Llanelli Town 3 Cardiff Corinthians 1

Hosting opponents unbeaten in their opening six league matches, the Reds brought that run to an end with some ease, outplaying the visitors for the majority of the time with some flowing football with every player contributing.

Admittedly, the Corries cause was not helped by the dismissal of Stuart Brock their goalscorer in first half stoppage time for a second caution following a wild lunge on Jamie Evans, but even prior to that the home side were well in control and looking comfortable.

They created numerous chances from the off, when a ball over the top by Evans afforded Robert Thomas a run on goal, and when he was challenged by Corries keeper Ian Loveless, it led to a collision between the two with Loveless coming off the worse with an apparent shoulder injury which continued to cause him problems throughout, before he was finally replaced by David Jenkins late in the contest. Luke Jones did well to win possession before making tracks into the visitors` area, but his finish was fractionally the wrong side of the far post.

Loveless managed to get down to block another Jones attempt when Mark Napieralla set up the chance, before completely against the run of play the Corries took an unexpected lead with almost their first foray into Reds` territory when a ball driven low into the goalmouth led to Craig Richards in the home goal diving full length to cut it out, but it slipped from his grasp, allowing Brock to roll it into the net from almost on the line after 12 minutes.

Stung by this reverse, the hosts were back on level terms within four minutes when Jones met a cross by Declan John to sidefoot it past Loveless just inside the upright. Brock and Reds captain, Lee Bevan, were both cautioned by referee Gareth Elliott following an altercation, while Jones saw another goal-bound header pushed over by the Corries keeper from a Napieralla cross, and from the resulting corner, Bevan was also denied when his header was smothered on the line by Loveless.

A rare attack by the visitors gave Nathan Sims a glimmer of a chance before the move came to an end with Jonathan Jeffries firing into the side netting. Richards was forced to race off his line to deny Brock with a clearance when he pursued a ball through the middle, but overall the Reds were still in control although the final ball was often not good enough following some decent build-up play. Bruno Forkuoh saw two efforts fly just off target as the half drew to a close, before the Corries were reduced to ten men with the dismissal of Brock in stoppage time.

All square at the break, the Reds continued to dictate matters after the restart with John failing fractionally to connect with a driven low centre by Liam Samuel across the face of goal. Richard Lewis delivered a ball into the middle which was initially headed down by Samuel and then found its way to the head of Jones, but he directed his effort over the top. Samuel fired a well struck free kick narrowly wide, before the Reds deservedly got their reward with a second goal on 58 minutes following a corner by John which was met by Bevan at the far post with a bullet-like header which rocketed past Loveless. Following this success, the game developed into a somewhat scrappy period with neither side seemingly capable of retaining possession for any length of time, but the outcome was virtually sealed in the Reds` favour on 73 minutes when they struck again with Samuel sending John clear down the left, and his cross into the box was firstly met by Steve Berry who failed to make a clean connection before Jones seized the chance to rifle home into the bottom corner.

Loveless was then finally replaced by Jenkins on 77 minutes, but he was not unduly troubled up to the final whistle, the nearest attempts coming from John whose effort soared over the bar, while the same player just failed to meet a Matthew Hughes cross into the goalmouth.

A surprisingly comfortable win for the Reds who were probably expecting a far more difficult afternoon from their high-flying opponents, but the win keeps their momentum going and augurs well for the visit of Panteg on Friday evening to Stebonheath in the first round of the League Cup. Kick off is at 7.45 p.m.

LLANELLI TOWN; Richards; Napieralla (Powell, 78); Lewis; Berry; Evans; Bevan ©; Samuel; Thomas (Shannon, 75); L. Jones (Hughes, 75); John; Forkuoh;

Subs. not used; Martin; Scammell (GK).

CARDIFF CORINTHIANS; Loveless (Jenkins, 77); R. Noyes; D. Noyes (Finn, 77); Greenslade ©; Tanner; Radford; Jeffries; Clifford; Sims; Brock; Phillips (Matthews, 62);

Sub. not used; Gurney.

SCORERS; Llanelli Town – L. Jones, 16, 73; Bevan, 58. Cardiff Corinthians – Brock, 12.

YELLOW CARDS; Llanelli Town – Bevan; Shannon. Cardiff Corinthians – Jeffries; Brock (2); Tanner.

RED CARD; Cardiff Corinthians – Brock.

REFEREE; Gareth Elliott (Haverfordwest).

ATTENDANCE; 170.