Presteigne St Andrews Under 18s slipped to a 3-1 home defeat in their HFA Floodlit Youth League match against defending champions Pegasus Juniors at Llanandras Park.
Trevor Gummer’s young side matched their visitors for the first half hour and carved out good chances of their own with Adam Crowe probably having the best of them when one-on-one with the visiting goalkeeper, but he just failed to get enough contact on the ball at the vital moment.
On the half-hour mark the visitors took the lead through a neat finish, and they doubled their advantage shortly before the interval, but this was hardly a fair reflection of a first half in which the home side had more than played their part.
Trevor Gummer got the home side fired up during the half-time interval – certainly judging by the volumes of noise emanating from the home team dressing room as they prepared to take the field for the second half.
It worked, as both Callum Matthews and Jamie Blythe tested the visiting goalkeeper in the early stages of the second period, with Blythe’s effort producing a fine save.
Just when it seemed as though Presteigne were going to get back into it, Pegasus broke away and netted the third – hard on the home team who had played well for the opening quarter-of-an-hour of that second half.
To their credit, they continued to try and play football and never let their heads drop. Their consolation goal came in the final minute when a ball in from the right picked out Jordan Pritchard who controlled neatly before beating the visiting keeper with a left-foot finish.
Despite the defeat, there were still plenty of plus points for Trevor Gummer and his side. A more detailed report will appear on the Under 18s page at some stage on Wednesday.