SOLVA 2

MANORBIER 2

In the return leg of the battle of the picturesque Pembrokeshire seaside villages, Solva playing host to Manorbier turned out to be a near mirror image of the game south of the Landsker line the week before.

But once again, it ended with the visitors feeling that they had been denied the result they deserved, when a late equaliser denied Manorbier's merry men.

Just as the previous week, when Solva caught their opposition cold early on, Manorbier returned the favour, going a goal up inside five minutes.

A cross was launched into the Solva box, which was headed back out to Blackwell on the edge of the box, who did his best Paul Scholes impression to lash the ball back into the Solva net on the volley to make it one-nil to the away side.

Manorbier were spurred on by the goal, with Liam Scouse terrorising the Solva midfield, defence and attack. He was everywhere, tackling, spraying passes, winning headers... and was clearly relishing his role in the experimental 4-3-3 formation.

Up front, Weed and Lanky (whose nicknames do them both a great disservice) were feeding off one another well.

In midfield, Austyn John was pinging passes off both feet, while the defence of Rob Thomas, Luke Askew, Deano and Rob Sawyer looked comfortable.

Going in at half-time one up, Manorbier could only reflect on the hatful of chances they had missed, hoping they wouldn't regret their profligacy later in the game.

The second half continued in much the same vein, and despite the odd ball bobble, both sides continued to play good football.

Solva started to find a toe-hold in the game, and were beginning to probe the Manorbier defence.

James Hall though picked up the ball on the left wing, and his mazy run took him past four defenders before he whipped the ball into the net at the near post to double Manorbier's lead.

With Manorbier now on top again, surely they couldn't throw it away with just 20 minutes to go.

Whilst the visitors were still high-fiving and feeling smug, Solva took the re-start and a threaded ball up the right wing, saw a whipped cross result in a scramble that saw them pull a goal back.

Solva then launched a Blitzkrieg attack on Manorbier's defence, as the visitors' legs, lungs and minds started to weaken.

With just two minutes to go it still looked as though Manorbier would hang on. Then a penalty for Manorbier was turned down and with the visitors stopping to appeal, Solva capitalised on Manorbier's hesitation, and sped up the pitch to grab an equaliser.

The game finished 2-2, with Manorbier distraught, and still looking for their first win of the season, but now clearly on an upwards curve.