Presteigne Reserves looked decidedly below par as they went down 1-0 at home to Knighton Town in their final Mid Wales League (South) match of the season at Llanandras Park.
In a game played in sweltering conditions Presteigne never truly looked like hitting the kind of form of which they are capable but this is to take nothing away from a Knighton side that was pretty much unrecognisable from the previous week when they had lost 4-1 at home to CP Llanandras.
Presteigne created a couple of good chances in the first half both of which fell to Jack Bowen but the luck was against him – first when he won a foot race against a Knighton defender and lobbed the advancing Joe Prosser in the Knighton goal only for the ball to bounce inside the six-yard area and over the cross bar.
Then Jack rounded off a decent Presteigne move with a good header that looked goalbound but he was denied by a back-peddling Joe Prosser who did well to tip it over for a corner.
Danny Ives did well with a driving run down the left that resulted in his flashing a cross right across the face of the Knighton goal but nobody could apply the finishing touch.
But it wasn’t all one-way traffic as Knighton forced a number of first-half corners and enjoyed their fair share of possession, while Trevor Gummer had to get down quickly to his left to push an effort around the post.
Knighton kept up the momentum after the break while again Barry’s side didn’t ever seriously threaten Prosser in the visitors’ goal.
The only goal of the game came when Presteigne failed to clear a Knighton corner and Stuart Jarvis fired home through a crowd of players.
Presteigne’s best effort probably came from a well-taken corner that drifted right across the face of goal but again there was nobody there to apply the finishing touch.
Knighton deserved their win – they were the better side on the day and the Reserves could have few complaints.
There will be a full report up on the site when Barry has calmed down a bit(!) and sent me the details.