Goytre -4
Llantwit Fardre -2
IN a classy opening display of quality football which saw them go 2-0 up in the space of 15 minutes, Goytre made it three wins on the bounce with Saturday's victory over Llantwit Fardre
A jubilant club chairman Paul Greehalgh told the Chronicle, "With a trio of wins on the trot under our belt, confidence in the club couldn't be higher. We're now sitting fifth in the table and determined to climb higher.
"Llantwit Fardre may be second from bottom at the moment, but there a big side and gave us a good run for our money on the day. However, we're definitely on form at the minute and I think the final result reflected that."
The Plough Road outfit opened their account in under ten minutes when Craig Joliffe's goalbound shot was deliberately hand-balled off the line by a Fardre player. And although the player in question wasn't red carded, the resulting penalty was gratefully smashed in by Chris Watkins.
The Goytre made it 2-0 five minutes later when some deft interplay between Graham Mason and Adam Roberts, allowed Roberts space within the penalty area to unleash a shot over the keeper into the top corner of the net."
A jubilant Greenhalgh added, "It was a great start, but after the second goal Llantwit changed tactics and started to play the long ball game which pretty much neutralised our midfield pair of Joliffe and Carl Evans who had been winning the battle up until then."
Fardre's more direct approach paid dividends and when their captain was fouled about 30 yards out, the resulting free kick which was initially parried by Goytre keeper Gareth Williams, was hit in on the rebound to an awaiting empty net to make it 2-1 going into the interval.
Greenhalgh said, "The second-half started much as the first finished. They were using their big players to their advantage and throwing everything at us, but thankfully our defence of Andy Walsh and Dean Taylor won most of the aerial contest."
Goytre weathered the storm and when Jock Houston chipped in with Goytre's third, the Plough Rd team started to coast thinking the game was in the bag.
Yet disaster struck ten minutes before time when Goytre played offside and much to their amazement the ref allowed a Fardre player to race through and make it 3-2.
"We couldn't believe it!" revealed Greenhalgh, "That goal was blatantly offside but the ref let it stand, and you've got to play the whistle. Needless to say it made for a jittery end to the game."
Shoving everyone upfront, Llantwit attacked like their life's depended upon it and forced a sprinkling of corners.
From one such corner came Goytre's salvation as Chris Pritchard came away with the ball and put it long for Jock Houston to race the length of the field.
The Fardre keeper came running head-on to meet Houston - who won the ball, only to be cynically pulled down by the keeper.
The keeper was sent off, a penalty was awarded and clinically put away by Chris Watkins to make it game over and lights out.
Greenhalgh explained, "I must say that last penalty decision seemed a bit dubious to me, as Houston seemed to be taken down just outside the box. But We're not about to complain that's for sure. And in retrospect it evens out the blatant offside ruling that led to the previous Llantwit goal. "
Goytre will look to ride their wave of good form this Saturday when they face Troedyrhiw away.