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Match
Report by Huwsi
Minibus
curse strikes again as a tired United fall to Halkyn …
After the first 45 minutes of this encounter things looked
rosy for a depleted United team, but the heavy schedule
of four games in eight days took it's toll during the
second half when United looked very tired and seemed to
sit back to defend their lead, but increasing pressure
from a very spirited Halkyn side paid dividends for them,
and they gained more inspiration when their dirty centre
forward was sent off in the 73rd minute for kicking United's
stand-in keeper Dewi Jones in the face (this was the one
he didn't get away with).
Once
again absent from the United squad was Gavin Edwards who
had work commitments, Gareth Eifion Jones was injured
as was Luke (I don't know if it was a physical injury
or just pride hurting?). Andrew Williams for some reason
couldn't make the trip either, so into the squad to join
Keith Williams on the bench came Phil Lynes and Robert
Morris (with Aled Owen also playing, this raised the average
age of the squad to 39 compared to the average of 25 that
started the last game at Nefyn!!). An unfamiliar start
for United in a 4-3-3 formation with Aled Owen joining
Mathew Phillips and Carl Griffiths up field and Carl Wayne
moving back into midfield with Gethin Phillips taking
Carl's place at centre back and Gwyn Pritchard Jones trying
his luck as a right sided fullback!
Halkyn
started the match the brightest applying pressure from
the off which saw them awarded three corners in succession
however they came to nothing. However things changed very
quickly in the space of a couple of minutes when Aled
Owen formation paid dividends, he claimed first blood
when he was released by Mathew Phillips into the area
and he kept a cool head when he rounded the keeper and
found the centre of the net from around eight yards out.
The manager was also influential two minutes later when
United's doubled the lead, Gethin Phillips long throw
found David Noel Williams who in turn found Aled Owen
with an overhead effort on the right side, who took the
ball to the touchline and delivered a high lob which fell
nicely over the keeper and headed home by Mathew Phillips
from a yard out.
Within
minutes United were pressing again with Mathew Phillips,
Carl Griffiths and Aled Owen working and linking well
together but no clear striking opportunity came. It was
Halkyn that came the closest after a quarter of an hour,
they worked the ball well from right to left but the final
ball was a yard wide of Dewi's upright. Eifion Williams
was struggling at this stage with an abdominal pain (but
it might have been a bowel problem, as he's so full of
sh*t at times!), but being the warrior that he is he played
through the pain barrier, as he has done through many
a game with swollen ankles (might want to borrow GEJ's
tights for that problem??!!). Within a minute Mathew Phillips
won the ball well in his own half and advanced virtually
unchallenged into the edge of the area, Aled Owen was
free and screaming on the right side but Mathew went for
glory with an effort which went way wide on the left.
In the 21st minute Gethin Phillips delivered a long free-kick
from well within his own half which Halkyn's keeper fumbled
however Carl was too slow to react for what would have
been an easy finish.
The
23rd minute saw Mathew get a half chance when the Halkyn
keeper made a hash of a headed back-pass in typical Joyce
/ Luke style the only difference being that the Halkyn
keeper recovered to collect the ball to thwart the effort!
The half hour mark saw the next real goal threat when
following a foul on Mathew Phillips, David Noel delivered
a fine free-kick into the area but Gethin Phillips' header
went over. Aled Owen was much nearer the mark two minutes
later, a Gethin Throw to David Noel saw him win a corner
from the touch-line which he delivered nicely from the
right side into the six yard area and with a fine run-in
Aled struck the crossbar with a powerful header.
The
next few minutes saw Halkyn regroup, they got a cheap
corner when Chris Joyce took the ball to the corner flag
and eventually the corner was headed two yards wide. Eifion
made a rare mistake after 37 minutes (but he was playing
through the pain barrier!), which saw Halkyn's number
ten gat passed him, but his final ball lacked power and
was an easy pick-up for Dewi. Three minutes later however
and Halkyn clawed one back, a throw-in some ten yards
from the touchline on the right side was flicked on by
Ashley Durham's head and crept in at the far post. This
inspired Halkyn to apply more pressure with a couple of
efforts going wide, however it was United gained the advantage
when Mathew Phillips claimed his second on the stroke
of half time, when David Noel picked up a Gethin Phillips
throw-in who found Mathew and he coolly finished round
the keeper from the edge of the area, HT - 1-3 and things
were looking good for United.
How
wrong could I be, the second half saw Halkyn introduce
their super-sub in the form of ex-Holywell Town player
Wayne Edwards who ran rings around the United rearguard
and completely changed the game in Halkyn's favour. Despite
a good opportunity in injury time from Carl Griffiths
it was all Halkyn from the resumption, and within twelve
minutes they had clawed one back when Llion Hughes delivered
a high cross from the right flank, and when Dewi came
out to claim he only got one hand on the ball and couldn't
stop the effort from creeping in. A Carl Wayne over the
top ball a few minutes later saw Mathew and Carl link
well and advancing to the by-line but there was no support
for Carl to deliver a cross.
Halkyn's
Ashley Durham saw red in the 73 minute when he lost his
cool with Dewi denying him a second goal by gathering
from his feet, just minutes before Dewi had denied him
when he got a hand to his attempted chip from around 10
yards out when he only had Dewi to beat. He'd gone through
most of the match leaving a foot in here and throwing
and elbow there, but the referee saw none of it, and only
booked him minutes before he was sent off for a deliberate
hand ball in the United area. The sending off seemed to
motivate Halkyn even further and within five minutes the
scores were level, Chris Joyce should have cleared his
lines instead of trying something fancy, Halkyn's first
effort was blocked by Dewi but he parried to the path
of Bryn Davies who made no mistake for six yards out.
The
United defence were kept very busy for the reminder of
the game and the inevitable happened with only a minute
remaining when Halkyn were awarded a free-kick for hand
ball some 35 yards out, a good delivery was met by the
head of Wayne Edwards at the near post and he flicked
on into the back of the net, and ten man Halkyn were in
the lead for the first time. In injury time United amount
the only pressure they could muster throughout the half,
but an effort by Carl Griffiths two minutes into injury
time summed up the day for United's tired squad as it
was deflected for a corner. With barely time left for
the corner, Charlie delivered a good ball but no-one could
connect to even things up.
The
third successive 4 - 3 defeat for United on the road,
but with a couple of home games next, Nantlle Vale on
Wednesday followed by Rhydymwyn on Saturday let's hope
for better things as United have beaten both already this
season, therefore let's hope we can end this rot and finish
with a flourish and get some points on the table.
LLANRUG
UNITED : Dewi
Jones, Gwyn Pritchard Jones (Robert Morris - 88 mins),
Chris Joyce, Gethin Phillips, Eifion Williams (Capt),
Carl Wayne Jones, Dan Pyrs, David Noel Williams, Carl
Griffiths, Aled Owen, Mathew Phillips.
SUBS
(Not Used): Keith Williams & Phil Lynes.
MOTM:
Gethin Phillips
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2008/2009 