Presteigne St Andrews FC suffered bitter disappointment in their derby game against Knighton Town on Saturday, 31 December when they went down 4-3 at Llanandras Park.
While the quality of football was not great from either side, partly due to a wet pitch, it was never dull as Alan Stocker netted twice in the first half, with Knighton also finding the target in between times.
To be fair to Knighton, (I know, that expression doesn’t trip readily from the lips!), Stocker’s second goal had more than a hint of offside about it as he finished from close range following Callum Matthews’ header back across the face of goal.
This led to Lee Sutton having a full and frank discussion on the finer points of the offside law with the Knighton linesman – ‘Sooty’ was probably right in this instance as the linesman was well behind the play.
At 2-1 up at half-time, Presteigne were looking good – they had more than played their part in the first half and had taken their chances well, but you always felt they would have to start the second period well if they were to press home the advantage.
Credit to Knighton, they were out early for the second half and clearly meant business with Lee Sutton hammering home an equaliser as Presteigne were forced to defend deep for long periods.
When Knighton went 3-2 up – Trevor Gummer in goal admitted he should have done better – it was looking bleak for the home side.
Bbut there was to be no keeping ‘Sooty’ out of the headlines in this one as he then tugged back Callum Matthews inside the area as Presteigne were awarded a penalty – ‘Sooty’ escaped with a yellow card as presumably referee Chris Bodenham felt there was at least one Knighton defender covering behind him.
Danny Evans – on as a substitute – took the responsibility from 12 yards but his heart would have been in his mouth as Knighton keeper Joe Prosser got down well to make the save, only for the ball to then spin out of his grasp and over the line as Presteigne squared the game at 3-3.
The home side was good value for a point until deep into stoppage time when a speculative Ollie Richards shot squirmed underneath the diving Trevor Gummer to earn Knighton all three points.
Even the most diehard Knighton fan would have to admit their side was fortunate to take all three points from this one, but fair play to Trevor Gummer for admitting two of the goals were down to him and this ultimately cost his side dear.
The quality of football was not great, but it was never dull and on another day Presteigne might easily have taken a point from the match – they should have done today.
A word for referee Chris Bodenham who is not to everyone’s taste (said he diplomatically), but I felt he got the majority of the big decisions right in this one.
Note to the Knighton supporter by the dug outs in the first half who was giving the official dog’s abuse for booking the visitors’ left back for bringing down Ioan Hughes from behind. Go and read the laws of the game as you clearly don’t know them…
Rant over – Presteigne need a change of fortune and they also need to work on their fitness as they were clearly found out on a heavy pitch as a number of players faded badly in the last 20 minutes.