Presteigne St Andrews FC exited the Radnorshire Cup at the first time of asking, but not before they have a good account of themselves in going down 2-1 in their first-round tie at Llanidloes Town on Tuesday, 23 September.
While it’s always difficult to know just what sort of a side you are likely to face in the competition, due to the ‘localness’ rules on the players who can be selected, it was always likely to be a tough test at Llanidloes.
The home side took a first-half lead and things were not looking good when in-form striker Callum Matthews was forced out of the action due to injury after only 10 minutes.
But it was his replacement, player-manager Jamie Allen, who was to come up with Presteigne’s equaliser when he finished off a good passing move by keeping his calm with a one-on-one with the keeper.
1-1 at half-time, and Presteigne were to create a number of good chances, including a speculative shot from around half-way that almost caught out the home-team defence, while Tom Watkins was to hit the woodwork.
There were two efforts kicked off the line while other chances went begging, but it was the home side that was to take the chance that mattered when they scored what proved to be the winner with a looping header around 10 minutes from time.
Everyone agreed that – after the FAW Trophy performance at Bow Street on Saturday – things had to improve and they certainly did with a much better all round performance.
Hopefully this will serve to engender some confidence in the squad ahead of the Spar Mid Wales, second-division trip to Abermule on Saturday, 27 September.