Second-half fightback showed Caerau Ely spirit says Sampson
Caerau Ely boss Craig Sampson says sides second-half performance epitomised the clubs ethos.
The Cardiff West side battled in a ten-goal thriller with Cardiff South club STM Sports in a game which had huge importance for both.
Caerau Ely were chasing promotion to Division Two, whilst STM Sports needed a victory for promotion.
Having trailed by a goal at the end of the first half, where five goals were scored, Caerau Ely fought back from the 60th minute when they were trailing 4-2.
A spirited fightback from the hosts almost saw them take victory before a 96th minute equaliser from Lamin Conteh denied them.
The Young Guns manager said: “We showed exactly what we’re about and what this club is about, and what the people around this club are about: good, honest, hardworking people, and when you put that group of people together, things can happen for you and it did tonight.
“Our boys showed great fighting spirit, with a lot of youngsters, and it was an enjoyable game to be part of.
“We dug deep, especially in the first half, defending numerous set pieces, under the cosh at times and I said to the lads we were lucky to be in the game at half time.”
Winning goalscorer from Saturday’s game Josh Spencer could only be named on the substitutes bench whilst Hywel Davies made his senior debut for the club.
Davies a day later earned success in a Youth Cup final with the club, playing two games in two days.
“With it being a midweek game, we had a game on Saturday and had a few lads who were struggling, so there was a bit of a plan on when to introduce certain personnel, and it was great to get a youth team player, a 16 year old coming on, which changed the game for us.”
“I’d love to take the credit for the substitution but it was more down to my assistant, it was really good to get the youngsters on.”
Opponents STM Sports have already wrapped up promotion on the pitch and Sampson was positive of Dale Gardiner’s men, highlighting their quality.
STM Sports ended up scoring over a century of goals in a season where they have blown away a number of sides.
Caerau though kept their sturdiness about them, remaining the season with just two home League defeats all season.
“It was challenging at times, you’ve got to respect their quality, and some of the quality they had on show tonight showed they’ve clearly got players who can play at a much higher level.
“We had to contain that the best we could, and we dug deep, especially in the first half, defending numerous set pieces, under the cosh at times and I said to the lads we were lucky to be in the game at half time.”
(Featured Image: Mike James)
