This comprehensive victory by RSU Windows sponsored Carmarthen Town at the Cardiff Athletic Stadium last Friday evening pushed the side up to second place in the League of Wales table. The weather conditions at the stadium were however atrocious, with heavy rain and a gale force blowing straight down the middle of the pitch.

Manager Tomi Morgan had rested Paul Burrows and Nigel Nicholas for this match and young Gethin Jones had to be content with a place on the bench, along with his fellow teenage partner Matthew Delicate.

Town, having won the toss for the choice of ends, decided to take advantage of the elements and play with the wind at their backs in the first half. The move had immediate effect as the visitors applied the pressure from the first whistle and the Inter Cardiff side, as a result of recent cost-cutting exercises, comprising of a number of UWIC students, found themselves hard pressed to keep their goal intact.

The home side’s hero was keeper Jamie Robinson who handled the ball with consummate ease in the difficult conditions but was powerless to prevent Town taking the lead in the 20th minute. Wayne Jones, driving forward in mid-field, received a return pass from Ryan Nicholls and the ball was propelled by Jones with power to find the back of the Inter Cardiff net.

Within four minutes, Town had scored their second when after an almighty scramble in the penalty area with the ball being blocked on the Cardiff goal-line on two occasions, the ball eventually landed at the feet of Gavin Rees who drove home from close range.

With play almost entirely in the Inter half, Town keeper Robert Fitzgerald was virtually a spectator but his counterpart continued to deny Town, particularly a long-range effort by Malcolm Vaughan, and the score at half time remained at 2-0.

In the second half with the wind now at their backs the Cardiff side briefly threatened Fitzgerald’s goal until the 60th minute when Richard Parker broke clear on the half way line to catch the home defence completely flat footed and his long run eventually ended when he slid the ball past Robinson to completely demoralise the home side. Despite the considerable levels of fitness shown by the young Inter Cardiff side, the players were now obviously dispirited and it was no surprise when Rees produced a fine shot from 20 yards to beat Robinson for Town’s fourth goal, much to the delight of the large following of Town supporters who had braved the elements to come to the capital city.

Carmarthen Town gained the necessary three points against a Caernarfon Town side whose policy has changed considerably in latter weeks whereby the accent has been focused on the decision to include local players in the side at the expense of a considerable contingent of Merseyside players.

Town sponsored by RSU Windows, after an energetic first half, where the considerable commitment of the visiting players kept the score down to reasonable proportions, took their foot off the throttle in the second half and seemed to be satisfied to preserve a 3-0 half time lead which proved to be a great disappointment to the home supporters at the Richmond Park Ground.

Assistant Manager Ray Davies told the Journal : ‘We played well enough in the first half to deserve our 3-0 lead but our players seemed to lose their motivation in the second half. Still, we were never in danger and the bottom line is that we earned the three points which was absolutely necessary against opponents such as Caernarfon to enable us to keep in touch with the leaders.’

Town Manager Tomi Morgan continued with the experiment of playing 18 year old Gethin Jones in the centre of the defence after some good displays in his previous two games against Rhayader and Afan Lido, and club captain Matthew Cable had to be content with a place on the bench.

In a very inexperienced visiting defence the Canaries had included new signing Ray Clifton in goal who had the misfortune of having to collect the ball out of his own net without having previously made any contact with the ball. A strong tackle by mid-field player Dean Rossiter, as early as the second minute, saw the ball fortuitously ricocheted forward to Richard Parker who outpaced the suspect Caernarfon defence to drive it passed Clifton.

The Canaries defence was looking extremely suspect and it was no surprised that Town increased their lead in the 19th minute when an intended back-pass by Chris Joyce fell woefully short of his keeper and Siôn Meredith snapped up the opportunity by driving firmly passed Clifton. Another fine effort by Meredith just cleared the Caernarfon crossbar before the outstanding Parker scored his second goal and Town’s third on the half-time whistle when after Rossiter’s shot had been pushed on to the crossbar by Clifton Parker gratefully slammed home the rebound.

Supporters must have thought that Town had fielded a completely different side in the second half as they went completely off the boil and even presented Caernarfon with a gift goal when a back-pass was completely miss-placed and Jason Sadler nipping in found the empty net with Robert Fitzgerald stranded. Parker continued to create problems down the flanks for Caernarfon but Town strikers were now completely off-song and despite some desperate attempts by the visitors to reduce the arrears Town emerged as comfortable winners and now find themselves in third place in the LoW table. Caernarfon’s new boss, former Wrexham striker and later manager, Dixie McNeil, faces an up-hill task to get his side now firmly entreched at the bottom of the table to a respectable position in the league table.

