Late lapse costs Barry Town two points (From Barry And District News)

Late lapse costs Barry Town two points

8:40am Thursday 30th August 2012 in Sport

BARRY TOWN 1 WEST END 1

THE Dragons will view this as two points dropped as they allowed 10-man West End back into this Welsh League clash with just a few minutes left on the clock.

The first chance of the game fell to Dale Howarth but his free kick was headed away by a West End defender. An error in midfield allowed a West End forward a chance but his shot was well over the bar. West End’s no-nonsense defenders were guilty of some robust tackling and another free kick against them was wasted as it was overhit and went out for a throw-in.

Michael Hartley put in a great run down the left and played a ball into the box for TJ Nagi but the West End keeper just managed to get there first. Within minutes another run from Hartley saw a good shot palmed away by the keeper.

West End immediately broke and Dragons' goalkeeper Dan Bradley was forced into his first save of the game to keep the scores level. The game had a real ebb and flow about it, mainly due to errors in midfield, and another chance fell to Howarth but his shot was well saved. Again West End attacked and Bradley was forced into another save.

With 25 minutes gone, an innocuous tackle saw a West End player sustain an injury which forced his replacement. Luckily, the injury looked worse than it was and, by the end of the game, the player was walking, albeit with a limp.

After a five-minute break, the tempo dropped and it took until just before half time before the next chance was created when Howarth’s shot hit the post and was cleared.

Chances in the second half were again shared, with West End clearing a corner at one end and breaking quickly but shooting wide at the other. Both teams were also guilty of giving the ball away too easily which resulted in attacks breaking down continually.

With 17 minutes left, the game was meandering towards a draw when a West End player was sent off for a second yellow card. The referee, who had been quite lenient with some of the West End tackling, suddenly started cautioning players and there seemed to be several on both sides in quick succession.

The Dragons started to push forward more in order to take advantage of the extra man and, with 14 minutes left, were awarded another free kick when Howarth was brought down just outside the box. The Barry player stepped forward to take the free kick himself and scored low to the keeper's left to give his team the lead.

Not content to sit back though, West End created a few chances themselves but none were on target. With five minutes left, Hartley should have sewn the game up but his shot was brilliantly saved by Martin in the West End goal.

Three minutes later the Dragons were punished for some sloppy play when the ball was easily intercepted and passed to Brown who had the simple task of slotting past Bradley.

There was still time for a winner but both Howarth and TJ Nagi had shots saved by the West End keeper before the referee brought proceedings to a close.

The LDS Motor Factors/RIM Motors Player of the Match award was presented to Dale Howarth.

Dragons: Dan Bradley; Paul Morgan, Lee Baldock, Ryan Evans, Dan Clare (capt.), Atif Bashir, James Saddler, Michael Hartley, TJ Nagi, Ryan Jenkins, Dale Howarth. Subs. Nickie Jones (for Ryan Jenkins), Damon Searle, Geraint Goodridge, Nathan Williams, Brendan Cropley.

* On Saturday (September 1) the Dragons travel to promotion favourites Haverfordwest County and, on Tuesday, September 4, entertain Caerleon (7.45pm kick off).