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19th November 2007 - Western Mail
Match Report
Caretaker manager Paul Reid ended his two-match spell in charge of Port Talbot with a 100 per cent record, the winner coming a minute from time. Today, Reid steps down as chairman Andrew Edwards announces the new appointment, although he is expected to remain at the Remax Stadium. Martin Rose gave the Steelmen a 29th-minute lead from the spot after he was hauled down in the box, but a scrambled Stuart White goal earned Nomads a 70th-minute leveller. With the clock ticking down, Port Talbot hailed a new hero, Sam Baker, who fired his side to victory in the 89th minute. Given his opportunity as a sub last week, 16-year-old Baker made his first start and rewarded Reid’s faith in him.
18th November 2007 - Connah’s Quay Official Website
Match Report
At a very cold, wet and windy Remax stadium, the small crowd were entertained by two evenly matched teams determined to get the ball down and play football, despite a strong wind blowing from one end of the pitch to the other for the whole game. With periods of neat football from both teams, they pretty much cancelled each other out in the first half. Nomads started the game with the strong wind at their backs. With the ball running away from them, atempts at long passes ended in a goal kick for Port Talbot, or in the hands of their keeper. By contrast, the ball was holding up nicely for Port Talbot, but stout Nomads defending limited them to a couple of half chances. In the 39th minute, Port went ahead with a penalty that was driven just inside the upright and though he guessed the right way, Paul Pritchard had no chance of saving this one. Undoubtedly the Port Talbot forward played for the penalty, but the Referee would have been hard pushed not to give it. At half time, one goal separated the sides after a half of few chances. Playing into the face of the wind, after 10 minutes of the second half, Nomads began to take control and play the better football. It was no surprise when after a period of increasing pressure, a cross from the Nomads right was headed down side ways by Stuart Cooke into the path of the on-rushing Stewart White. He blasted a low volley from 7 yds firmly into the net, leaving the Port Talbot keeper stationary. Port Talbot were stung into action and upped their game several gears and for most of the last 15 min's dominated the game. Nomads started to defend deeper for fear of conceding a breakaway goal and the last 15 min's, saw some desperate Nomads defending. Paul Pritchard made 3 great saves and Nomads defenders cleared the ball off the goal-line from a succession of Port Talbot corners, on more than one occasion. Several times, Nomads broke clear and won corners and with 5 min's to go, Chris Williams had a good chance to put Nomads ahead with a free header. Unfortunatly, his effort flashed well wide of the post. With 4 min's of injury time announced, it looked like Nomads had a well deserved point, but it was not to be. With what must have been Port Talbots 8th or 9th corner in the last 15 min's, a Nomads clearance was hammered in from the penalty spot through a ruck of Nomads defenders, for the winning goal. Even then Nomads forced their way upfield and got several corners in search of an equaliser, but all to no avail. It would be difficult to pick out a star performer for Nomads, because the whole team undoubtedly redeemed themselves after last weeks debacle. Supported by a small but vociferous band of Nomads supporters, nobody had a bad game and every single Nomads player worked their socks off for the whole 94 minutes. On the balance of play, Port Talbot just about deserved their win, but I wouldn't blame the Nomads players for feeling hard done by, given the cruel ending. The consolation is, that if they continue to play as well as this for the rest of the season, we will win at least as often as we lose.
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