The 2nd half yielded one further goal and unfortunately it went to the home side again, final score Cambrian & Clydach 2-0 Afan Lido. 

Tonight's defeat make it very unlikely we can finish in 5th place as Cambrian now are 3 points ahead of us and have 2 games in hand. To make matters worse tonight, we dropped to 7th as our goal difference following tonight's 2-0 is now worse than Ton Pentre and it lifts Ton Pentre above us to 6th.

Tonight's Squad:
R McCreesh, J Williams, C Evans, R Williams, M Chunuonsee, A Carpenter, C Thomas, C Payne, L Borrelli, L Shrimpton, C Langdon, Scott McCourbrey, A Collins, A O'Keefe, V Lewis.

View league table

Tony

Cambrian are in their 2nd season in the top division and currently occupy 5th place level on points with us and Ton Pentre, and they look like bettering their first season's league position of 9th.

Their recent home form is not as good as a 5th placed team would be expected to have, as they have not won at home for 4 games, their last game was a 3-1 home defeat against table toppers Barry Town, and the previous 2 games saw them draw 1-1 with Caerleon and another defeat against Taffs Well 2-1, its their away form that see's them raking in the points, with 3 wins from their last 3 away games, the most impressive win being last time out when they beat Ton Pentre 4-1 at Ynys Park.

Our away form isn't that great either with only 2 wins from our last 7 games and only 3 wins from our 9 away games played. Our last game saw us beat Bryntirion 1-0 in a close game, before that we suffered 2 losses and 2 draws. With 8 games remaining this season 7 of them are away, and we have to meet Cambrian twice, the home game being our last game at home this season.

We will be looking for Scott McCourbrey to continue his fine scoring form in front of goals to do the damage and improve on his total of 13 this season in the league, but any goals from any player tonight will do. And a win will see us winning 3 on the trot and will move us one place to 5th.

Tonight's Squad:
R McCreesh, J Williams, C Evans, R Williams, M Chunuonsee, A Carpenter, C Thomas, C Payne, L Borrelli, L Shrimpton, C Langdon, Scott McCourbrey, A Collins, A O'Keefe, V Lewis.

Tony

Lido scored the only goal of the game a minute from the end of normal time, Scotty McCourbrey scored his 13th league goal of the season to give Lido victory, he was put through on goal by Ass manager Vince Lewis. But we won the game with 10 men as Shaun Best had been sent off on 70 minutes along with Bryntirion's number 2.

We move up to 6th ahead of Ton Pentre and behind Cambrian on a single goal after they lost 3-1 at home to Barry Town.

Lido Line up.
R McCreesh, R Williams, C Evans, M Chunuonsee, A Carpenter, C Payne, J Williams, C Thomas,
S McCourbrey, Best, R Whitelock.

Subs: J McEvoy, A Collins, V Lewis, L Borrelli.

View league table

Tony

Looking at the starting 11 from that opening day fixture only 2 players are still at the club, Carl Evans and Scott McCourbrey.

We have had mixed fortunes in this fixture last season we beat then 2-1, the season before we lost 3-0 and the season before that we drew 3-3 (with a hat-trick from Ianto).

Bryntirion form this season is down on last season's high finish of 5th place, they currently lie in 10th place with not much chance of improving on that position this season. The have not been prolific at home this season with only 5 wins from their 12 games, and they have lost 3 times to Bettws 0-4, ENTO Aberaman 2-3 and Bridgend Town 2-4. Our away form in our 9 games is not that great either with just 2 wins from our 9 games, and our last away success was back on November 25 2008 and we have been unsuccessful in our last 4 attempts with 2 draws and 2 defeats.

The teams confidence and morale will no doubt be high after our win in the League cup final on Tuesday night over Penrhiwceiber where Scotty bagged his 18th goal of the season.

A win over Bryntirion will see us leapfrog Ton Pentre into 6th place level on points with them and 5th placed Cambrian & Clydach and keep us on track to at least emulate last season's league finish of 6th place.

Tony

Casey played for Lido (Seans team) and was spotted by Swansea when he was 14 and joined them.

Tony

Subs:
G Couch, R Whitelock, S Best, J McEvoy, A Collins.

The sides couldn't be separated in the full 90 minutes, so the game now goes to extra time.

Lido had the better of the game in normal time and went close twice with Sean Best and Mika Chunuonsee both denied by the woodwork.

The crowd of 300 are getting their moneys worth tonight.

The 1st half of extra time ended goalless, but Ceiber went ahead 1-0 with the goal coming in the 109th minutes from a Sam George free kick.

GOAL!!!!!!!!!
On 113 minutes Lido were awarded a penalty and the teams top scorer Scotty puts away the spot kick to make it 1-1.

The game has finally ended 1-1 after extra time, and we now go to penalties. Let us remember that Ceiber have already seen off 2 teams to get to the final by winning on penalties, so it won't be easy.

