Report by Alan Evans, photos by Darren Harries
THE Reds’ dream of promotion to the promised land of the Welsh Premier League became more of a reality with the defeat of their only serious rivals to the title, with goals by Chris Jones and Lee Trundle settling the issue before a record attendance of 504.
The win opens up a twelve point gap between the sides, and on the face of it, the championship is now the Reds’ to lose.
Both teams, however, have difficult end-of-season run-ins, with the Reds having just one more home game, followed by five successive trips, while Haverfordwest face an even more daunting prospect, with one home and seven away fixtures to fulfil
Fielding the same starting line-up as that which faced Cwmbran Celtic, the home side were the first to threaten, with Trundle forcing Conah McFenton in the visitors` goal to divert his shot on the turn around the post.
A short corner involving Antonio Facciuto and Jones led to the latter delivering a cross into the box, where a glancing header was turned over by McFenton.
It took just 7 minutes for the Reds to eventually go ahead after Trundle gained possession in the area from a Lee Bevan clearance and laid the ball into the path of Jones, who displayed some nice skills by turning a defender prior to firing across the keeper into the bottom corner.
Stung by this early setback, the Bluebirds retaliated with Alaric Jones finding Steff Williams with a low pass at the near post, and Craig Morris was forced to turn his finish around for a corner.
The visitors went close again, when Danny Williams met a deep diagonal cross on the volley, sending it just off target.
At the other end, Trundle was closed down by the attentions of two defenders as he attempted to get away his shot, and when James Loveridge became involved, his cross was headed clear.
Loveridge, it was, who came closest to doubling the Reds` lead when his free kick rebounded off the crossbar with McFenton beaten.
Narrowly ahead at the break, the hosts were off the pace after the restart, with their opponents, too, seemingly affected, and the contest drifted along without any notable goalmouth action at either end.
The pace did pick up somewhat as the game entered its final stages, with the Reds looking the more likely to chalk up another success, with McFenton called into action twice to deny Trundle when he got close to goal.
Liam Samuel, who had been introduced on 64 minutes in place of Kurtis March, was the next to threaten the visitors` goal when he was played in by Trundle, but his shot deflected off Bluebirds` defender, Tim Hicks, and inches past the upright.
With the contest in stoppage time and the home side just about hanging on to their slender lead, once again it was that man Trundle who applied the coup-de-grace when he accepted a long clearance from Bevan before holding off the attentions of a solitary defender and bursting clear with a run towards the target, before calmly slotting his finish past McFenton to seal the win and another three crucial points.
With the destiny of the title now firmly in their grasp, the Reds need to show some steely resolve in their remaining games to cap another outstanding season.
On Wednesday (Apr4), the Reds travel to meet Cwmamman United, kick off 6.30pm, while on Saturday (Apr 7), they welcome Monmouth Town to Stebonheath in their final home league game of the season, kick off is at 2.30pm.
On Tuesday, April 10, they defend their League Cup title when they take on Cwmbran Celtic in the semi-final of the competition at Afan Lido’s ground, with a 7.45pm start.
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