CWMAMMAN United had to settle for a point in their game with Cambrian and Clydach on Friday (Feb 22), as the home side scored a late goal to earn a 3-3 draw.
Prior to the game, respects were paid by both Teams, Management, Officials and Supporters by holding a minute silence to honour the memory of Jac Lewis, a bubbly, well liked local footballer from the Amman Valley.
So after the well observed minute silence, the early team news was that Cwm were forced into a late reshuffle of defence as versatile defender Luke Allen pulled up with an injury in the warm ups. In stepped young Sean Howells to deputise.
On a chilly night in RCT it was Cambrian and Clydach on their 3G pitch that started the game brightly and were forcing the pace. Cwm found themselves on the back foot and unable to break out of their half.
With a quarter of an hour played it was Cambrian and Clydach’s in form striker Liam Edwards who rifled his low shot into the back of Cwm’s net to make it 1-0.
Cwm tried to respond but Cambrian and Clydach continued their high intensity pressing game and the pressure told when the referee spotted a foul in the Cwm penalty area and pointed immediately to the penalty spot. The home team converted the penalty kick to double their lead, 2-0.
At this point the away support could be forgiven in thinking that this game was going to run away from them.
Cwmamman to their credit are a team that have demonstrated a steely determination this season when falling behind to get themselves back in the game and with half an hour played it was apparent that Cwm were starting to pressure the home team and with pace out wide in Hurlow and Curtis had the home team focusing more on their defensive duties.
With less than ten minutes to the half time whistle, Cwm got their just reward when Cwm striker Ashley Curtis broke free of his markers and fired his shot into the home team’s net, 2-1.
As the first half came to an end the pendulum had swung in Cwm’s favour and it was the home team that welcomed the half time break .
Cwmamman came out in the second half with the same drive and determination that had been shown in the latter stages of the first half.
Cwm forced a corner kick and Ryan Hurlow stepped up to take it. His strike direct from the corner was so powerful and hit with such an out swing swerve that deceived everyone, the ball’s velocity found its way into the top corner of the home team’s net with the defence stunned by the precision of the set piece strike, 2-2.
The game had turned on its head with Cwm in the ascendency and when the home team had a player sent off for a reckless challenge it added to Cwm’s attacking impetus.
It wasn’t long before Cwm capitalised when Ashley Curtis broke down the right and got to the byline and provided a perfect cross ball for Cwm centre forward Christian Allen to put Cwm in the lead for the first time in the game, 2-3.
Cwm with some twenty five minutes left could sense an away win and were passing the ball around in some style.
It was all going well until Ash Johns, Cwm’s central defender, picked up his second yellow card and both teams were down to ten men.
Cambrian and Clydach were spurred on by this but there was another red card issued by referee for one of the substitutes on the bench.
Cwm’s Sean Howells was substituted by Brieg Matthews with minutes to go which meant another reshuffle to the Cwm back line.
With only a minute or two left on the clock, the referee spotted an infringement and awarded a second penalty to the home team. The penalty was fired home and Cambrian and Clydach had pulled a result out from the jaws of defeat, 3-3.
A thoroughly entertaining encounter between two top half teams in the division and all in all a well deserved away point for Cwmamman and a total of 30 points achieved for the season so far.
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