Barry Town United 4, Dinas Powys 0

This was always going to be a difficult season opener for Dinas and was certainly not helped by having a number of experienced squad members unavailable for various reasons, conceding an early penalty and losing a key defender with concussion plus having a player red carded with an hour still to play made the Dinas management team of Lee Saunders and Keith Williams realise it was not going to be their day.

The first five minutes was fairly even but Dinas defender Joe Briscombe took a knock to the head after 7 minutes and Barry pressed hard, Dale Howarth forcing a finger tip save by James Curtin, the resulting corner was cleared and the Villagers began to settle until disaster struck in the 10th minute when they conceded a penalty for a trip in the box which James Dixon smashed into the roof of the net giving Curtin no chance.

At the other end Jack Preston found Carlos Indjai but his effort was over the bar.

Briscombe was still feeling the effects of his earlier knock and had to be replaced by Mamadu Banguraso with just 20 minutes gone.

Dinas did manage to get the ball in the net, Ryan Garland latching onto a through ball but he was adjudged offside.

Barry were looking strong and confident and they doubled their tally just two minutes later, Dale Howarth finding Rhys James on the edge of the six yard box for an easy tap-in.

Curtin was called into action again making a fantastic save from Dixon. This was followed by a goalmouth scramble but the Dinas rearguard eventually cleared the danger.

On the half-hour mark Dinas were awarded a free kick on the edge of the Barry box, Ryan Garland forcing Barry keeper Dan Bradley to make a one handed save, pushing the ball around his left post. The corner was unproductive but Dinas were beginning to get more possession, Indjai making progress down the left wing and getting in a good cross which the Barry defence got to first.

Then came the controversial sending off. Luke Swaffield was red carded, (very harshly was the general consensus), for a high tackle and Dinas knew it was going to be very hard to get back into the game with 10 men.

Barry had a couple more corners before the break but couldn't add to their score.

Dinas set up their formation to frustrate Barry and it worked well for most of the half, the Villagers having more possession than they did in the first period, however, with 12 minutes of the half played, the hosts made the game safe when a through ball somehow evaded all the Dinas defence to reach Troy Greening to smash it home for 3-0.

Dinas are not the sort of team to drop their heads though and a determined run and cross by Ben Ah-Mun found Preston at the far post and his volley cannoned off the left upright with Bradley beaten and was cleared.

With 20 minutes remaining Dinas introduced fresh legs, Sam Johnson replacing Preston, and they rallied for a while, forcing a corner which went out for a throw in and a further chance came when Indjai found Johnson but his effort was wide of the upright.

Curtin then showed why he is so highly thought of by the Dinas management team, making a superb reaction save from Howarth followed by another finger-tip save from Greening with five minutes remaining. However, in injury time Howarth made it 4-0, driving in from the right to hit a superb shot high into the net, which somewhat flattered the Barry side, who deserved the win but Dinas are confident that when all the squad are available, they will be able to match most teams in this division.

Dinas squad: 1 James Curtin, 2 Ali Akmol, 3 Luke Swaffield, 4 James Bloxham (c), 5 Joseph Briscombe, 6 Rhodri Foote, 7 Ryan Garland, 8 Keiron James, 9 Ben Ah-Mun, 10 Jack Preston, 11 Carlos Indjai, 12 Mamadu Banguraso, 14 Jack Coles, 15 Samuel Johnson, 16 Alex Hales.

Dinas host Ely Rangers on Wednesday, 20th August, 6.30pm ko and Llanwern are the visitors to the Murch on Saturday 23rd August, 2.30pm.