Troedyrhiw - 2

Goytre - 3

IN a very physical and bruising encounter, Goytre kept a collectively cool head against Troedyrhiw to hold onto a slender one goal lead and pick up three more valuable points in Welsh League Division Three.

"It was an hurly burly type of affair with a lot of bookings and we did well to come out with a win," said club chairman Paul Greenhalgh after the match, before adding, "We were without Craig Joliffe, Andy Walsh, and Mark Jones for Saturday's game, but the lads on the field took control of the match right from the whistle."

The first real drama of the fixture came ten minutes in when Phil Melville was brought down with a bad tackle and had to be replaced by Adam Roberts.

Ten minutes after that another cynical play by Troedyrhiw saw Graham Mason fouled, and penalty specialist Darren Haines wasted no time in stepping up to the plate to put Goytre 1-0 ahead.

Better was to follow as Kevin Wallace broke through Troedyrhiw's ranks, only to be tackled from behind as the opposition's tactics grew progressively worse.

The resulting free kick was hit hard and low by Matthew Cameron to put Goytre 2-0 in front.

For the remainder of the half, the opposition were pretty much all at sea as Mason and Jamie Wilkins opened them up and caused all sorts of problems.

Goytre's third goal of the game came from another midfield break by Wallace who passed to Adam Roberts, who crossed in for Mason to volley hard and fast straight into the roof of the Troedyrhiw net.

Just before half-time Troed were afforded the chance to claw a goal back with a free kick, but thanks to Lee Wadden clearing the rebound off the line, Goytre's clean sheet remained spotless.

Into the second-half and it was a different story as Troed hit back with a vengeance that belied their earlier performance.

Greenhalgh said, "They were like a different team immediately after the interval, within ten minutes they had pulled two goals back. One came of a corner that a Troed player headed towards the net and which came off Dean Taylor's hand, and the other came five minutes later from a free-kick.

"In retrospect I think it was lucky that Taylor's attempt to clear the ball with his hand failed, because if it didn't, not only would Troedyrhiw have had a penalty, but Taylor would have been sent off, and to be honest after conceding two goals in such a short space of time, we needed every available man to deal with the very physical pressure that our opposite numbers were exerting."

Goytre nearly made the game safe in the last 20 minutes through Mason, but a cracking save by the Troed keeper just tipped his effort over the bar.

A dramatic game called for a dramatic ending, and with five minutes remaining both Troedyrhiw and Goytre had a player each sent off for misconduct.

Greenhalgh added, "Kevin Wallace was sent off for after receiving his second yellow card, but to be honest we all feel it was a case of mistaken identity. Everyone was in the box waiting for a Troed corner to be taken, and there was a lot of pushing and shoving, but it seemed to me Wallace was the guy trying to calm everyone down, but unfortunately the ref deemed otherwise.

"That aside we were glad overall to have successfully defended the lead we established in the first-half, and will now turn our attention to securing a result in our game against Pontyclun at Plough Road this Saturday." (Kick-off-2pm.)