Brickfield Rangers v Aberystwyth Town: Match Report

Aberystwyth Town continued their pre-season preparations with a convincing 3-0 victory away at Wrexham-based Brickfield Rangers on Tuesday evening. Goals from Paulo Mendes, Rio Ahmadi and Geoff Kellaway were enough to see the black and greens to victory as they played their third game in five days ahead of the start of the JD Welsh Premier League season against Llandudno in 9 days' time. 

Aber got off to a bright start in the game, as Declan Walker rattled the crossbar with his first attempt on goal from a long range free kick. Shortly afterwards it was Wes Baynes' turn to let rip from a long range set piece, as his rasping effort flew inches over the crossbar. Town were dominating possession, and broke the deadlock in the 21st minute as Walker fizzed a dangerous ball across the six yard area where Paulo Mendes was on hand to tap the ball into the back of the net and make it 1-0. The seasiders looked confident and assured in possession, and Rio Ahmadi almost doubled Aber's lead on 31 minutes as he raced through on goal only to be denied by a fine save from the home goalie. As half time approached, Brickfield edged their way back into the game, but without threatening Leigh Jenkins' goal, and it was the visitors who came closest to scoring again before the break as Geoff Kellaway stung the palms of the goalkeeper with a powerful strike. 

The second half started with a very similar pattern to the first - Aber dominating possession and continuing to create good attacking opportunities. As the half progressed, both teams made a number of substitutions, which took away the  seasiders' rhythm and verve for a short spell. However, on 75 minutes Aber doubled their lead as Rio Ahmadi pounced on a loose ball in the penalty area to tap home and make it 2-0. Soon after, it was 3-0 as the visitors capped off a fine team move which started with Ryan Wollacott passing the ball out from the back to Rio Ahmadi, who subsequently played in Geoff Kellaway for a simple finish beyond the goalkeeper. Aber managed to see out the game with their clean sheet in tact, and came away with another valuable 90 minutes of competitive football under their belts. 

It was a convincing win for the seasiders against the Welsh National League outfit, and gave Aber's new look squad another opportunity to gel together and learn more about each other on the pitch. Town's next pre-season friendly sees them take on Neston Nomads on Saturday afternoon in a 1:30 p.m kick off, with the fixture being played at Vauxhall Motors Football Club.