The Tenby Under 9 teams began the New Year by facing each other for the first time in the Pembrokeshire League in a classic 'game of two halves'. The first half was dominated by the swift passing and attacking moves of Tenby A, while the second half was dominated by the defensive strength of Tenby B. Tenby A have an impressive record in the league this season, and understandably Tenby B began the game a little cautiously. This gave Tenby A space to pass the ball freely and they immediately looked threatening in front of goal. An early warning shot from Scott Ferney hit the post, before Declan Escott opened the scoring from close range. Undaunted, Tenby B began to compete with greater determination, with Chris Hirman battling well. And the team were very unlucky to concede a second goal, when a seemingly safe back pass was cruelly deflected past the 'keeper. Dylan Rees looked certain to make it three, when clean through on goal, but he was thwarted at the last moment by a brilliant sliding tackle from Luke Hartland. Tenby B then almost got a goal back, when a long clearance put Adam Muskett through at the other end of the field. This time, Owen Coombs was on hand to knock the ball out for a corner. Tenby A were soon back on the attack. Spencer Williams broke on the left and delivered a low cross that was met at the far post by Dylan Rees to make it three-nil. Following a great run on the right, a shot from Scott Ferney was brilliantly saved by William Davies in the Tenby B goal, only for Declan Escott to pounce on the rebound and slot home number four. In the final minutes of the first half, Kim Parmanand made it five with a close-range volley off the inside of the post. A Tom Dyson free-kick was bravely headed off the line, before Declan Escott curled a stylish shot into the roof of the net to complete a well-deserved hat-trick. Tenby A started the first half as they had finished the first, with a Dylan Price shot forcing a good save from William Davies. But from that moment on, Tenby B looked a changed side. Joel Downes, Ryan Kent and Daniel Tiesing all marked tightly at the back, denying Tenby A the time and space to create many clear-cut chances. In midfield, Sean Conbeer and Tom Harries began to grow in confidence, and made several penetrating runs that helped create attacking openings for Tenby B. Up front, Liam Bowen had an excellent second half. He was first to many of the through balls, and repeatedly unsettled the Tenby A defence with his powerful running. Tenby B deservedly won a couple of corners, but their strikers were always outnumbered in the goalmouth, and Daniel Evans in the Tenby A goal had few saves to make. As the players tired, Tenby A had chances to increase their tally. Dylan Rees hit the post, and a low shot from Owen Coombs was deflected for a corner. However, the star of the second half was undoubtedly William Davies, the Tenby B 'keeper, who pulled off a string of superb saves to prevent Tenby A from adding to their lead. The second half performance should be a real confidence booster for Tenby B, demonstrating that they can compete with any team in the league. While, the first half performance for Tenby A suggests they will be very hard to beat for the remainder of the season. Well done to all the players for a spirited performance on a bitterly cold day. Thanks to Nicky Rees, match referee, and to Park Road Fish and Chips, kit sponsors for the Tenby Under 9 squad.
