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osian.tirnanog

Mens 1st XI - A Comeback in Cwmbran

Updated: Feb 26, 2023


An early morning pushback after a hefty eastward journey promised a tough game for Carmarthen this week.


Fielding a bare 11 with no bench options, Carmarthen steeled themselves for a stern test against the current league leaders. An early period of ascendancy for Gwent piled pressure on Carmarthen, who looked to weather the storm.


Despite a good period of attacking themselves, Carmarthen conceded the opener from a crisp Gwent counter attack. Gwent would soon double their lead from a fantastic powered strike at the top D. Carmarthen pressed through-out the first half and would have been duly rewarded a goal if not for stellar goalkeeping from the Gwent end.


Carmarthen couldn’t convert pressure into points, and another cleanly executed counter found Carmarthen lacking in numbers at the back, and Gwent took a 3-0 lead into the break.


Carmarthen dusted themselves off at half time, and made a few small tactical tweaks to structure their play. They came out the blocks firing and began securing short corners, with the back 3 of Richardson, Brennan and Carvey giving a platform for the midfield to turn and unlock the forward lines.


Their first goal came from a short corner, with Captain Osian Evans scoring from a reverse sweep finish. This early goal galvanised the team and Carmarthen’s momentum began to snowball. Keen to capitalise, more short corners followed, and midfielder Jonti Merry deflected a drilled ball into the bottom corner for Carmarthen’s second.


Carmarthen, now firmly in this game, began to really pile on the pressure. The wide mids of Josh Richardon and Ollie Shaw began to exploit the half spaces out wide and linked with the wide forwards well. Gwent looked to counter but defensive mid Cai Morgan snuffed out anything that came into his path.


The equaliser came through young forward Josh Gwynne, who had come close to scoring in the first half. A sublime finish from the top D found the top left of the goal. The comeback had been completed, and Carmarthen had all the momentum going into the final quarter.


The game tightened up as it approached the final 15 minutes, but a scintillating 1-2 between Evans and Merry unlocked Merry at the top of the D, who thundered home to take the lead for the first time in the game.


A tense period followed, and Carmarthen truly rode their luck for periods, and thanks to a resolute defence and an eye-watering save from keeper Lee Jones, they held firm.


As the final whistle approached, Carmarthen’s game management shone through as they worked the clock and played in the right parts of the pitch. Some fantastic hold up play from forward Rick Morgan gave time for support to arrive, and with time the final whistle arrived to a rapturous reception from Carmarthen’s players and travelling fans.


Having sprung themselves into the promotion picture as dark horses, Carmarthen consolidate their 3rd place position, with a 6 pointer against 2nd place Whitchurch 5s next weekend back in Carmarthen. How much noise Carmarthen make in this division will largely be decided in the coming weeks as they approach the final stretch of the season.

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