Cwm Talwg 1 - 3 Cadoxton Barry

WITH the Vale of Glamorgan League finally sanctioning a third round of fixtures in an effort to bulk out the season, Cadoxton Barry found themselves with an away fixture against Cwm Talwg before most of the sides in the division had completed the second round of fixtures.

An inauspicious opening ten minutes was livened up when a high Kinman ball into the middle of the park bounced across to Yeoman out to the right. Aiming across goal he found the net just a whisker to the right side of the far post. Kinman was prominent again only a few moments later when, following a run down the left, his shot from an obtuse angle was only just wide for the right hand post.

But, gradually, the men whose team and pub are named for the Valley of the Talwg stream which flows through Porthkerry Park, played their way into a position of ascendency. Thus it was no great surprise when they scored in the 30th minute with a stunning effort from Montgomery - a low drive from all of 25 yards out to the right. And it took a little while for CB to steady themselves as Cwm Talwg continued to press for a further five minutes. However, CB broke to see a Jenkinson free kick sail just a whisker beyond of the hosts' 90% angle of cross bar and left upright.

And only moments later Jenkinson restored CB's lead when he got his head onto the end of a cross from the right to head home at the left post. With CB once more gaining the upper hand, they received a rude awakening when the hosts broke to see Montgomery let fly with a quality dipping long range effort which some might have argued deserved more that to see CB 'keeper Kinch stretching brilliantly to tip the ball just over the bar. Had that gone in, it might have represented a turning point in the game for Cwm Talwg. But, instead, the half time whistle arrived showing CB with just the single goal advantage.

CB reaped no reward from their early 2nd half pressure before, from a Cwm Talwg break away, a CB defender cleared only to be crunched to the ground from behind a split second after the ball had left his boot. The referee had no hesitation in brandishing an instant red card to see the hosts playing out the remainder of the game with just ten men. Cadoxton Barry should have taken full control from this point. And although they did for the next ten minutes, as so often happens when a side is reduced in number, Cwm Talwg rallied to press for intermittent spells to see CB looking a little jittery on one or two occasions.

However CB weathered the storm to retake the initiative during the closing ten minutes, a long Kinch clearance setting up a clear CB chance which was well blocked by the posteria of the home 'keeper while he was stretching in the opposite direction. Then Cwm Talwg broke away down the left in a well executed move that again saw them looking odds on to equalize. But Kinch dived low to his left to make make an unbelievable stop that saw the ball fingertipped just wide of the post.

But that was Cwm Talwg's last chance as a CB counter attack saw Jenkinson, with a fine downward header, initiate a double exchange with Ingham which, following a bit of a scramble, ended with the latter stroking home from close range.

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, this was the third meeting between the two sides this season - Cwm prevailing on each of the previous two occasions. So CB will be relieved to have "gotten the monkey off their back" at the third time of asking.

Looking at the Vale of Glamorgan League website it appears that the fixture setters are giving both Cwm Talwg and Cadoxton Barry a fixture break next Saturday while the other six sides in Division One get the final few round two fixtures completed.