Penalties

Ceiber 1-0
Lido 1-1 C Payne
Ceiber 2-1
Lido 2-2 Scotty
Ceiber 3-2
Lido 3-3 L Shrimpton
Ceiber 4-3
Lido 4-4 R Whitelock
Ceiber 4-4 (missed)
Lido 4-4 C Thomas (missed)
Ceiber 5-4
Lido 5-5 M Chunuonsee
Ceiber 5-5 (missed)
Lido 6-5 S Best.

Young Rory McCreesh pulls off 2 penalty saves and Afan Lido are the new League cup Champions, well done to the management and players on bringing silverware to the club this season.

Tony

The injuries to the 3 players missing from Saturday's squad are back fit and well. But Adam Carpenter misses out on the squad as he is cup tied.

The full squad is:

R McCreesh, G Couch, R Williams, J Williams, C Evans, M Chunuonsee, C Thomas, C Payne,
D Lancey, S McCourbrey,  C Langdon,  S Best, R Whitelock, J McEvoy, S Wade, L Shrimpton, A Collins, V Lewis.

Tony

Tonight we face division 2 leaders Penrhiwceiber Rangers in the final of the welsh league challenge cup, and we are looking to lift the trophy for the 2nd time in 3 seasons.

Tonight's opponents are a bit of a surprise package in reaching the final, having beaten current welsh league champions Goytre Utd 2-1 in the quarter-final, but it's not their first division 1 scalp in the tournament, they also beat Pontardawe on penalties in the 1st round. They had a close game in the semi-final beating Porthcawl Town 1-0 to book their place in tonight's final, they did have a few scares on the way to the final, and progressed twice by winning on penalties.

Penrhiwceiber Rangers are having another good season this term and are on course for back to back promotions, having been promoted from division 3 last season finishing 3rd, they are currently in excellent form in the league having won 9 and only losing 2 of their last 11 league games and currently lie top of division 2 1 point ahead of Ely Rangers, and on course to regain their place back in division 1.

We go into tonight's final also in good form, with wins against Bridgend Town 4-1 in the sem1-final, narrowly losing to ENTO Aberaman, and beating Caldicot Town in our last game on Saturday. Our very young squad are gaining in experience and starting to put good performances together, and lifting the trophy tonight will leave them on a high for the remainder of what has been a difficult season for the club.

We do though have a few injury worries ahead of the game and we missed 3 first team players for the Caldicot game on Saturday as Justin Williams, Dan Lancey and Corey Thomas were all absent from the starting line up through injury.

How both teams got to the final.

Tony

At the Victoria Road ground Afan Lido won the game by a single goal, Lido's scorer was Steve Hughes, today's win see's the team climb back above Harry West and into 2nd place.

It was our 5th league win and Port's 6th league defeat.

View league table

Subs: J McEvoy, S Wade, V Lewis.

Injured: J Williams, D Lancey, C Thomas.

No score in the first half 0-0.

Afan Lido take the lead on 82 minutes, the goal came from the clubs top scorer Scott McCourbrey getting his 12th league goal of the season. 1-0 Lido.

Due to the injuries, Vince Lewis makes his debut and comes on as a sub, and what a blinder he played on his first league appearance, life in the old dog still :)

Full time and Lido get back to wining ways.

Tony

We drew 3-3 early in the season at Jubilee Way, when Caldicot were much higher up in the table than they are now, and they had only suffered one defeat at home at that stage. 

The only other meeting between us ended in a 2-1 win for us last season, in fact Caldicot have failed to beat us in the 3 games played against them since their promotion 2 seasons ago. We drew away 0-0 last season.

We look like finishing in our lowest league position this season since we were relegated back to the welsh league, our lowest finish was 7th and highest of 5th, but with teams above us doing well and accumulating points and with Bridgend snapping at our heels we could finish as low as 9th, or at best 7th come the end of the season.

We both have the same form over the last 5 games, with 1 win, 2 draws and 2 defeats, but they did have a good 2-1 home win over Bettws less than 2 weeks ago.

If we can start to put teams away when we are in control we should pick up more points than we drop in the run in to the end of the season, and with Scotty in devastating goal scoring form of late and up to 11 league goals and young Sam Wade on 7, we are not short of players who know where the back of the net is.

Tony

The 14 man squad to face Caldicot Town this Saturday is:

R McCreesh, R Williams, J Williams, C Evans, M Chunuonsee, A Carpenter, C Payne,
D Lancey, S McCourbrey,  C Langdon,  S Best, S Wade, R Whitelock, J McEvoy.

Sam Wade comes back into the squad from a recent injury, but we lose Corey Thomas due to an injury. But we are starting to see a more settled squad that has put in some good performances in recent weeks.

Tony

R McCreesh, R Williams, J Williams, C Evans, M Chunuonsee, A Carpenter, C Thomas, C Payne,
D Lancey, S McCourbrey,  C Langdon,  S Best.

Subs: R Whitelock, K Roberts, J McEvoy.

