Carmarthen Town 1
Haverfordwest County 0
CARMARTHEN secured a narrow, but vital, victory over old rivals Haverfordwest in this typically keenly-contested local derby thanks to a sparkling late goal from Dan Sheehan that stood out in stark contrast to the rest of this generally uninspiring affair.
Town made a positive start to the match, putting the visitors’ defence under immediate pressure with a series of swift attacks – but sadly there was little evidence of any serious goal threat emerging as all too often the ‘final pass’ lacked direction and penetration.
It was not until the seventh minute that the first notable scoring chance arose when Dwaine Bailey’s long ball into the penalty area found Mark Jones who instantly rolled it back to Ceri Morgan and he struck a fierce 25 yard volley that drew a smart response from ‘keeper Craig Morris.
The Old Gold continued to hold the early initiative and on 22 minutes they were awarded a penalty when Morgan was brought down as he burst into the area. Jones, no doubt confident having scored twice from the spot only a few games ago, stepped forward but fired the ball narrowly over the bar.
Then moments later, following a Kyle Bassett corner-kick, the ball reached Lewis Harling who played it neatly back to Kieran Lewis and he dispatched a stunning 30 yard drive that Morris resisted with an excellent flying save.
While Town maintained their ascendancy with a display of impressive energy and commitment, gradually County began to enjoy more possession and pose an occasional threat going forward. But initially they were unable to pierce the Carmarthen defence, in which the central pairing of Bailey and Dave Vincent along with Sheehan and Jordan Knott on the flanks remained composed and resilient under pressure, and ‘keeper Lee Idzi was never seriously tested.
However after 31 minutes the visitors went close to taking the lead when Ricky Watts finished a strong run down the right touchline with a low cross into the goalmouth that was met by Declan Carroll at the far post but from close range he stabbed the ball just wide of the target.
Apart from a couple of goalmouth scrambles that created an element of panic amongst the home defence this fairly unmemorable first-half petered out to a welcome close.
After the interval little changed in terms of the quality and excitement on offer although it soon became clear that the ‘competitive’ nature of the game was escalating – an early flurry of yellow cards was testimony to that.
Haverfordwest did at last manage a shot on target in the 75th minute but it was a tame effort from 20 yards that Idzi collected comfortably. The Old Gold responded moments later when Knott launched a long throw into the packed goalmouth where Harling rose high to produce a promising header that was denied only by a skilful reflex save from Morris.
Then just as a goal-less draw was looking increasingly inevitable Town went ahead on 81 minutes with a goal worthy of winning any match. As they broke quickly out of defence on the counter-attack, Harling delivered an outstanding cross-field pass into the path of Sheehan who was racing upfield along the right flank – he took the ball forward then released a spectacular 25 yard drive that flew into the top corner of the net leaving Morris well beaten.
While County staged a spirited revival in search of a late equaliser, the home defence extinguished any hope of that occurring to ensure that the Old Gold captured the three valuable points which preserve their hopes of overhauling Bangor City and securing the coveted UEFA play-off qualifying place at the end of the Welsh Premier League season.
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