Despite a valiant fightback in their Pip Samuel (Electrical) Mid Wales South Cup final against Builth Wells Reserves, Presteigne St Andrews were denied some end-of-season silverware by a late Builth winner.
Hay St Mary’s Forest Road ground staged the final in which Builth Wells Reserves would have gone in as clear favourites.
In the first half they threatened to live up to that billing when they scored twice in around three minutes.
A long-range Builth effort was a spectacular way for the Lant Field squad to open the scoring and Presteigne were still recovering from that when a cross was headed home to give Builth a two-nil lead.
It would have been easy to roll over at this point but, to their credit, Presteigne dug in and shortly before half-time, referee Steve Bradford pointed to the spot after a Presteigne player was pushed inside the penalty area.
Tom Lewis stepped up and duly despatched the spot kick to put Presteigne right back in the game.
In the second half, John Haycox’s men kept pushing on in search of the equaliser and they were rewarded when Jack Thomason-Jones headed home to make it two-two.
So, two-all and extra-time was looming but Builth were to nick it right at the death for a three-two victory inside the 90 minutes.
Bitter disappointment, then, for Presteigne St Andrews and the sizeable travelling support but they gave a really good account of themselves in this one and hopefully it will serve as an indication of what could be achieved in the coming years.