7th October 2007
Port Talbot edge seven goal thriller
An injury in the warm-up to striker Ben James forced manager Keith Hanford to change his side before this opening home league match as Stephen Sheehy was brought into the starting line-up to play upfront with Sam Baker. Port Talbot then got off to the worst possible start when Cwmamman Institute scored within the first minute of the match with a superb strike from long range. It wasn’t long before Port Talbot were back in the game however as Aaron Jones equalised from close range after just two minutes of the re-start. Port Talbot pressured the visitors defence with Sam Baker a constant threat with his strong runs while Rory Healey created and tackled hard in the midfield. On 24 minutes Cwmamman were back in front against the run of play when they were awarded a penalty but Port Talbot hit straight back with another equaliser from Sheehy on 25 minutes. Sam Baker found himself through on goal minutes later but was adjudged offside before an identical run immediately after was better timed and he made no mistake with a well taken goal to give his side the lead at half-time. Port Talbot came out just as strong in the second half and extended the advantage on 60 minutes when Rory Healey scored the goal of the game as he drilled the ball past the opposition goalkeeper and the game appeared to be safe. Cwmamman did not let their heads drop however and continued to push forward and were rewarded on 88 minutes when they scored another goal to make it 4-3. Frustrations for both sides started to grow in the last few minutes and as Sam Baker shielded the ball in the corner he was fouled and retaliated to the tackle to receive a straight red card. Despite being down to ten men and losing their physical presence in attack Port Talbot held on to take maximum points from a well deserved victory.