KILGETTY 1

HERBRANDSTON 1

Two glaring misses in front of goal, a header cleared off the line and a broken nose were the differences between defeat for Kilgetty and holding on for an admirable draw, against a formidable Herbrandston side in an enthralling division two match up.

Because of the dominance of rugby in South Wales, the quality of local football is sometimes overlooked, but this weekend saw a fantastic advert for Pele's beautiful game as two fierce competitors did battle in a game which had everything apart from a winning goal.

In icy conditions, which left smoke signals bellowing from every shout of encouragement, spectators were treated to neat attacking football, a couple of goals, crunching tackles, plenty of goalmouth incidents and a sending off, all to the sounds of a 'Herbie' fog horn that blasted across the village moors.

It was in the aftermath of one of these tackles that Jamie Bessant's nose was broken as Kilgetty were still grimly hanging on to a slender one goal advantage late in the second half.

But, typical of his indomitable style, 'Psycho' shrugged off the damage and continued to launch himself into tackle after tackle as he led the Kilgetty cause to hold onto three points.

At this closing stage, the villagers were fortunate to be holding onto their lead in the face of an Herbrandston onslaught. But at the end of the first 45 minutes it was just about deserved.

Kilgetty started the better of the two sides, with Herbrandston playing an almost defensive 4-4-2, which looked as if they were prepared to sit back and contain the home side, but in truth allowed their opponents to compete more freely than they would have liked.

Scale and Trojan Jones had their usual competitive games in midfield and Richard Griffiths, sitting in front of the experienced central defensive pairing of Stone and 'Bruiser' Bevan, provided an element of stability which allowed Kilgetty to push forward and restrict Herbrandston to pot shots from outside the penalty box.

On one of these forays upfield Tommy James was able to sneak into the box and deftly guide the ball past the unbalanced Herbie 'keeper to give the villagers an early lead.

His celebration though, in the manner of a 'Lovejoy' hip-hop dance, left much to be desired with a hearty '10' for effort, but a paltry '2' for technical merit.

From the restart, the expected Herbrandston barrage was forthcoming from the off, with wave upon wave of green shirts, like Martians invading planet earth, bearing down on the Kilgetty goal.

Their new look 4-3-3 created more space for them in the middle of the field and their work rate was, as always, phenomenal, with not one tackle being missed or a quarter being given.

However, unlike their meeting four weeks previously, Kilgetty were not prepared to lie down and accept defeat quite as easily and they were equally as tenacious in their battle for respectability and were desperate to hold onto their lead.

But with the possession Herbrandston had, opportunities were bound to come and the most glaring was spawned merely minutes from the restart as Nicco headed wide from point blank range.

Shortly afterwards, a close range header hit the bar and was then cleared off the line as Kilgetty were yet again first to the loose ball in their own penalty box. Almost immediately two penalty appeals, one for either side, were rightly waved away.

As the minutes ticked by and the pitch began to cut up, the game became even more intense, considerably more physical, and it looked as if fortune was favouring the brave resistance of Kilgetty as Herbrandston's luck appeared to be running out.

Even though the game was a physical battle, it never boiled over or stepped beyond reasonable levels, but unfortunately it was marred a little with the sending-off of one of Herbie's influential midfielders, who appeared to speak out of turn to the referee 15 minutes from time.

This only served to increase the away side's efforts and as Bobby Bevan's calves gave way to cramp, Bessant ran even harder and Herbrandston found the luck they deserved as one of their efforts from distance whistled into the top corner of the Kilgetty net to level the scores.

The villagers still had to hold on for 10 minutes, but even then there was still time for Sludger to move with the grace of a young gazelle to pull off a miraculous save low to his left and also for an opposing forward to break through and slot the ball wide of both keeper and post in the dying seconds.

Kilgetty managed to hold on for the draw their efforts deserved, although Herbrandston may consider themselves unlucky not to have taken more from the game.

But both teams contributed to a great Pembrokeshire advert and as Herbrandston licked their wounds, 'Psycho' Bessant went off to get his nose fixed.

Kilgetty man-of-the-match: J. Bessant – Kept his head and would have thrown himself in front of an oncoming train if it was needed.

Kilgetty fielded: Phillips, Prout, Bessant, Stone, Bevan, Griffiths, Scale, Jones, James, Bevan, Griffiths. Subs - Rossiter, James.

THE BARD

SOLVA SECONDS 2

KILGETTY SECONDS 4

Kilgetty Seconds travelled the long distance to Solva looking to get back to winning ways. Solva, showing some good form of late, were going to be strong opposition.

Kilgetty started brightly and had an opportunity to take the lead in the first few minutes, Adam Thorne beating the offside trap, but the Solva 'keeper pulled off a good save.

