Presteigne St Andrews FC’s Spar Mid Wales League game at home to Dyffryn Banw on Saturday, 18 February ended in a 1-1 draw.
Banw arrived at Llanandras Park on a good run of form in February after wins over Newbridge-on-Wye and Abermule and so Presteigne boss Tom Ammonds knew his side could face a tough afternoon.
You can click here or on the image at the top of this story to watch a brief video of Tom’s thoughts on the game – this includes footage of the Dyffryn Banw penalty.
A goal-less first half was a fairly even affair and things brightened up for the home side after the break when Kieran Lusher put Presteigne ahead around 10 minutes into the second period.
But Dyffryn Banw were creating chances – lots of them – and Presteigne needed to stand firm.
It appeared as though they were going to do just that as a combination of last-ditch defending and profligate finishing from the visitors continued into the dying stages of the game.
Anthony Vernalls was red-carded for Presteigne for bringing down a Dyffryn Banw player when ‘Rambo’ was the last defender and Presteigne were going to have to dig deep as they headed into injury time.
Just when it appeared as though they were going to hold out, a Dyffyn Banw player broke into the penalty area and seemed to being forced wide, but Matt Strangwood’s challenge on him saw the player going down and the referee pointing to the spot.
To be fair to the referee, it looked a perfectly fair decision and there weren’t too many objections from the Presteigne players.
Dyffryn Banw’s penalty-taker struck it well and low to Simon Hamer’s left, but the Presteigne ‘keeper almost got to the ball but was just unable to prevent the equaliser.
On the balance of play, Presteigne could have few complaints as Dyffryn Banw created enough chances to win at least three matches – a point made to me after the game by one of the visiting players – and it was hard to disagree with him.
But, a point is a point and Four Crosses’ 4-0 defeat in their match at leaders Kerry means Presteigne climbed out of the bottom two in the table.