Cardiff Met 2 Aberystwyth Town 1: Match Report

JD Cymru Premier
Saturday 1st October
Cardiff Met 2 Aberystwyth Town 1

Aber Town came back down to earth after Tuesday’s win, going down to Cardiff Met in the Capital by two goals to one on the first day of October. On a blustery day Lewis Rees gave the hosts the lead on 9 minutes, and doubled the lead 18 minutes later, but the visitors fought back in the second half and Alex Darlington’s fourth goal of the season gave the travelling hordes hopes of a comeback with ten minutes to go, but Met held on for the victory.
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A superb and noisy following of well over thirty souls greeted the Black and Greens as they ran out, however the hosts played with a strong wind in the first half, and dominated the early exchanges. Harry Owen crossed early for Eliot Evans to head wide in the early stages, then Owen set up Rees on the edge of the area and the TNS loanee found the bottom corner to open the scoring. Evans saw a cross cut shot gathered by Lewis Rees in Aber’s goal, and then punched clear an Emlyn Lewis effort to Evans, who shot wide. The hosts kept coming, and on 27 minutes Rees sent in a devilish wind assisted corner from the right, which deceived Rees and crossed the line for a second Cardiff Met goal. Aber were mostly restricted to a small number of free kicks, although there were penalty shouts when Jonathan Evans burst into the box, and Niall Flint sent in a great cross which evaded all visiting players: however Cardiff Met definitely coped with the difficult conditions the better and deserved to be ahead at the break.

Visiting supporters hoped for a fight back in the second 45 and certainly the conditions were in Aber’s favour with a strong Westerly wind now blowing towards Alex Lang’s goal. Harri Horwood did well to block Evans early on, and then at the other end Charley Edge had a shot blocked and Horwood fired wide. John Owen was called offside before scoring, then Chris Craven volleyed wide for Met and Lewis Rees curled another attempt over. The Seasiders were inches from a goal when Iwan Lewis nicked into the box and smashed a shot against the crossbar from the right, then Lang punched Sam Phillips’ corner clear, with the visiting fans in good voice and roaring their side to a recovery. Harry Arnison made a superb tackle to deny Met a third, and a series of Aber free kicks came to nothing. However with ten minutes to go an Edge corner was recycled back the selfsame player, and his ball in from the right wing was snaffled home by super sub Darlington from close range to halve the lead. Webb had to save an attempt from sub Craig Davies, but Aber kept pressing with Met breaking the game down at every opportunity. Sam Phillips’ ball in was headed wide in injury time, before Jack Thorn’s deep ball found big Jon Owen at the back stick, but his volley skimmed narrowly past the post, and the hosts held out for a big win, although Aber were clapped off the field by their loyal supporters.

In truth this match was not helped by the weather conditions, and neither side would claim it as a classic. The visitors recovered from a shaky start and were inches away from a late equaliser, but they also know they can play better, and will look forward to the opportunity to bring some sunshine to their travelling fans next Saturday in the Welsh Cup Second Round. The SDM Glass Stadium, home of Penybont, hosts the match away to Pencoed Athletic Boys and Girls Club, with a 2.30pm kick off. Another date with the M4 beckons!