Canton Rangers 4-1 Barry Athletic: Gbadegesin nets brace as Rangers in control against Barry

Canton Rangers swept aside Barry Athletic to top the round-robin group in their final play-off match of the week.

The Cardiff & District League side bounced back from their 1-0 defeat to Tata Steel United to put themselves in with a chance of promotion.

Canton Rangers had three penalties in the first-half with Ope Gbadegesin scoring two and missing one. His first was canceled out by Teejay Caton but Jake Burnell furthered the Cardiff’s side lead. Oisin Murphy made sure of the victory in the second half. Barry’s Kyle Caton was also shown a red card.

In the first real chance of the game, a penalty was awarded after Toby Dalton caught a rushing Ope Gbadegesin.

Gbadegesin who missed a penalty against Tata Steel on Tuesday stepped up and scored from the spot as his penalty sent Dalton the wrong way, clipping in off the post. 

Barry fired an immediate response. James Corrigan beat his man and swept a cross into the box to Teejay Caton to slide home. 

Caton’s goal was undone almost immediately though as Canton were awarded another penalty. Bobby Brown was penalised for a handball after Gbadegesin took it into the box. 

The Canton forward opted to go the other way to his first penalty and put it into the top corner of the goal. 

Barry who last played a league game at the end of April were struggling to deal with the match freshness of Rangers, who had played Tuesday. They were failing to maintain possession for even a short period. 

Tang Xiaoyung went close with a header after Oisin Murphy’s delicate ball fell on to the head of the midfielder. 

Canton did double their lead a minute later. The Barry defence stood off Jake Burnell who lobbed Toby Dalton with from an acute angle with the goal of the game.

Burnell was in search of his second goal just over the half hour as he benefited from an advantage to strike at Dalton but the Barry keeper tipped over the bar.

Gbadegesin was presented with a chance for his hat-trick when he earned a third penalty, this time a foul. Toby Dalton denied him from the spot as he guessed the right way and Oisin Murphy’s rebounded effort was thundered onto the post. 

In the last action of the half, Gbadegesin almost scored in open play as he tried to slide an effort past Dalton, who blocked with his legs.

As Barry made a double sub at the break, they started the second half brightly, Teejay Caton sent a shot just wide of Burns’ goal.

However that was undone very quickly as Toby Dalton conceded a poor goal. A long ball over the top saw Oisin Murphy challenge Dalton and the Rangers man came out on top to tap home into an open goal.

Teejay Caton kept Alan Burns alert with a strike from distance but were failing to put any trouble onto Burns’ goal otherwise. 

As the tempo slowed down, frustrations got the better of substitute Harry Carter. He was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Murphy. 

Dalton saved Kane Tullett’s attempted lob as the game approached stoppage time as he tried to save face for Barry’s next fixture. 

The Cardiff side were unchallenged in the final few minutes and rode out comfortable winners in the end.

Canton now face an anxious wait as they hope for a narrow Barry Athletic victory over Tata Steel United. If Tata Steel United defeat Barry then they will be promoted and Canton will then play Ynysbwl at Penybont on Monday.

Canton Rangers: Burns, Charles, Crudge, Hogan, Millar, Murphy, Xiaoyun (Austin 64) Tullett, Burnell (Cunningham 64), Gbadegesin, Lee (Taylor 78)

Barry Athletic: T.Dalton, Brody-Miles, Brown (Davies 45), Caulfield (Carter 45), Williams, Andrews, Corrigan, Montgomery (K.Caton 73), T.Caton, Oate (Stedling 67), Thompson