20/09/03: Dinas Powys 3 - 1 Ton Pentre

DINAS POWYS, the new boys of Division One, put an end to Ton Pentre's five match unbeaten League run. The Rhondda Bulldogs lost their 100 per cent record in a hi-octane match.

With Dinas Powys scoring within the first ten minutes Ton Pentre pounded the home sides goal time after time, striking at the goal like an automatic machine gun but failing to beat goalie Billy Clarke.

Dinas Powys, having lost last seasons manager David Giles and a few of their players to Cardiff outfit Grange Harlequins, fielded some familiar Welsh League faces from the now defunct Cardiff Civil Service. Also in their line-up was ex-Cardiff City and Welsh Under 21 International Leon Jeanne.

The home side has certainly taken to life in Division One achieving positive results thus far in the league. And it took them only 10 minutes to set up another good result when they took the lead.

The movement that got the goal saw Ali Kiyaga play the ball out wide for it to be whipped into the box stretching the Ton defence to a position of no recovery, leaving Anthony Ferguson free in the area. He strongly headed the ball past Jon Howe at the far post.

From here on Ton Pentre bombarded Dinas Powys with attack after attack stringing together good passing and movement.

A one-two between Kerry Harding and Alyn Jones saw the 'keeper pull off an excellent stop to deny the equaliser.

Jamie Michaels used his frightening pace and skill to tease and tangle the Dinas defence but his shots were also unable to break the home side.

It was much of the same after half time but Dinas still failed to buckle under the extreme pressure with 20 yard shots and precision crosses unable to find their way into the back of the net past Clarke.

And when Clarke was unable to hold onto the ball from a cross, spewing it into the possession of Carl Thomas, a defender was in the right place at the right time to hook it away off the line.

The inevitable equaliser came in the 71st minute when a glancing header from Dean Morris finally beat Clarke from a corner. From here it looked as though the Rhondda Bulldogs would go on and win it after dominating so much of the game.

However, Dinas Powys took their chances and it earned them the lead once again. An excellent free kick sent into the box from Jeanne saw the ball tapped into the net from the foot of Danny Kinsey.

Ton were then given absolutely no chance of getting a point out of the match when Dinas made it 3-1 five minutes from time.

The scoreline is somewhat misleading of the way the match went; however, Dinas were made to work very hard for a fantastic result. Along with Dinas all of Ton's other rivals also won their games including Llanelli who beat Goytre United 3-0.

This sets up a mouth watering clash between Ton and Llanelli at Ynys Park on Saturday September 27 (3pm) with only two points separating the clubs in the League.

Ton Pentre: Jon Howe; Mike Jones; Nathan Prygodzicz (Ian Shepherd, 74mins); Jamie Michaels; Mark Evans (Lee Tapper, 80mins); Andrew Hughes; Shaun Fackerel; Dean Morris; Carl Thomas; Alyn Jones; Kerry Harding.

Substitute not used: Craig Morgan.

Match Report by Robert Dowling.