Cwmbran Celtic vs Carmarthen Town

Match Report

Matchday Programme

On an early September afternoon, Cwmbran Celtic and Carmarthen Town met for the second time already in this young season. This time in the Welsh Blood Service League Cup. Celtic were hoping to gain revenge against Town, not only for the nil-one defeat at the Avondale Motor Park Arena earlier this season but also for the two high scoring defeats home and away last season.

Both teams made numerous changes for this cup tie, as Celtic made five changes from the three-three draw last time out away to Baglan Dragons, whilst Camrthen made six changes following their huge six-one victory at home to Trefelin.

The visitors came out to the pitch twelve minutes before kick off and they certainly looked the sharper as the game began. They played a much nicer, shorter passing game as opposed to Cwmbran’s long ball approach. Town had most of the early stages of this fixture but failed to capitalise, as in fact it was Lewis Illes who had the first good effort of the game against the run of play when he got on the end of a good ball, down the left hand side and got one on one with Jones the Carmarthen goalkeeper, who saved well to keep the scores level.

For the second game running Celtic conceded early on this time in the twelfth minute when Jac Walters pounced on the ball after a nice passing move for Carmarthen ended up getting scrappy in the box and he prodded the ball past Hooper in the Cwmbran goal to give Town the lead.

The early setback seemed to wake up the home side who soon after could have been level, when Mcdowell raced into the left side of the area all alone. With no other option he had a hopeful effort that smacked the crossbar and went out to give Celtic a bit of confidence.

Indeed ten minutes later and despite Carmarthen playing some good short passing football, the home side drew level through who else but that man Lewis Illes, who got himself close in on the keeper on the right hand side of the penalty area and under pressure from a couple of defenders, he managed to squeeze the ball under Nicholas Jones to get his third of the season.

The parity between the sides only lasted seven minutes however, as Jac Walters doubled his and the clubs tally for the day, when following a free flowing attack, under not much pressure from the Celtic defence, Hooper pulled off a good save from one effort in the box, only for the ball to fall at Walters’ feet. He duly powered the ball into the back of the net to score his third goal of the campaign so far.

The final effort of the half came with just seconds to go, as Walters almost had a hat-trick when he nearly got on to a through ball down the centre of the pitch but was closed down quickly by Iwan Hooper, who suffered for his braveness as he picked up a knock on his ankle which led to him being substituted for Watkins at the start of the second half.

The first half ended two-one to Carmarthen, with the away side fully deserving the lead, as they looked much sharper and much more confident than Celtic. Which you would expect following Camarthen’s big six-one victory last week.

The second half began as the first ended, with Camarthen looking the more likely to score. Cameron Allen was the final piece of yet another Camrthen attack but his close range effort was blocked as Cwmbrans defence tried to keep the home side in the game.

In the fifty seventh minute Celtic were almost gifted an equaliser, when the away keeper Jones, accidentally threw the ball against a Celtic attacker but to sum up Cwmbran’s day, they couldn’t profit from that and thus the score remained two-one to the visitors.

A rare Celtic attack in the second half, led to Tom Meechan getting space centrally but he blasted his shot over from twenty five yards out when he could perhaps have got himself closer to the goal before shooting.

That was to be as good as it would get for Celtic as on seventy five minutes Camarthen doubled their lead and got their third of the game, when Mason Thomas slid the ball in low under the substitute keeper Watkins, as Celtic struggled to deal with an impressive Carmarthen team.

Celtic tried to attack more following that goal but Camarthen’s high defensive line kept catching Cwmbran offside as they kept to the long ball tactic that didn’t work that well in the first half. Carmarthen still kept attacking and could have had a fourth as the game drew to a close, when the substitute Daley hit the crossbar from about eight yards out, when it looked easier to score.

That was how the game ended, with Carmarthen thoroughly deserving their victory and to progress in the Welsh Blood Service League Cup, while Celtic might be looking for a blood transfusion before the game away to Abergavenny Town.

Cwmbran Celtic: Iwan Hooper,Tyler Broom,Dominic Connor, Andrew Larcombe,Harrison Lewis,George Jenkins,Elliot Jones,Shaun Moss,Lewis Illes,Thomas Meechan,Alex Mcdowell

Goal: Lewis Illes (22)
Subs Lewis Watkins for Iwan Hooper (45),Isaac Powell for Alex Mcdowell (58) Alex Bonthron for George Jenkins (58) Josh Hinwood for Shan Moss (76) Adrian Maguire for Tyler Broom (76)
Yellow Cards Shaun Moss (40) Josh Hinwood (90)