Presteigne St Andrews will probably look back on this game as being ‘one that got away’ as they went down 4-2 at home to Carno in their Spar Mid Wales League first division game at Llanandras Park.
The home side got off to a dream start with Danny Ives firing home after Connor Bird did well to get down the left and put in a telling cross on four minutes, but this lead was short-lived as Carno levelled when the home side failed to deal with a ball in from the right and the ball dropped to a visiting player who drove it home for 1-1.
There was little to choose between the sides over the next half-hour or so and this made the final minutes of the first period all the more disappointing as Carno netted twice more to take a 3-1 half-time lead.
The second half was played in torrential rain but for long periods Carno looked the more likely to add to their tally – Trevor Gummer made one very good save when a visiting player was through one-on-one with him while the visitors created other good chances.
The introduction of Mark Ammonds spurred the home side into life – Mark’s first involvement was to hit a dipping shot that wasn’t far wide while his second was to rifle the ball home following a good move down the left that ended with the ball being pulled back to him about 10 yards out.
Presteigne stepped up their game and – for the first time in the match they were getting decent balls in from wide positions and causing a degree of consternation in the heart of the Carno defence.
A late free kick on the right presented Presteigne with their last real chance of the night and Mark Ammonds again asked questions of the visiting keeper who – to his credit – dealt with it well while Carno then broke quickly. The ball down the right picked out a speedy front player who calmly rolled the ball past a stranded Trevor Gummer to make it 4-2.
The frustrating aspect was that Presteigne could have taken something from this game – the two goals conceded just before the break will have particularly annoyed manager Barry Williams and his number two Phil Parker.
A long ball forward caught out the defence for the second, while the Carno player who crossed the ball for the third had far too much time to deliver the decisive ball to the far post.
A more detailed report will appear on the site on Thursday 23 September but it was telling that at one point during a lengthy injury break in the second half I was chatting with the Carno keeper who said: ‘Your boys are stretching us on both flanks, but why don’t they put in a cross when they get into those decent positions?’
Suffice to say he wasn’t far wrong in his assessment and critically, when the quality balls did come in, Carno looked rattled so maybe there is a lesson to be learned there for future matches.