TENBY SWIFTS UI5s 36 pts. ABERYSTWYTH U15s 10
Tenby Swifts Under 15s got off to a barn-storming start to the new year with an emphatic 36-10 victory over visiting Aberystwyth at Heywood Lane last Sunday. On a perfect day for rugby, with the sun shining on a firm pitch, both sides showed a commitment to open rugby, producing a thrilling contest that was a joy to watch. It was stalemate for the first quarter, with the sides evenly matched, both up front and behind, and despite some powerful runs down the left wing by Tom Harland, the deadlock was not broken until Jamie Williams stormed away for a try, which he converted with a magnificent kick from wide out. This was to be the first of his four tries, two in each half, which added to his three conversions gave a personal tally of 26 points. Another Williams try just before half-time saw the score at the interval at 12 points to nil in Tenby's favour. Almost immediately at the start of the second half Williams crossed again and added the two points, but Aber marshalled themselves and immediately struck back with a well-deserved try to narrow the gap. Aber further narrowed the gap with another try 10 minutes later to make the score 19-10, with it all to play for. Tenby by this time had gained the upper hand, with their forwards winning plenty of ball, particularly Jason Ronowitz at the front of the lineout, thanks to some well-timed jumping and accurate throwing in by Yannic Parker and support work from Sam Ferguson and Andrew Evans. Clean ball was provided by livewire scrum-half Kiefer Thomson to throw out long and accurate passes to the classy Jack Guerrero. He in turn was able to feed inside centre Toby Smith, who played one of his best games for the club, making breaks and timing his passes to perfection to create space and overlaps for wings Chris Heesom and Tom Harland to show their paces. Harland was rewarded with two tries for his efforts, the last one right on the final whistle, to break the Williams monopoly on the score sheet. Matthew Davies had a quieter day at fullback and had to deal with some very well placed kicks from the Aber fly- half. In the pack, Joseff Morris was once again outstanding, playing a classic number seven role of brinksmanship on the offside line and harrying the Aberystwyth backs, who succumbed under pressure. Fellow back row forwards Jack Baker, the captain at number six, and Patrick Roberts, at number eight, were solid performers, and Will Hughes at tighthead prop enjoyed his debut up front, having moved in from the wing. As mentioned, Toby Smith was having a fine game until it was cut short by injury, which transpires to be a cracked collar bone, which will keep him out for some time. We wish him a speedy recovery and hope he is back in action by the time the cup matches come round later in the season. Thanks go to Chris Williams for officiating this week and to all those who assisted in the course of the match. Without such support, junior rugby cannot function. We now look forward to the second half of the season with some testing fixtures and cup matches to come. Tenby fielded: Matthew Davies, Tom Harland, Jamie Williams, Toby Smith, Chris Heesom, Jack Guerrero, Kiefer Thomson, Sam Ferguson, Yannic Parker, Andrew Evans, Will Hughes, Jason Ronowitz, Jack Baker (capt.), Patrick Roberts and Joseff Morris.
St. CLEARS U16s 1 TENBY U16s 7
Tenby started the new year with an early goal by Adam Johns, which set the scene for some good quality moves, in which Aaron Goldsmith, Luke Dedman and Mikey Boswell were usually involved. Tenby went 2-0 ahead when Boswell scored and he soon added to the lead when he fired in powerfully to make the score 3-0. Tenby, who were especially dangerous on set- pieces and corners by Mickey Boswell, had the home goalkeeper at full stretch to keep an effort out from under the crossbar, and a cross-shot from Sam Christopher missed the far post by an inch. Billy Vaughan, playing well in central defence, still had the confidence to help out on corners and cause panic in the home defence, before he himself scored just before the interval. Strong running up front by Rob Colley added more pressure to the St. Clears defenders. At half-time, Tenby were well worth their 4-0 lead and regretting some misses following scrambles in the St. Clears goalmouth which were desperately cleared. The second half started dramatically for Tenby when Billy Vaughan headed in powerfully from a well-placed corner from Sam Christopher, and Adam Johns produced some dazzling runs, but somehow St. Clears managed to keep the score down. The game evened out in the middle of the second half as St. Clears found their feet and remained at 5-0 for the visitors. Only good covering by Brett Evans, Kurt Walsh and James Howes preserved a clean sheet for Tenby. Josh Bevan and Michael Halligan came on as subs and both boys slotted in well with Tenby's formation. Tenby stepped up their game in the last 15 minutes and Adam Johns scored from six yards for them, before St. Clears scored with the only shot to beat reserve goalkeeper Scott Helmich, who looked safe while deputising for Richard Thomas. The scoreline of 6-1 seemed unlikely to change in the last 10 minutes, but Mikey Boswell thought otherwise as ever, when he beat the home goalkeeper with an accurate finish. This 7-1 win was a good start for the second half of the season for Tenby, and they showed that their quality football had not suffered too much from the Christmas holiday lay-off. Tenby squad: Scott Helmich, James Howes, Billy Vaughan, Brett Evans, Kurt Walsh, Sam Christopher, Aaron Goldsmith, Luke Dedman, Adam Johns, Rob Colley, Mikey Boswell, Michael Halligan, Josh Bevan, Henry Boot. Tenby Picnic Basket Player of the Match: Brett Evans. Thanks to Nick for running the line.
