Frustration for Lido as Taffs pick them off

The biggest game in the Youth Division this season, Afan Lido vs Taffs Well. The two sides with perfect records in the league were 1st and 2nd and both were confident in victory. The two had already clashed this season in the cup when Taffs overcame an early 2 goal disadvantage to win 3 – 2. Jordan Carey and Kieron Procter have been the men on form in Yellow and for this match, they were put together up front in an exciting and promising partnership.

Afan Lido had dismantled Caerau in their last match winning 11 – 0, while Taffs beat a worthy challenger in Ton Pentre by 5 goals to 1. This was expected to be a thriller. And minutes after they had kicked the match off, the Wellmen got down the right with Procter. He got to the byline and cut the ball back to an unmarked James.D who was acres of space for an easy tap in. Lido had been caught napping which is a rarity this season. For the visitors, the start couldn’t have been better considering that they haven’t hit top form until the second half of games for the the majority of the season.

Afan Lido on their home ground would of course give a good attempt of getting back into the game. You would have tipped them to get an equalizer until a poor pass out from the back was intercepted in midfield and the ball was played to none other then Kieron Procter who was free in the center of the box. And, as expected, his composure peaked and he doubled the lead with a left footed toe poke over the keeper. The brilliant captain added to his tremendous goal-scoring record and put his side in a commanding position going into the second half.

Flashbacks of the cup tie were in the opposite favor going into a crucial half of football. Could Lido mount a comeback that their opponents had climbed weeks ago against them?

Unfortunately for the hosts, they could not gather themselves and Taffs Wells would frustrate them and kill the game until eventually putting the icing on the cake with a 3rd scored by Justin. On a one man counter attack with questions of a foul, the Taffs Man broke from half way and barged his man to the floor followed by a heavy touch to take the ball past the other 3 defenders. He blasted down the center and was just too fast. One on one with the keeper, Justin finished off a marvelous solo effort with a right footed shot directed into the bottom right corner. It was the perfect goal to top off a momentous result away to their biggest rivals.

This was a big statement by the Taffs Well youth, and hats off to their defense who obtained a clean sheet away to a team that had previously averaged 6.7 goals a game in the league. Taffs now lead the Youth division by 6 points and who knows who could possibly stop them?