CADOXTON BARRY 4

TONGWYNLAIS 1

EARLY exchanges in Saturday's South Wales Senior Soccer League clash were fairly even although a Thompson cross five minutes in saw a Baker header go just over.

And things remained pretty benign until CB full back Bickley decided to move forward. Taking a return ball after his throw in, Scott Williams fired over a cross to the advancing Bickley who whipped the ball home from fully 20 yards - a stunning opener which lifted CB and helped them force Second Division opponents Tongwynlais onto the back foot for lengthy periods.

The second half was only five minutes old when a Williams free kick brought a quality diving save out of the visiting 'keeper, but then came a worrying moment for CB as a Royale back pass evaded his 'keeper to roll only inches wide. But back came CB as Baker went on a tank-like run before aiming his cross at Weekley who had an open net. However, a quality interception saved the day for the visitors.

Eventually, though, the pressure told when a long throw was headed on to Thompson who made no mistake from six yards. It was now one-way traffic as a Dawson drive was blocked on the line, only for Weekley to dispatch the loose ball from close range.

Rapid substitutions saw Bridges, Sam Williams and Reilly take the field and Ton took advantage to come back into the match for a brief spell, but not before CB had another shot cleared off the line. But then Ton broke to force Davie into two excellent saves in the space of seconds. The latter yielded a corner and Blight was on hand to reduce the arrears to 3-1 with a well-judged header. But the Ton renaissance lasted only until a short corner from Adams to Morgan saw the latter skip past a couple of tackles before firing into the far corner.

A few weeks ago an horrendous hailstorm at Ferndale resulted in the Stanleytown versus Cadoxton Barry game being abandoned only minutes into the second half - the score being 4-1 to CB at the time. Next Saturday the two sides hope for more clement weather as they plan a re-enactment; kick-off 2pm.