TENBY U13s 5 PEMBROKE UTD U13s 2
The Tenby Cycles and Skateboards sponsored Tenby Under 13s started the new year on a high and recorded their 11th win of the season. However, after 20 minutes, they trailed by two goals and had to pull out all the stops to claim the maximum points. Pembroke were outstanding during these opening 20 minutes and were full value for their two-goal lead. Their first goal was a neat chip over the advancing Jake Roberts, Tenby's keeper, and the second, a short range shot following a corner. At this point, United were well in command and Tenby had no answer to their controlled play. Although the home side had several chances to score during this period, the opening didn't come until 10 minutes before the break, when the Seasiders, at last, started to play to their full potential. Good play down the right between Phil Horsley and Gareth Warlow, ended with Warlow crossing to Aaron Roberts, whose shot from the edge of the box crept inside the far post. Tenby had the perfect start when, after only five minutes of the restart, Horsley's cross from the right was headed on to his own post by an United defender. Ashley Smith was quickest to react to prod the ball home for the equaliser. Tenby now had their tails up and on their next attack found themselves in front. Smith was left in acres of space in front of goal, following an Aaron Roberts corner, and he struck his shot high and wide of the Pembroke 'keeper. All the good work that United had done in the first half seemed to evaporate, as the Seasiders stretched their lead to two goals. Greg Lees- Griffiths, who had pushed up to midfield, threaded a ball through to Jordan Richards, Richards then rounded a defender and goalkeeper to score into an empty net. Richards also grabbed the last goal, when he curled his shot inside the far post from an acute angle. In the dying minutes, Dan Farmiloe almost scored his first goal for Tenby, but he just screwed his attempt wide of the upright. Tenby side: J. Roberts, N. Jones, G. Lees-Griffiths, P. Elliott, D. Edwards, P. Horsley, C. Hurlow, A. Roberts, A. Smith, J. Richards, G. Warlow, A. Heesom, D. Farmiloe, C. Millward.
KILGETTY U8s 0 TENBY AFC U8s 5
The Andrew Price sponsored Tenby U8s started the new year just as they finished the old, with a good away win, with plenty of goals. With an early kick-off, the boys were eager to get started on a bitterly cold morning. The pitch was very soft underfoot and the grass was well over the boys' boots, making Tenby's passing game impossible, but credit to them all, they used the ball very well. With Natty John unavailable this week, the ever- reliable Adam Davidson went in goal. Tenby played two at the back, with Ben Howells and Harry Goforth, and this gave Billy Truman a chance to push from midfield and support George Taylor and Jordan Cornick up front. Malley Paxton and Daniel Davies held the middle of the park well, always looking for the ball and linking well with defence and attack. The first goal came from a well-worked move, when a cross from Daniel was met with a lovely shot from Malley. Tenby kept the pressure on and with Billy finding more room than usual, he was always looking dangerous. Jordan and George worked well together and it was George who got the second with a cracking shot which was too strong for the Kilgetty 'keeper to keep out. The third came from the hard-working Billy just before the half-time whistle. The second half was much like the first, with Tenby pushing forward and Kilgetty working hard to stem the tide, but credit to the home side, every time they had the ball, they looked to get it forward and did create a few chances, which Adam was always alert to. Harry and Ben were always in good positions and were both keen to join the attacks. The fourth goal came from Daniel, who by now, along with Malley, had covered every inch of the field; his low drive gave the 'keeper no chance. Tenby were well on the way to victory and the final goal came from a passing movement, with George and Jordan linking well and Daniel along with Malley always finding space to create the room for Daniel to shoot. The ball had beaten the 'keeper and was on its way over the line when who should pop up on the line for a real poacher's goal but Jordan. 5-0 - well done boys. Team: Adam Davidson, Harry Goforth, Ben Howells, Malley Paxton, Daniel Davies, George Taylor and Jordan Cornick.