Presteigne Reserves had to come from behind to maintain their Mid Wales League (South) winning streak as they dug in to see off visiting Talgarth Town Reserves 2-1 at Llanandras Park on Saturday, 23 February.
Reserve-team boss Mark Weiland felt his side had had all the possession in the opening 20 minutes of the game but admitted they created precious little with it.
Mark did have one effort come back off the cross bar following a corner, while Alan Stocker had a shot deflected wide by a good block from a visiting defender.
Then, on the 20-minute mark came an incident that could have proved a game-changer when Danny Williams received a straight red card for an alleged stamp on a Talgarth player.
‘Weedo’ was pleading the ‘Arsene Wenger defence’ in that he didn’t see the incident, but admitted this then led to ‘a crazy spell’ as the side had to readjust with the manager himself dropping back to the right side of midfield and Spencer Napolitano filling in at right back.
The key thing at this point was to get through to half-time unscathed as they would then have the chance to regroup and this was achieved with few alarms.
The second half started brightly with the Ressies in a positive frame of mind, but it was Talgarth Town Reserves who were to draw first blood.
A long through ball led to something of a breakdown in communication at the heart of the Presteigne Reserves’ defence allowing a visiting striker to nip in for the opening goal of the game.
Given they were down to 10 men, it would have been easy for Presteigne heads to drop at this stage, but to their credit they rallied and got themselves back into the game.
Countless crosses went begging in the second half – some were over-hit and others lacked the necessary accuracy, but the home side stuck at it and were level midway through the half when Alan Stocker pounced to drive home the equaliser.
The Ressies went in search of the winning goal, but it looked as though it might come as the clock ticked over to the 85-minute mark, but the home side was to take the three points when Spencer Napolitano’s fierce cross-shot took a deflection that wrong-footed the visting keeper to secure the 2-1 victory.
So, it is now five wins on the trot for the Reserves who last tasted defeat on 15 December when they went down at Bucknell – manager Mark Weiland was delighted with the players’ commitment in this one.
“We were good value for it as we had the vast majority of the possession and after we scored what proved to be the winner we held out comfortably for the victory,” he said.
“We didn’t play as well as we did in the Penybont game last week, but if you can not play at your best and still win, then you will take that any day of the week.
“That is five wins on the bounce now and it is Knighton Town Reserves away next week – so bring it on!”