In their second league game since the dramatic confrontation with Wattsville that saw the club’s promotion hopes dashed, the 1st Team went head to head against the team that delivered them their first loss of the season way-back-when.
Things kicked off at the Woodland with a message of clear intention by the lads, with Lewis Jones firing off a fantastic free kick early on, putting the pressure on Sudbrook CCFC. Zak Kelly was on fine form this afternoon, breaking through the visitor’s defence and making ground into the opposing territory, finding Rhys Jones in the box for a great opportunity that was cancelled out by the Sudbrook goalkeeper.
Sudbrook sought early on to take control of the game in the centre of the park, taking a gamble to stop Zak Kelly’s persistent pursuit of pushing forward but failing in a big tackle that saw the opposition player laid up on the side and eventually driven off to A&E, in the first of several all-or-nothing big hits.
However, unperturbed by their player being taken off in pain, the visitors fired up the pace and began a reinvigorated assault on the Excelsiors half, with ‘keeper Kevin Roberts having his work cut out and delivering some quality saves. No sooner had the opposing 11 men rallied to look certain to break the goalless deadlock, a huge corner kick for the 1st Team kept people on the edge of their seats as a small scuffle in the box looked certain to result in an Aber goal.
At the conclusion of the opening ’45 minutes it seemed that the Excelsiors had held firm for most of the encounter, with a barrage of chances that weren’t capitalised on and ultimately, were probably at 0-0 more through lack of conviction in scoring rather than no opportunity.
The second half promised to be a much different affair than the fairly uninspiring opening chunk of the game, with both teams wanting to prove why they battled it out at the top of the table for so much of the season. The lads indeed did find it hard to break free of the midfield dogfight that Sudbrook had committed them too, sucking in players left and right and attempting to overpower the boys in the middle. Sudbrook’s very vocal goalkeeper then decided to swap his gloves for the excitement of an outfield player, even stepping up to take a big free kick that proved no problem for Kevin Roberts, but Sudbrook’s effort would not be diminished.
The visitors threatened another goal soon after, but dependable defender Tyla Preece saw the attack off with a trademark header. With a rallying effort, the 1sts upped the ante and attacked Sudbrook with renewed intensity. Lewis Jones and Ewan Harty made significant progress against their rivals, with youngster Keane Edwards also giving a good account of himself during the Excelsiors desperate offensive flurry.
As Harty worked the wing and made several crosses in that resulted in near-chances, Sudbrook wrestled control from the hosts and went on a dominating run picking off Excelsiors players, resulting in the visitors scoring and going 0-1 up. A deflated home side shook off their frustrations with a vintage Rhys Whiteman header, as the former Abergavenny Town stalwart came in like a freight train to drive the ball past the goalkeeper and return things to an equal footing at 1-1.
The remainder of the game was the story of frantic and frenetic offence from both teams but the was the Excelsiors who stole the show, with a definitive and driven desire to score a second goal. Ewan Harty and Rhys Whiteman worked in tandem, offering up opportunities for some of the Excelsiors’ younger contingent, who showed some great promise when tasked with facing off against one of the league’s stronger teams. Despite a last-gasp effort from Whiteman, it wasn’t meant to be and the referee blew up with both sides disappointingly gaining a single point but the Excelsiors gaze now firmly set on Amateur Cup silverware when they face Ynysddu Welfare in Risca on Saturday, May 5th.
