AFC Llwydcoed 2, Dinas Powys 0

A GALE-FORCE wind and driving rain greeted Dinas as they arrived at the Welfare Ground.

Llwydcoed settled quickly and were soon on the attack with Chris Vardon getting an early shot on target, James Curtain saving comfortably, soon followed by a drive from Garin Withers under pressure from Dinas full-back Nicky Bruce which Curtain gathered.

The wind favoured the hosts who seemed to adapt to the conditions better than Dinas.

Dinas strikers Paul Penikett and Barry King were linking up well but the home defence were well organised and the visitors were struggling to get any scoring opportunities into the headwind until James Marr was fouled and Nicky Bruce drove the free kick in low which the home keeper, Ryan Griffiths, had to tip round the post for an unproductive corner.

At the other end a Llwydcoed corner was gathered by the wind and the ball sailed over the Dinas crossbar.

Dinas came close from another set piece, Dave Penikett's free kick was tipped over the cross-bar by Griffiths.

The breakthrough came eventually in a bizarre fashion from a cross by Michael Davies which again the wind took, but this time the ball curled into the top corner of the net giving Curtain no chance to save.

Suddenly with five minutes of the half remaining, a hail storm blew in and the referee had no option but to bring the half to an early close on 43 minutes.

Luckily the storm passed and the wind began to die down for the second half.

The hosts were soon on the attack again, electing to run with the ball on numerous occasions which seemed to be paying dividends as chances came from a cross by Vardon to Jonathan Mason who was dispossessed by Nicky Bruce, followed by a run and cross by Michael Davies, the ball reaching Mason whose deft lob clipped the top of the cross bar and over.

The Dinas midfield of Tony Herrin, Marc Bonet and skipper Paul Dawes were working hard to try and create chances but it was from another set piece that they looked the most dangerous, Nicky Bruce firing in a shot that Griffiths had to punch clear, the ball coming to Dave Penikett who drove it back in but his effort was over the bar.

Llwydcoed grabbed their second goal after 20 minutes when from a corner, their towering centre-half Luke Davies volleyed home.

Dinas then rang the changes, bringing on Ryan Garland and Carlos Indjai for Barry King and Dimitri Fallas respectively.

Good work by Garland forced a corner for Dinas but the ball was cleared to Vardon who raced through for a one on one with Curtain but his shot was off target from 16 yards.

Dinas then made their final substitution, bringing on the experienced Danny Street for Paul Dawes, but despite forcing a couple more corners, they couldn't get the breakthrough.

Llwydcoed then made a couple of substitutions and they saw out the final minutes to claim the points which they deserved on the day.

Dinas play host to Ammanford on February 1 with a 2pm kick-off.

Dinas squad: 1 James Curtain, 2 James Marr, 3 Nicky Bruce, 4 Dave Penikett, 5 James Bloxham, 6 Tony Herrin, 7 Paul Dawes (c), 8 Marc Bonet, 9 Paul Penikett, 10 Dimitri Fallas, 11 Barry King, 12 Carlos Indjai, 14 Luke Swaffield, 15 Ryan Garland, 16 Danny Street.