The New Saints 1 Llanelli 1

Having clawed back a 2-0 deficit at Bangor in their last game to earn a deserved point, the Reds put a dent in the championship aspirations of their hosts with another spirited fightback after trailing to an early goal.

 

 

They also had to do so with ten men following the dismissal of Ashley Evans for a second harsh yellow card by Scottish referee, Paul Robertson, and although it was backs-to-the-wall defending at times, they held firm and restricted their opponents to mainly long range attempts which were generally well off target.

An early scare for the visitors arose when goalkeeper Craig Richards failed to cleanly gather a Ryan Fraughan free kick allowing the ball to run loose, but he managed to pounce on it on the line to prevent any permanent damage.

As expected, the Saints dictated the early stages, and took the lead on fourteen minutes when a clearance upfield by Tom Roberts glanced off the outstretched leg of Lloyd Grist and fell to Nicky Ward who did well to wrong foot both Stuart Jones and Lee Surman before firing past Richards.

Despite this setback the visitors continued to seek out any scoring opportunities, and were thrown a lifeline when a run by Chris Thomas led to him threading a pass for Craig Williams to pursue into the box where he was brought down by Simon Spender leading to the award of a spot kick, and although goalkeeper Paul Harrison got a hand to Rhys Griffiths’s drive he could only help it into the roof of the net after 21 minutes.

A run by Williams led to him finding Griffiths but his intended pass to Antonio Corbisiero was wayward and the home side cleared their lines.

Jason Bowen sent over a cross which brushed the head of Griffiths on its way through to Williams, but he blazed wildly over the goal.

The Saints continue to dominate possession but lacked any cutting edge to unravel a well marshalled Reds defence, and they were limited to launching efforts from distance from Ward and Aeron Edwards without seriously testing Richards.

All square at the interval, the same pattern continued in the second period with the home side seeing plenty of the ball, but the Reds goal was never under threat with probably a Steve Evans cross which deflected off Surman before being gathered by Richards their best effort.

When the visitors were awarded a free kick, Corbisiero found Williams who in turn crossed into the middle for Griffiths to deflect it into the path of Bowen, but his finish was well off target.

Griffiths was replaced by Craig Moses after 62 minutes, before the home side went close when a Craig Jones delivery forced Thomas to concede a corner, and when Fraughan sent it across Evans’s header rebounded off Surman and on to the bar before going over.

Evans was then dismissed on 68 minutes following a second caution, making the Reds task of containing their opponents even more difficult.

Fraughan volleyed just wide from the edge of the area, while another fumble by Richards led to an unnecessary corner which fortunately proved fruitless.

Another run by Fraughan led to him squaring the ball into Chris Sergeant whose powerful strike was heading for the net before a vital headed interception by Grist deflected it for a corner.

At the other end, Jones had a great chance of snatching an unexpected win when he rose unmarked to meet a Williams corner, but directed his header over the top.

The Saints were becoming increasingly desperate in their search for the elusive second goal, but a resolute Reds defence kept them at bay and at the final whistle they were full value for the point.

MATCH STATS.

THE NEW SAINTS; Harrison; Spender; Marriott; Evans; Rawlinson; Ward (Sergeant, 68); Roberts

(Jones, 59); Darlington; Edwards; Fraughan; Draper.

LLANELLI ; Richards; Thomas; Grist; Jones ©; Surman; Venables; Bowen; Corbisiero;

Griffiths (Moses, 62); Evans; Williams;

SCORERS; The New Saints – Ward, 14.

Llanelli – Griffiths (P), 21.

YELLOW CARDS; The New Saints – Ward; Sergeant.

Llanelli – Bowen; Evans; Williams.

RED CARD; Llanelli – Evans.

LLANELLI STAR MAN; Chris Venables.

REFEREE; Mr. Paul Robertson (Scotland).

ATTENDANCE; 246.