Cup win for Reds!

Haverfordwest County 3 Llanelli 5

A reasonably comfortable win for the Reds saw them progress to the third round of The Word sponsored league cup where they will meet Afan Lido at Stebonheath.

A first half dominated by the visitors saw them establish a three goal lead before the interval, with two goals in as many minutes sending them on their way.

The first came after 19 minutes when a strong run by Martin Rose led to him being brought down, and Lloyd Grist powered the resulting free kick past goalkeeper Peter Blain.

Two minutes later, an Antonio Corbisiero cross to the far post led to a Craig Moses header which beat Blain, and within another five minutes they went three up courtesy of a penalty award.

Geoff Kellaway, who proved to be a thorn in the home side all evenin with his forceful runs, was brought down in the area and referee Bryn Markham-Jones pointed to the spot, and Rose blasted the kick past the goalkeeper.

With nothing to lose in the second period, the Bluebirds were much more of a threat, and reduced the deficit within seven minutes of the restart when a fine through ball by Chris O`Sullivan caught the Reds defence horribly square allowing Steffan Williams to collect before slotting it wide of Craig Morris.

Within three minutes of this, however, the visitors restored the three goal advantage with Kellaway again causing problems before his cross to the far post was met but initially blocked before rebounding to Chris Venables to score from close range.

Haverfordwest retaliated when a superb long range strike from Robert Morgans produced an equally impressive save by Morris to turn it around the post at full stretch, and this proved to be his final involvement in the match as young Dafydd Jones took over goalkeeping duties on 70 minutes.

Five minutes later, the visitors extended the lead when Luke Bowen reacted first to drive the chance past Blain following a Grist delivery into the goalmouth, and with time running out it seemed they would cruise to an easy win.

But two goals in the closing minutes for the hosts made the final scoreline a much closer affair, with Greg Walters finding the bottom corner in the 88th minute, and a minute later they were awarded a penalty when a free kick driven into the box led to a handling offence, and although Jones got his hands to the kick by O`Sullivan, he could not prevent it ending up in the net.

The Reds will now host Afan Lido in the next round at Stebo next Tuesday (9th October.KO 7.30m)

MATCH STATS.

HAVERFORDWEST COUNTY

Blain; Watts; Facciuto (Mansel, 69); Catlin ©; Bevan (Steel, 46); Thomas; O`Sullivan; Smith (Walters, 58); Morgans; Evans; Williams; Subs. not used; Hill; Manser.

LLANELLI

Morris (Jones, 70); Thomas; Grist; Evans; Batley; Venables ©; Corbisiero; Rose; Kellaway; L. Bowen; Moses; Subs. not used; Legg; S. Jenkins; Surman.

SCORERS

Haverfordwest: County; Williams, 52; Walters, 88; O`Sullivan (P), 89. Llanelli: Grist, 19; Moses, 21; Rose (P), 26; Venables, 55; Bowen, 75.

YELLOW CARDS

Haverfordwest County – Watts.  Llanelli – Thomas.