Lido went a goal behind on 23 minutes, to a goal from John Phillips, half time score Aberaman 1-0 Lido.

The game had to wait until 7 minutes from time for the next goal, and it came the home team, to go 2-0 up.

Aber's 2 goal lead lasted just 1 minute, when we got one back from a Mika Chunuonsee free kick on 84 minutes. Still time enough left for either side to score.

Lido put up a good performance today against a very experienced looking ENTO squad, and were unlucky not to come away with something from the game. Mika had a superb game for Lido and was the pick of the visitors. 

Game over Aberaman 2-1 Lido.

Attendance: 40

Tony

R McCreesh, R Williams, J Williams, C Evans, M Chunuonsee, A Carpenter, C Thomas, C Payne,
D Lancey, S McCourbrey, R Whitelock, C Langdon, K Roberts, S Best, J McEvoy.

Tony

We opened the scoring in the 21st minute to go 1-0 up, on 36 minutes Scotty added his and our 2nd goal of the game, 2-0 Lido.

On 65 minutes Bridgend scored and got back into the game, 2-1.

Scotty bagged his hat-trick in the 82nd minute and looking like it was all over for Bridgend, but there was still another goal to come, and it came in injury time when Scotty made it 4-1 to Lido, and a place in the final awaits the team on Tuesday March 24th at Maesteg's home ground Tudor Park, with a 7:15 pm kick off.

Tony

The under 19's were playing Merthyr who are currently top of the Youth div central league, in the 2nd round of the MacWhirter youth cup. The game ended 0-0 at full time, and our winner came in the 110th minute from Corey Thomas.

Our under 18's were playing away against Llantwit Major in the league and we came away with a 2-1 victory, Dan Symmons scored both Lido goals. An improved performance from Llantwit who were beaten 10-0 in their league visit to the Marston at the end of January.

Tony

But Cwmbran got a goal back in the 80th minute to share the points. That's 5 points dropped in the last 2 games against bottom of the league clubs.

Lido line up:

R McCreesh, R Williams, J Williams, C Evans, M Chunuonsee, A Carpenter, C Thomas, C Payne,
D Lancey, S McCourbrey, R Whitelock,  

Subs: G Couch, C Langdon, M Beynon, K Roberts, S Best.

Attendance: 76

Tony

Gaffer Mark Robbo has picked an 18 man squad for the game taking advantage of the Reserves having no match this weekend.

The squad is:

R McCreesh, G Couch, R Williams, J Williams, C Evans, M Chunuonsee, A Carpenter, C Thomas, C Payne,
D Lancey, S McCourbrey, C Langdon, M Beynon, K Reynolds, J McEvoy, R Whitelock, K Roberts, S Best.

Tony

Saturday the visitors to the Marston are former welsh premier side Cwmbran Town, they are not having the best of seasons back in the welsh league, and currently lie last in the table with just 11 points from their 20 games.

The Crows have the worst away record of any club in division 1, with just 1 win and 1 draw and 6 losses from their 8 games. Their only win came in their very first away game of the season against Newport YMCA who they beat 6-0. They did come away with a 1-1 draw against Caldicot Town in their last away game, but before that they had lost 6 on the trot on their travels.

Last seasons fixture ended in a 1-1 draw, with Steve Cox scoring for Lido, and this seasons fixture only misses the same date as last seasons meeting by 1 day (7th March)

It's will be interesting to see which Lido team turns up on Saturday, the team that walloped Croesyceiliog 5-0 2 games ago, or the team that got walloped 5-0 by Taffs Well last time out.

We are rapidly running out of home games in the league, and after Saturdays game we only have 2 more to play at the Marston this season, so 3 points is a must to see us finish as high as we can in the league, though a top 6 finish this season is now looking fairly unlikely, with Ton Pentre moving above us into 5th last night with a 5-3 home win over Goytre, and several teams below us with games in hand, could see us drop as low as 9th or 10th come the end of the season, one bit of good news is that Carl Evans is now back at the club and his presence should bolster the defence.

Tony

If it does go ahead, then Bridgend will be buoyed, by their recent win over Newport YMCA in the welsh cup quarter final, and a place in the semi's against Bangor City.

It is a good showcase for the welsh league that for the 3rd season running a welsh league club has made it to the semi-finals.

Bridgend will be full of confidence, while we will be a bit down following our poor showing and 5-0 defeat against Taffs Well last Saturday.

But one bit of good news is that long time servant of the club and former club captain Carl Evans is back in the squad. Carl only recently back from Australia, is back in the fold.

The 16 man squad for tonight's game is:

R McCreesh, M Beynon, J Williams, R Williams, R Whitelock, C Evans, M Chunuonsee, C Payne, C Thomas, S McCourbrey, D Lancey, G Couch, K Roberts, S Best, J McEvoy, C Langdon.

Tony

Our reward for today's semi win is a place in the final where we will play Porthcawl.

Tony

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