ABC Leasing sink Ship in first round of Barry Cup (From Barry And District News)

ABC Leasing sink Ship in first round of Barry Cup

8:10am Thursday 4th October 2012 in Sport

SHIP INN 1 ABC LEASING 2

ON A perfect playing surface at Pencoedtre, ABC Leasing faced a very tough Barry Cup battle against high-flying Division 1 outfit Ship Inn. Having to play a new style formation due to absences, Second Division ABC were still able to put out a formidable starting XI along with a strong bench.

The first half was a tight affair, with both sides cancelling each other out. The ABC back three of Dave Menzies, Coxon and Nicky Elston held firm against an impressive front line for the Ship, with goalkeeper Christian Harding only having to deal with long range efforts.

The midfield of Jordan, Raz and Dafydd weren’t having too many problems controlling the centre of the pitch and, with the new look of Pebbles and Paget going up and down the pitch like a pair of roundabouts, ABC were looking good.

It was also pleasing to welcome back Minty who had been out injured since the first game of the season and he and Simon ‘The Tank’ Colston up front caused the Ship problems.

The first half ended 0-0 which pleased ABC, having played against the wind and up the slope. The second half was there for the taking for the Second Division side and take it they did. Following a great move starting from Elston in defence, the ball was played forward to Minty who made no mistake from 10 yards to give ABC a deserved lead.

If the Ship thought ABC were going to sit back and rest on the 1-0 lead they couldn’t have been more wrong because, following a foul some 30 yards from the opposition goal, up stepped Elston to curl a sublime free kick over the Ship defence and into the far corner.

Unfortunately, this was Nicky’s last game for a few weeks as he is going to have an operation but couldn’t have signed off in a better way.

The Ship now had to come out fighting and the last 20 minutes were constant pressure from the front six of the Ship. Harding proved his worth with two or three top drawer saves to keep ABC firmly in the driving seat.

Following a breakaway move and, for once, some slack defending from ABC, Gwyn Good managed to reduce the deficit with a well-taken goal.

ABC brought on reinforcements, with Russell Ware, Dominic Jones and Richard Grisdale all giving their side some fresh momentum. Ware, especially, had a storming 30-minute cameo down the left hand side.

With five minutes to go, ABC could have killed the game off when Colston rounded the Ship keeper and last defender and, with the goal gaping, found Minty (his own strike partner) doing everything in his power to stop him from scoring - even now, we are at a loss to know what was going on, but it was well worth a laugh after the game.

ABC held on to win this difficult Barry Cup game and now meet Premier Division Castle FC in the next round.

Special mentions to Harding, Menzies and Elston who were all fantastic and ABC wish the last named a speedy recovery after his operation.

Thanks go to ABC Leasing for continued sponsorship and The Cwm Talwg Pub for food after the game.