretary
If you are not interested in one of the above posts we also require people to step forward and offer their services to boost the Football Committee in order to make Ton Pentre AFC as strong as possible.
We need your skills, input and ideas to ensure the future of our club and build upon our already rich and distinguished history.
It doesn’t matter how small a job it is that you can do, Ton Pentre AFC needs you.
Contact via email
tonpentresec@aol.com
tonpentreafc@aol.com
bryanbees@aol.com
tonmatchmag@aol.com
Postal Addresses
Mr S Jones, 29 Lloyd Street, Gelli, Pentre, Rhondda Cynon Taf, CF41 7NQ
Ton Pentre AFC Clubhouse, Ynys Park, Llanfoist Road, Ton Pentre, Pentre, Rhondda Cynon Taf, CF41 7AF
Telephone
Bryan Bees: 01443 434860; Stuart Jones: 07772 313563; Clubhouse: 01443 432813