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The unavailability of five players due to injury and illness was a hurdle that Carmarthen Town found difficult to overcome at the Aberavon Beach in this League of Wales game last Saturday as Town surrendered two points against a team in the lower reaches of the table.

The home side, however, had dominated large periods of the second half and manager Tomi Morgan must have been relieved to see his side gain a point to maintain their 4th position in the table.

A plus factor for the visiting team was the fine performance of 17 year old Gethin Jones, playing his second successive game following his excellent display in Town’s 2-1 victory at Rhayader last Wednesday. Manager Morgan had slotted Jones into the central defensive position where he gelled well with Wyn Thomas and Wayne Jones, and kept a firm grip on Lido’s leading marksmen Mitch Patten and Andrew Pearson.

Town started the game on a high note when Dean Rossiter saw his curling shot well saved by Lido keeper Brian Thomas. Play in the first half continued to remain evenly balanced although keeper Robert Fitzgerald came to his side’s rescue with a superb save from Andrew Rickard’s header following Patten’s free kick and Town’s goal survived again from a resulting corner when Rickard headed wide when presented with a free header. Carmarthen’s Craig Evans curled a fine shot just over the Lido crossbar and the half time interval came with both sides in deadlock.

The second half saw Town under considerable pressure, especially as they lost their dominance in midfield. However, Town’s defence remained resilient and the visitors’ supporters always had the feeling that their side could snatch the winning goal to bring home three points. Craig Evans and Wyn Thomas did go near to scoring but with the home side indeed dominating the second half the final whistle blew with the Lido on this occasion ruing the lost opportunity of victory.

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This was sweet revenge for Carmarthen Town’s near neighbours, Haverfordwest County, as the visiting team ran out worthy winners to atone for their heavy defeat, inflicted by Town, at Bridge Meadow on the first day of the season. This win now takes the Bluebirds off the bottom of the table for the first time this season.

RSU Windows sponsored Town’s manager Tomi Morgan summed up his side’s disappointing performance when he said : ‘We have no excuses for the defeat but I felt the final scoreline flattered them as two of their goals came in the dying moments of the match as we pushed forward to gain the equaliser having replaced a defender with a forward. Our opponents, however, showed great determination and were really up for this ‘Derby’ and, disappointingly, we failed to respond.’

Town were able to include new loan signing Craig Evans from Merthyr Tydfil and it was this player who nearly set the game alight in the first minute when his superb volley was brilliantly parried by County keeper Ben Miles. Indeed Town dominated the early exchanges and had another gilt edged chance when after good work by Richard Parker, Nigel Nicholas, who had been put clear, shot tamely from a good position.

In virtually the visitors’ first attacking move they took the lead in rather fortuitous circumstances. Town keeper Robert Fitzgerald collecting a loose ball slipped at the edge of the penalty area and the ball unaccountably fell from his grasp allowing Jason Jones to pick up the loose ball and deliver a fine cross into the six yard box where Carl Mainwaring totally unopposed, headed powerfully into the net.

This set back for Town now put a completely new complexion on matters and it was the visitors, gaining in confidence, who took up the initiative, prompted by the energetic Richard Gay up front, and it was the Carmarthen goal that came under pressure. Town, however, tried to get back into the game but the steadying influence in the back of Derek Brazil, who has played for Manchester United, proved to be a stumbling block as Town’s strike force failed to make any impression in the Haverfordwest penalty area.

As the half progressed, Town came more into the game and Miles did well to save from Evans and Parker. It was now evident, however, that Evans was lacking in match practice but no doubt as his loan period progresses, he will no doubt prove an asset to Town in the mid-field area.

The second half saw Town continue to strive for the equaliser but the visitors were now coping splendidly with any pressure put upon them and should have extended their lead on the hour when Felinfoel referee, Nigel Richards, awarded a penalty to Haverfordwest for which Fitzgerald produced a flying save to keep his side in the game.

The penalty had been awarded after a melee in the penalty area much to the disappointment of the derby crowd who had difficulty to fathom the nature of the offence. In fact, the referee’s performance on this occasion proved to be rather indecisive, especially later when Haverfordwest’s defender, Mark Otten, must have been relieved not to have the red card shown him after a particularly nasty foul on the unfortunate Parker, as clearly shown in a TV recording of the game later in the weekend.

The visitors, however, were not to be denied and after manager Morgan had brought in the additional striker, Matthew Delicate, instead of defender Wyn Thomas, enabling Town to push forward further to gain the equaliser, it was at the other end that the damage was inflicted when Jamie Rickard swung in a cross ball from the left hand side and after Martin James’s subsequent header had struck the post Gay picked up the rebound to present his player-manager Jason Jones with an easy goal. It was purely academic when the very stylish Chris Pridham despatched Gay’s precise pass past Fitzgerald into the corner of the net to complete Town’s tale of woe.

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