Kilgetty did take the lead minutes later when a long kick from 'keeper Walwyn was flicked on and Thorne made no mistake this time, firing into the top corner.

Kilgetty then went further ahead when Ben Frost broke through and rounded the 'keeper before firing home.

Solva were straight back into the game. Breaking out of defence from a Kilgetty corner, a long ball over the top saw Griff outpace the visiting defence and fire the ball past Walwyn. And they would have been back on level terms if it had not been for a last ditch tackle from Gareth Gwyther.

Kilgetty recomposed themselves and took advantage when a poor clearance fell to Dan Wright who beat two challenges before hitting a 25-yard shot into the roof of the net.

Kilgetty scored a fourth just before the break. It came when they were awarded a free-kick just outside the penalty area and six yards in from the bye line, Alan Williams wipping the ball in and finding the net.

The second-half saw Kilgetty control the game, enabling them to use all their subs midway through the half.

Tom Dennis caused Solva problems with his pace down the right-hand side, as did Jamie Morgan down the left.

Richard Gwyther came closest to scoring late in the half when he found space at the back post, but his header only found the side netting.

Kilgetty fielded: R. Walwyn, G. Prince, D. Hughes, D. Marklew, G. Gywther, J. Morgan, D. Wright, A. Williams, T. Dennis, B. Frost, A. Thorne, I. Lewis, R. Gwyther, R. Davies.

KILGETTY U10s 3

HUNDLETON U10s 1

Although the sun was shining brightly, the crispness of winter was evident, with the white frost clearing just in time for the game to take place.

Kilgetty, full of confidence as their successful season continues, were straight into action, pressurising the Hundleton defence and winning a succession of corners.

Hundleton did well, defending in depth, and were able to keep Kilgetty at bay until some neat play between Richard Cope, Mathew Dick and Tom Baker set up Callum Proctor for a near perfect goal.

Ross Gray filled in at left-back, which restricted his attacking flair, but worked well with Jake Proctor down the left-hand side.

Kilgetty extended their lead when Proctor scored his second.

Hundleton continued to work hard in order to contain Kilgetty and got back into the game just before the interval. When the ball was fed through from the midfield, the Hundleton striker was able to outpace the Kilgetty defence and smashed the ball home.

The second-half saw Kilgetty's defence hold firm, with Owain Evans, Matt Smith, and Ross Gray controlling the back line, giving Ryan Howells little to do in the Kilgetty goal, and looking to set up the midfield with some accurate passing.

Kilgetty were unlucky not to extend their lead as they struck the bar twice.

As the game entered the final five minutes, neat inter-passing from Dick and Baker put Cope through and he put the game beyond Hundleton's reach with a coolly taken goal.

Kilgetty fielded: Ryan Howells, Ross Gray, Mathew Smith, Owain Evans, Jake Proctor, Mathew Dick, Tom Baker, Callum Proctor, Richard Cope, Chris Millward.

SAUNDERSFOOT U13s 0

KILGETTY U13s 12

This was a decisive victory for Kilgetty as they played controlled and effective football for the whole game. The young Saundersfoot team, to their credit, never gave up and Simon Stanford and Mathew Watkins both came close to scoring in the first half.

The Colley brothers, Rob and Dan, were both on form in front of goal, with Rob scoring a hat-trick and Dan netting for Kilgetty five times.

Robert Whitfield had a tremendous game and picked up two goals late on in the second half, Jack Bevan gave the talented Saundersfoot 'keeper no chance from the penalty spot after a hand-ball inside the area and Josh Bevan nodded in a cheeky goal to finish the game.

Kilgetty were too strong for the home side in every department. Dean Morgan did his job well back in goal for Kilgetty after a long injury, while his brother Adam is awesome in his role as sweeper.

Geraint Thomas was a livewire on the park and Edward Merriman is a confident midfielder. Paul Brookes made endless chances, causing havoc in the home defence, and Clarke Williams made a useful contribution.

Paul Hodge is always dependable at the back and even came close to netting on a couple of occasions, Sam Foster excelled, out of position as a front player, and set up plenty of goals for the Colley brothers, and Nathan Proctor played some lovely football to keep Saundersfoot on the back foot.

There were notable performances for the home side, from defenders Danny Williams and Carl Amos, but Kilgetty were too strong on the day.

Kilgetty fielded: Clarke Williams, Nathan Proctor, Dean Morgan, Dan Colley, Jack Bevan, Edward Merriman, Geraint Thomas, Rob Colley, Josh Bevan, Paul Brookes, Adam Morgan, Sam Foster, Paul Hodge, Robert Whitfield.