Milford Athletic 2
Swansea Dockers 4
MILFORD Athletic were knocked out of the West Wales cup after they lost 4-2 to an impressive Swansea Dockers side on Saturday. However, after the Dockers had a man sent off, Milford brought it back to 2-2 and a real upset looked on the cards. A freak own goal from Nathan Lewis, just a minute later, put the Dockers back in the lead and that derailed Milford’s comeback.
Swansea started the game well and went ahead in the tenth minute when Raymond Ali slotted home a penalty. Midway through the first half the Dockers doubled their lead. Luke Darling dummied the ball well to allow Liam Staines to run through and round the keeper to slot the ball into an empty net.
Milford pulled a goal back ten minutes into the second half when Jamie Bird shot low into the bottom right corner after the Dockers defence failed to clear a corner.
They were then given a real boost when the Dockers were reduced to 10 men as Cameron Rob, attempting to clear the ball, caught an Athletic player as he pounced on the loose ball and Rob was shown a straight red card.
Despite being a man down, the Dockers still looked dangerous going forward and were unlucky when Luke Darling’s shot rebounded back off the post. With twenty minutes to go Milford had a great chance to draw level but Dockers keeper Brian Sparks pulled off a great save to deny Gary Power.
Just three minutes later they finally had their equaliser when Shane Walsh broke the offside trap to shoot low into the bottom left corner of the goal.
Milford were on top but just a minute later their hopes were dashed with an own goal. The Milford defence panicked as a long ball was played forward and the unlucky Nathan Lewis saw his header loop over the keeper and into his own net.
That ended Milford’s comeback and heavy rain made conditions tricky in the final fifteen minutes. With ten minutes to go the Dockers made the game safe when Staines shot from a tight angle and the wet ball seemed to slip through the grasp of the keeper and into the net.
Staines could have had a hat trick but his shot five minutes from the end was well saved by Milford keeper Ian Hawkins. Milford produced a spirited performance but it is the Dockers who progress to the third round.
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