Cwmbran Celtic
Match Report
After the celebrations of the new year Cwmbran Celtic played only their second home game since the end of October. On a sunny early January day the visitors for this rare occasion were Ammanford AFC, for a game that promised goals if both sides’ recent form was anything to go by. Cwmbran were looking to avenge defeat in the last game between the sides which finished 4-3 to Ammanford.
Cwmbran made just the one change from last week’s 3-2 victory over Cambrian & Clydach Vale,as new signing Callum Hodges made his debut at the back, replacing Andrew Larcombe. Ammanford also made one change from their previous fixture – a 2-1 Boxing day win against Llanelli Town.
Despite pre-match hopes for goals the game actually began quite slowly with the ball being stuck in between both boxes for the first ten minutes. Celtic finally had a half chance as Bonthron crossed the ball across goal but the chance was cleared before anything dangerous could happen.
The game continued to be quiet as both sides kept trying to play the ball high and failed to create many chances. Then in the 21st minute disaster struck for Cwmbran as a hopeful long clearance from Ammanford went over the Celtic defence, Watkins then rushed out of his box to try to reach the ball but got beaten to it by Lewis Reed, who lobbed the ball over his head and into the back of the net to score his 16th goal of the season and give Ammanford a 1-0 lead.
Following that goal Ammanford had a chance just six minutes later to double their advantage as they broke through the Celtic defence with a good counter attack. The ball found its way across goal to Tristan Jenkins who had an open goal to aim at but he took his shot quickly and sliced it wide of the net.
Five minutes later Ammanford were forced to regret that miss as a Harrison Lewis long shot got parried by Martin and fell to Tom Meechan who tapped in from very close range to level the scores at 1-1 after 36 minutes and that was how the first half ended.
Half Time: Celtic 1 Ammanford 1
The second half began with a noticeable change in style from the home side. They began to keep the ball on the ground more and due to this, they were the better side for most of the second half and created the better chances as the half progressed. This paid off in the 54th minute as Celtic took the lead when Harrison Lewis hit a thunderbolt of a shot across goal from the right side which went into the left side of the net to give Celtic a deserved 2-1 lead.
For the rest of the game Cwmbran were the more dangerous of the two sides as Ammanford looked out on their feet and struggled to create many chances. The pick of these came when top scorer for the season Bonthron got on the end of a cross, however his header was saved easily by Martin in the Ammanford goal. Ammanford’s best chance of the second half came from substitute Matthew Fisher who had a curled effort from the edge of the area but it got saved well by Lewis Watkins.
Surprisingly as the game entered the last 10 minutes, Celtic were the ones doing all the attacking. They had a chance in the 82nd minute to score in a mirror image of the way they went behind earlier in the game. Luke Martin the away keeper came out for the ball but failed to collect it Fortunately for him though the ball was slid across goal but nobody was able to tap the ball home.
Full Time: Celtic 2 Ammanford 1