Table-topping Sully Sports battle to victory against Albion (From Barry And District News)

Table-topping Sully Sports battle to victory against Albion

7:50am Thursday 31st January 2013 in Sport

SULLY SPORTS 3 YNYSHIR ALBION 2

WITH ALL Rhondda pitches still snowbound, a decision to switch Saturday's South Wales Senior Soccer League clash from The Oval (Ynyshir) to Sully was agreed by both teams.

Thanks to the kind efforts of local referee Terry Allday, the Sully Sports pitch at Swanbridge passed an early-morning inspection and, although a little soft, was perfectly playable.

Both teams are in the First Division top five and the visitors started impressively and had a number of chances; Sports, with a few changes, took time to settle.

Playing with the slope, Ynyshir saw more of the first-half action but the sides were level at half-time. The home defence did well to hold a good Ynyshir front line who looked the part.

Sports came right into the game in the second half and some good moves started to produce chances on a more regular basis. After 15 minutes, Sports went in front, with Alex Long letting fly from 20 yards into the top corner and producing a carbon copy of the goal scored in last season's Welsh Trophy cup final.

The visitors hit back immediately, however, when the home side were penalised for a push in defending a corner and Ynyshir levelled from the penalty spot.

Sports still looked the more likely to score and, after a few near misses, a loose ball in the box should have been the ownership of the goalkeeper but Gareth Hemmens stretched his long legs to guide the ball into the net. To their credit, the visitors never let up and equalised again through a very well taken free kick.

As the minutes ticked by, the Sully subs did a grand job and created the winning goal. After beating his man, Arran Longamo struck the crossbar with his shot, and Long was first to the rebound to grab the winner in a very hard fought game.

Sully are three points clear at the top, with games in hand.

This Saturday Sports are in SWFA Senior Cup action at Fochriw in the Rhymney Valley; meet at Lidl at 12 noon.