Match Report
When Rhondda valley side Ynyshir Albions were reduced to 9 men after a minute of madness late in the 1 st half Cwmbran Celtic, 1-0 ahead at the time, looked set for an inevitable victory but the visitors dug deep and kept themselves in the game before finally succumbing to two late Celtic goals.
Albions started brightly, throwing players forward in numbers and looking anything but a team 10 points adrift at the bottom of the table. However Celtic took the lead when Alex McDowell put Lewis Iles in to shoot across the goal to give Tom Meechan a simple tap-in at the far post. Albions responded with two successive shots cleared by the Celtic defence, the ball falling to Williams who smashed a power drive against the bar. Then between the 33rd and 39th minute the visitors discipline imploded when they racked up an incredible 6 yellow and 2 red cards dished out in the 6 minutes by referee Kim Fisher. This setback spurred on Albions and they kept Celtic at bay until the 57th minute when Kian Bodenham crossed to Meechan who stroked the ball into the corner of the net. Albions were not lying down and they pulled a goal back on 62 minutes when Haig scored from a dubious penalty given against Andrew Hewitt for an alleged foul on impressive striker Leon Anstee. The visitors continued to frustrate Celtic until the 81st minute when Meechan crossed to Dominic Connor to score. A minute later Meechan was unceremoniously upended and Lewis Iles converted the resultant penalty. Meechan was Celtic’s match-winner with 2 goals, one assist and securing the penalty