Principality Welsh Premier League

Saturday, 20th March 2010

at The GenQuip Stadium

Port Talbot Town 4-0 Caersws

Goalscorers

Port Talbot Town

Liam McCreesh (7)

Matthew Rees (40)

Martin Rose (41), (48)

Caersws

None

Referee - Mr Ceri Richards

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Port Talbot Town

Team - Lee Kendall, Leigh De-Vulgt, Lloyd Grist, Gareth Phillips, Matthew Rees, Lee Surman, Lee John, Neil Thomas, Martin Rose, Liam McCreesh, Scott Barrow

Subs - Daniel Thomas (rep John - 69), Nicky Holland (rep McCreesh - 66), Drew Fahiya (rep Barrow - 69)

Yellow Cards - None Red Cards - None

Goalscorers - Liam McCreesh (7), Matthew Rees (40), Martin Rose (41), (48)

Caersws

Team - David Jones, Steve Rowland, Matthew Holt, Phil Jones, Hugh Clarke, Graham Jones, Lee Jenkins, Andy Davies, Matthew Prosser, Jacob Smith, Geraint Lewis

Subs - Scott Williams (rep Smith - 46), Simon Jones (rep Jones - 66), Corey Jenkins (rep Clarke - 66)

Yellow Cards - None Red Cards - None

Goalscorers - None

Attendance - 163

Referee - Mr Ceri Richards

Liam McCreesh returned to the starting line-up after a five match suspension and marked his return with a goal inside the opening seven minutes of the match. Daniel Thomas also returned after a two match suspension and was named on the bench. Port Talbot started the match brightly with their pace in attack causing problems for the Caersws defence from the kick off and after seven minutes McCreesh ran onto a ball over the top from Lee John and made no mistake with a fine strike to open the scoring. Port Talbot continued to push forward with Caersws rarely troubling the home defence as the visitors were restricted to a couple of long range efforts that caused few problems for goalkeeper Lee Kendall. On 40 minutes Port Talbot doubled their lead as Matthew Rees capitalised on a scramble in the area to score his sides second goal of the game. The goal rattled Caersws and almost immediately from the restart Martin Rose picked up the ball in midfield and ran past the visitors defence before slotting the ball past the keeper. Port Talbot starred the second half in a similar way and after 48 minutes Rose scored his second goal of the game from close range. Both sides made changes midway through the second half as the game slowed down although Leigh De-Vulgt came close to extending his sides lead when his free-kick his the crossbar. There was concern for Port Talbot Town manager Mark Jones as McCreesh limped off to be replaced by Nicky Holland but with the points already assured neither side offered much in the last twenty minutes of the match.

22d March 2010 - Western Mail

Liam McCreesh returns to lift Port Talbot to victory

The return of Liam McCreesh from a five-match ban helped fire Port Talbot to their first league win in five matches. Two points from their previous four matches had threatened to seriously undo the hope of a first top-three finish, but manager Mark Jones has still set this as his ultimate goal. “Every side has a blip during the season,” said Jones. “But we had drawn two really tough matches at Airbus and Newtown going into this match so it has not been disastrous. But we did need to win this one and we won well against a Caersws side who have become really difficult to beat lately. Liam scored a special goal today and had a hand in some of the other goals. We have missed him, but I hope he has learned from this experience as we need our best players on the field. Aberystwyth, who are third, have to finish their season with games against The New Saints, Rhyl and Llanelli, while we have played all the top teams twice. Hopefully, that will stand us in good stead over the course of the run-in So we will keep plugging away, although there is no margin for error now with seven matches left, but that’s still a lot of football.” McCreesh celebrated his return in impressive style in the eighth minute. Lee John chipped a neat ball over the top and the returnee thumped a glorious left-foot volley past the helpless Dave Jones. Matthew Rees added the second with five minutes of the first half remaining. The goal came after Scott Barrow’s low, firmly-hit cross found the defender five yards out after the visitors failed to clear a corner. Martin Rose, benefited from a neat one-two with McCreesh to hammer in the third a minute from the break and McCreesh was again the supplier as Rose made it 4-0 four minutes after the break. Caersws manager Mickey Evans reflected on the defeat. “It has been a difficult season for us, very difficult, but, no excuses, we were well beaten today.” he said.