It was to prove another mixed weekend for Presteigne St Andrews FC as, while the Reserves returned from their enforced lay-off with an away win, the first team was well beaten at Llanandras Park.
Shaun Harris and his side would have gone into the game well aware of visitors Llansantffraid Village’s impressive record in the Spar League so far this season.
Of their opening 11 games, the Villagers had won 9 and drawn 2, so this was always likely to be something of a test.
Llansantffraid lead 1-0 at half-time but were then to stretch away in the second half to close out what was ultimately a comfortable 5-0 victory.
Despite the margin of defeat, my scouts tell me there were periods in which the first team played some nice stuff, knocking the ball around well and stringing passes together.
But they were to seldom trouble the visiting goalkeeper and Llansantffraid looked fairly comfortable all afternoon – and certainly in the second half.
So, while Shaun will no doubt feel there are always lessons to be learned from any game, it will be a case of putting that one behind them quickly and preparing for the visit of Talgarth Town to Llanandras Park on Saturday, 20 January.
As for the Reserves, this was to prove a much better day as they came away from Brecon Northcote with a 1-0 victory in their Mid Wales League (South) fixture.
Joint-manager Mark Weiland kindly sent through this report on the day’s action from his perspective:
“We started the game very well and Tom Lewis had a great chance to put us ahead from a Josh Gardiner cross but put it wide.
“We created a few half-chances but lacked a little bit of quality in the final third while we also had a number of corners in the 1st half with Liam Tomkins going close with a header.
“In the second half, we started slowly and Simon Hamer pulled of a good save from a shot from the edge of the box.
“Half way through the second period, the ball fell to Jordan McQueen 30 yards out whose shot dipped over the goalkeeper – it was a great strike.
“We had a few chances to kill off the game with new signing Jamie Blythe going close from two free kicks.
“Brecon had a few corners towards the end but we were solid at the back all game and that save from Simon early in the first half helped ensure we were able to see out the game.
“Jamie Blythe played well in his first game back and Louis Gilpin and Sam Roberts made there debuts after turning 16 recently.
“It was a great team performance, especially as we hadn’t played for a month.
“It’s a great start to the year and hopefully we can go on another good run and finish as high in the league as we possibly can.”
It will be a trip to St Harmon next for the Reserves – they will head to the Swifts on Saturday, 20 January.