Barry Sport

Point takes Cadoxton Barry back to the top

7:50am Thursday 11th March 2010

Cadoxton Barry FC 0 Penrhiwfer AFC 0

CADOXTON Barry had to battle hard for the point they gained from their first encounter of the season with Penrhiwfer.

And they had no less of a battle at Tuesday evening’s South Wales Senior League Division Two game.

The result was the first time they have failed to score this season as two very strong looking defences won the honours of the day - only two serious scoring chances being created during the whole game.

The Penrhiwfer chance was thwarted by a quality Lee Norris save whilst Cadoxton Barry saw a Christopher Barnet header cleared off the line by an alert Penrhiwfer defender.

Penrhiwfer had more of the first half possession but created very little by way of opportunity in front of goal, while the much more even second half saw C.B. looking to have the greater potential to score while never quite being able to spring that elusive trap.

Some might say that the dropping of two home points is not a good thing for a side that has designs on taking the title, but even so, the point gained is one that take the Linnets back to the top of the table - a point ahead of Butetown with one game in hand.

Following next Saturday's home game with St Albans, Cadoxton Barry play yet another evening match under the Jenner Park lights when they entertain Nelson Cavaliers on Tuesday, March 16, K.O. 7pm.

Stanleytown FC 1 Cadoxton Barry FC 2

EARLY pressure from Cadoxton Barry saw a Darren Baker effort deflected just wide as early as the second minute.

Indeed, the game was ten minutes old before Stanleytown managed to break into the Linnets' half - but what a break it was!

An immaculate high cross saw Gareth Smith stun CB as his connection rattled the cross bar. That let-off saw CB resume their domination as a number of intricate passing moves created numerous half-chances, which were doggedly kept out by a determined Stanleytown rearguard.

One such move initiated by Weekley saw the ball find Dawson, whose long range looper was only just tipped over the bar by Stanley 'keeper, Ian Reed.

Then a golden opportunity was ruled out as a ball out of defence found Alex Lee running through from his own half. However, Dawson, who was standing just off side but well out to the right, was deemed to be interfering with play by the referee.

With the pressure now constant, Jermaine Martyn indulged in a little bit of magic footwork in order to make the space that allowed him to feed the ball back out of the six yard box to Chris Barnet.

He drove in a bending shot that circumnavigated the massed assembly in the six yard box to enter the net just inside of the right post and just beyond the fingertips of the outstretched Reed.

Not long after, Darren Baker broke through to see a close-in effort kicked off the line by Stanleytown's John Williams. And so the one way traffic continued until Stanleytown managed a rare break away, a minute before the end of the half.

In an omen of things to come, a high clearance fell nicely for a Stanleytown attacker who looked odds on to score. But somehow the advancing Norris managed to make enough ground to block the shot, before going to ground from the resultant collision.

There followed an anxious and lengthy period of treatment before Norris eventually got to his feet to carry on.

When the half time whistle blew, a three or four goal CB cusion could not have been considered an unfair reflection of the play to that point – so a lot of credit goes to the Stanleytown defenders for their heroics in keeping the lead down to just the single goal.

Realising that despite their sub-standard first half performance, they were only a single goal down, Stanleytown suddenly started to play a little.

With the second half only two minutes old an attempted Bickley clearance was charged down by Lee Bolderson. Picking up the loose ball out on the right, he threaded it through to Stanleytown substitute and their man-of-the-match, Dale Hughes, who found the net via a graze on Weekley then under the diving body of Lee Norris.

There followed a pretty ragged period of play from the Linnets with, if anything, Stanleytown getting the better of the exchanges before Martyn had his shirt pulled out of shape in a CB counter raid.

Martyn took the free kick himself and the beautifully weighted ball found the head of the in-rushing Dawson to leave Reed stranded.

Ashley Govier and Liam Blackmore replaced Matthews and Barnet mid way through the half and Cadoxton Barry once more began to see the greater share of the ball.

But this time Stanleytown looked decidedly danagerous every time they broke away - hitting the CB post on one occasion.

Although a Blackmore 20-yarder brought another good fingertip save out of Reed, the points didn't look really safe until the final whistle blew.

With St Albans losing and Butetown collecting just one point, CB have made up even more ground in their championship chase.

Both CB and Butetown are tied on 38 points and a plus-22 goal difference, but Butetown lead on account of having scored more goals. CB however have two games in hand on Butetown.

The third and fourth placed sides are both eight points adrift on 30 points.

On Saturday, March 13, Cadoxton Barry are home again when they entertain St Albans in a top-of-the- table clash. K.O. 2pm.

The Cadoxton Barry 3rd Side are without a Vale League Second Division fixture on Saturday, but the Seconds entertain Barry Villa in the Premier Division. K.O. 2pm

Vale of Glamorgan League Division Two

Cadoxton Barry FC 2 FC Pumas 1

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