AMMAN United returned for their first competitive league fixture for almost two months on Saturday (Jan 29) as they welcomed Furnace to Cwmamman Park, and the cobwebs certainly showed as both sides struggled in a very scrappy ,mistake-ridden encounter.
The visitors made a good start,but Amman,who played with a substantial wind behind their backs in the first half, soon began to get the upper hand among the forwards,and outside half Tom Caddell’s early penalty gave them the lead.
Dropped passes and errors littered the game as neither side could get any real momentum; scrum half Alex Williams tried his best to get his side going with some sniping runs, while George Clarke, Alun Lewis and Jac Isaac battled hard up-front, but Furnace were putting in some tasty tackles.
For Furnace, Rhys Daniels, number eight Jonny Roberts and lock Richard Evans were the pick, but they suffered several injuries in a bruising first half, outside half Daf Green among their casualties with an elbow injury.
On the stroke of halftime, having soaked up some Amman pressure, Furnace countered well and scored a try out of the blue as the ball was swept wide for left wing Scott Huddlestone to go over; centre Scott Davies’ conversion gave the Cherry and Whites a narrow 7-6 interval lead, despite having been reduced to 14 men just before with the sin-binning yellow card for scrum half Dan Rees.
The second half proved something of a non-event as both sides effectively cancelled each other out; scoring opportunities proved few and far between ,and despite Amman bringing on fresh legs in replacements Sean Mangan, Jac Evans and Daniel James, they were unable to break a stubborn visitors’ defence; Tom Thorneycroft was held up on the try line, and the half ultimately remained scoreless.
Scott Davies missed a golden opportunity with a kickable penalty, but even then, Amman could have pinched it in the last minute, but a very kickable penalty was badly hooked wide by Tom Caddell.
Furnace climb to second place in Division 2 West (b), three points behind leaders Tumble ,while Amman’s third defeat from four starts leaved them one off the bottom of the table.
When the league returns following the Six Nations break, Amman travel to Cefneithin on February 19, wheras Furnace travel to Bynea.
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