Cymru Premier

 
 

Haverfordwest County 1 – Barry Town United 1

 
Haverfordwest County surrendered the lead and had to be content with a draw against Barry Town United on a wet Tuesday night at the Bridge Meadow Stadium.

 After the 6-0 drubbing at The New Saints on Saturday, this was an excellent response by the Bluebirds who battled hard for each other to gain a satisfactory point.

Man of the match Kyle Patten gave the hosts the lead shortly after the break, but Gavin Chesterfield’s Linnets equalised midway through the second period, a fortuitous goal credited to Kayne McLaggon.
 

Bright start

The hosts got off to a bright start when Kieran Lewis glancing header from Jazz Richards’ cross was well saved by keeper Mike Lewis.

Lewis also featured as he almost put Jack Wilson through and then his smashing square ball into the danger zone failed to find the simple touch needed.

But Barry served notice of intent at the other end as McLaggon forced a good save from the recalled Lee Idzi midway through the first period and Rhys Abbruzzese skied an edge of the box free kick which didn’t trouble  Idz at all.

In the 33^rd minute Alhagi Touray Sisay’s low shot from an acute angle after he did well to brush off a challenge was saved by Michael Lewis and although the hosts edged the first period in terms of possession and chances it remained 0-0 at half time.
 

Bluebirds opened scoring

Wayne Jones’ men finally broke the deadlock in the 48^th minute as Jack Wilson’s long throw into the box caused mayhem, and from a lengthy melee the ball finally fell kindly to Patten, who struck a low shot which somehow beat Lewis at his near post.

But The Bluebirds almost conceded their lead from the kick off but a superb sliding block by the excellent Alaric Jones on Rhys Kavanagh saved the day - and in the 59^th minute Idzi pulled off a good save at full stretch to deny the dangerous Kavanagh again.

On the hour mark teenager Iori Humphries replaced Kieran Lewis in midfield for the battling Bluebirds and gained more experience as part of a very young bench..



 

McLaggon levels matters

Poor defending by the hosts allowed the visitors to equalise in the 69^th minute. The Bluebirds conceded a free kick just outside the bax on the left side and a free kick whipped  into the box wasn’t dealt with and it allowed the unmarked McLaggon who toe-poked home from amongst a pile of bodies.

Lewis pulled off a brave block to deny Wilson from close range, whilst at the other end substitute Marcus Day who just replaced Theo Wharton, curled a wicked effort just past the right-hand post.

Day was aslo just off target with a similar effort against a tired home defence in which Patten, Jones, Jazz Richards and especially Watts battle hard - and the tired midfield never gave up as manager Wayne Jones was rightly reluctant to introduce other raw teenagers from his substitutes at such a key time.

There were no further scares as both teams had to settle for a point, which was a fair result on a wet Tuesday night.

Haverfordwest County manager Wayne Jones:

“I can’t fault the boys’ efforts, after Saturday’s poor result at TNS, and I felt we reacted in a positive manner to pick up a draw against Barry tonight.

“I was happy to see Kyle (Patten) score his first goal for the club, but a little disappointed we didn’t keep a clean sheet and take all the points on offer.”
 
Haverfordwest County: L. Idzi, J. Richards, E. Scotcher (Captain), A. Jones, R. Watts, B. Fawcett, J. Wilson, K. Rees, A. Touray Sisay, K. Lewis (62, I. Humphreys), K. Patten.
Substitutes not used: W. Gajda, K. King, A. Hillier-Wood, L. Davies.

Barry Town United: M. Lewis, R. Patten, K. McLaggon, J. Cotterill, R. Kavanagh, T. Wharton (76, M. Day), C. McDonald, R. Abbruzzese, A. Davies (81, L Cummings), C. Green, E. Press.
Substitutes not used: K. Absalom, N. Jarvis, L. Cooper.
 
Referee: Ben Williams.
Assistants: Jonathan Davis & Cilan Thomas.
Fourth Official: Jordan Harman.