CWMAMMAN earned a JD Welsh Cup third round tie with Welsh Premier League side Aberystwyth Town on Saturday (Nov 17), as they beat Blaenrhondda 2-1 at Grenig Park.
The visitors battled well and their shape and tactics often frustrated the home team meaning the home side were made to work hard for the win.
Cwm’s Ryan Hurlow had the best opportunities to score, especially in the first half but just couldn’t find the finish needed to round off his good work.
It took a penalty decision after 28 minutes to give Cwm the upper hand. Up stepped Cwm’s Ryan Thomas who fired his spot kick into the goal wrong footing the visitors goalkeeper to make it 1-0.
Blaenrhondda, to their credit, did not drop their heads and continued to be a thorn in the home side.
With minutes remaining in the first half a visitors free kick was floated into the Cwm penalty area and it was Huw Bowtell who got the final touch with his head and scored the equaliser for Blaenrhondda, 1-1.
Cwmamman started the second half in similar fashion to the first and the game was back and forth with neither side able to establish dominance.
It was only after 75 minutes of action that the deadlock was eventually broken when a defence splitting through ball found Cwm striker Ashley Curtis, who latched onto the pass and drove his low shot passed the advancing keeper into the net, 2-1.
It was Ashley Curtis’s seventh goal of the season and proved to be the decisive strike of the game.
Blaenrhondda’s task of getting back into the game was made harder as they had a player sent off soon after for a rash tackle.
The ten men battled on but more and more space was becoming available to the home team and a more comfortable feeling for the home support.
Late substitutions for the home team saw Nathan McNeil come on for full back Luke Allen, Brieg Matthews come on for forward Chrissy Allen and Calem Rees come on for striker Ashley Curtis.
Brieg Matthews almost added a third goal for Cwm although he wouldn’t have known much about it as the ball was cleared by the visitors which resulted in it hitting Brieg on his back and rebounding at pace just agonisingly wide of the goal much to the relief of the visitors.
The final whistle blew and Cwm Manager Eirian Rees was delighted with the win. The Amman Valley club now look forward to a mouth-watering cup tie against Welsh Premier League side Aberystwyth Town.
That tie will take place on Saturday, December 8, but before that the Blues return to action in Division 1 of the Welsh League with a trip to Pembrokeshire to take on Haverfordwest County on Saturday (Nov 24).
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