Goytre - 1
Newport Civil Service -1
GOYTRE'S run of poor home form this season continued on Saturday after their no-thrills encounter against Newport Civil Service ended with a dispiriting 1-1 draw.
And the Plough Road chairman Paul Greenhalgh has his own personal take on why Goytre have lost only two away games to date this season, yet have seen their outside chance of promotion from Welsh League Division Three slip away because of their failure to bang out the necessary results on their own turf.
"I think our poor showing at home is down to the superb quality of our pitch," mused Greenhalgh. "It may sound daft, but we have a great ground that has had a lot of work invested in it, to the point that when many teams visit they really raise their game because of the way Plough Rd lends itself to the playing of quality football."
As if to prove Greenhalgh's point in earnest, the Service opened their account after only ten minutes when player/manager Ben Burroughs scored with a shot into the corner of the Goytre goal.
For the rest of the half, the Civil opted for the long-ball game that completely nullified the midfield strengths of Goytre.
The only other cut and dry chance of the half fell to Burroughs, who fortunately for the home team hit the bar this time around.
Greenhalgh told the Chronicle, "The first 45 minutes was hardly a period of end-to-end action. No team was really creating and it was a scrappy old affair.
"However, the manager Ian Rosser shuffled it about a bit during the interval and took Mike Dewar off and replaced him with Craig Joliffe, who did make a difference with his power, pace, and lovely control of the ball."
Jollife started to create chances for Goytre in the second-half, and one forced corner that he curled into the box was just headed over the bar by team-mate Ryan Andrews.
15 minutes from time Jollife was instrumental in Goytre's equaliser, when his telling pass found Lee Grimes who beat the advancing keeper to score.
After that goal, pretty much nothing of note occurred for the remainder of the game, as both teams seemed to settle for the draw and a point apiece.
Greenhalgh added, "It wasn't a particular memorable match but at least we salvaged a point.
"We've not had the best of times of it at home this season, but overall we're in a comfortable position in the league. We've played 23 games to date and have 11 remaining. It's now up to us to improve on our home form, whilst maintaining our away form, and hammer out a result from each of those 11 games, starting with Llantwit Fardre away this Saturday."