ST CLEARS hosted Loughor in the last 16 of the West Wales Cup on Saturday (Feb 5) with a place in the Quarter final, something the Saints have never been able to achieve in the clubs history, at stake.
A blustery day and a bus load of fans from Loughor made the conditions tricky for the Saints from the outset.
Attacking against the wind in the first half, St Clears struggled immediately to get out of their half, and Loughor got their goal very early on, as Darian Burt for the visitors took a corner which flew directly in past Saints keeper Jason Jones who couldn’t quite judge the wind, 1-0 Loughor Rovers.
St Clears stood firm for the rest of the half and both keepers were relatively quiet. Saints were happy to go in 1-0 at half time and felt confident coming out for the second 45.
That was evident, with the Pembrokeshire Division 2 side mounting attack after attack. They finally got their rewards, when Kyran Lewis hit a free kick against the bar, which wasn’t cleared, and Nico setaro latched on to it on the edge of the box and finished neatly into the bottom corner.
St Clears continued to put the pressure on, Josh Jones soon after went one on one with Loughor keeper Kyle Tucker but pulled the shot inches wide. Full time came with the score locked at 1-1 and the teams headed into extra time.
There were two good chances for St Clears from Will Evans and Ashley Williams in extra time, but yet again unable to put it in the back of the net and it looked like the game was heading for penalties.
In the final minutes of the game, Saints keeper Jason Jones and Dorian Davies brilliantly kept them in the tie, as Jones tipped the ball on to the bar from a long distance shot, which was then cleared off the line by Davies.
It meant that the game would be settled on penalties.
Both keepers made two saves each and it came down to the fifth penalty, Dorian Davies calmly putting his penalty away for St Clears but Burt for Loughor Rovers sent his wide of the post.
So, St Clears progressed through to the Quarter finals winning 3-2 on penalties.
