Presteigne St Andrews Under 18s rounded off their HFA Floodlit Youth League season in a disappointing fashion when they were beaten 3-2 by Hinton at Llanandras Park.
Of more concern than the result will be an injury to striker Nick Evans who was forced off after only five minutes due to a groin injury – an injury that will clearly be closely monitored by first-team manager Tim Broome.
Under 18s manager Trevor Gummer admitted it had been a scrappy game but he was disappointed by the overall attitude of the squad in what was – for several of them – their final game.
“It was a scrappy game and the uneven bounce didn’t help either side although we did create far more chances than them in the first half,” he said.
“But there is no doubt that Hinton were really up for it – they wanted it more than we did which was a shame as some of our lads were playing for the side for the last time,” he added.
Presteigne had a half-time lead courtesy of Connor Bird’s goal that came after about 25 minutes when Jack Baker got free out wide and then picked out Connor with his cross.
Hinton levelled on the hour mark with a scrappy goal after Joe Prosser had made a couple of initial saves, and the visitors then went in front in controversial fashion.
Jack Baker was adjudged – harshly in the view of many – to have fouled a Hinton player in the area and the visitors were awarded a penalty.
Joe Prosser, though, saved the kick at the expense of a corner – when this was crossed in, Danny Ives then conceded a free kick from which Hinton scored their second goal.
10 minutes from time Presteigne were back on level terms – a good passing move ended with Josh Watson laying the ball into the path of Callum Matthews who smashed it home for the equaliser.
The winning goal came two minutes into stoppage time – Presteigne failed to clear a Hinton corner and this allowed a visiting player to get in a header that looped over Joe Prosser and into the net for 3-2.
An 11-man charge up the field by Presteigne in the dying seconds failed to produce an equaliser and so the Under 18s ended the season on a losing note, much to the disappointment of the managerial team.
More details and – hopefully – a picture or two will be up on the Under 18s page at some stage tomorrow.