Haverfordwest County battled hard to earn a point from Cardiff Metropolitan in an entertaining goalless draw.
The Bluebirds, playing their first game of the season after Saturday’s opponent, had to weather a number of Met attacks, but held their own as they made their top-flight return.
Both sides had their opportunities to break the deadlock but neither could fully show that cutting edge to claim the victory.
From the draw, the Archers move to second ahead of Sunday’s game with The New Saints.
Danny Williams, who was making his first competitive appearance since returning to Met, had the games first meaningful chance.
Marcus Griffiths’ laid the ball across to him and he hit a snapshot at Alex Lang, who dived down to save.
An early penalty appeal from the Met was waved away as Eliot Evans fell under the challenge.
Up the other end, an acrobatic effort from Ben Fawcett wasn’t far wide as the ball glided past the post.
Haverfordwest were having some half opportunities as their attackers began with low shots at Lang’s goal.
Momentum was going back and forth between the two sides with both playing at a high intensity.
With passions high, another penalty appeal was waved away from the referee as Charlie Corsby fell in the box.
A big chance was presented for Bristol Rovers loanee Harry Warwick but in a one-on-one, goalkeeper Steve Hall came out on top after blocking Warwick’s deft flick.
In a split second, Haverfordwest had their own opportunity as Marcus Griffiths dragged his shot in his own on-one with the Met keeper.
Both sides had their opportunities to open the scoring in the first-half and the tempo of the fixture highlighted the willingness to compete.
Remerging for the second-half, both sides continued with the same intensity of the first.
Met however were hitting Haverfordwest with a wave of attacks, forcing the Bluebirds defence into their duties to clear Met’s challenging balls.
Chris Baker had the best opportunity of the match as he headed the ball onto the crossbar after meeting Evans’ delicious cross.
Baker’s header highlighted the hard work the visitors were doing to preserve their clean sheet.
New man Ollie Hulbert – with two goals on the weekend – almost added a third to his Met account but his cross-cum-shot glanced across goal.
After Corey Shephard and Jack Wilson were introduced on the hour mark, the game changed slightly.
Wayne Jones’ side had more attacking rhythm and Wilson as finding himself in spaces.
Williams found himself testing Lang from outside the box but the Met man was untroubled.
But as Met weathered the attacks, they almost hit Haverfordwest on the break as the impressive Liam Warman’s effort was close to goal.
In the remaining ten minutes, Haverfordwest were battling hard to earn their first point of the campaign.
An example was Ricky Watts coming out on top in his personal battle with Warman.
Haverfordwest then did what was was expected of them and successfully saw out any other Met attacks to stand firm for a draw.
Cardiff Metropolitan: Alex Lang, Dylan Rees, Kyle McCarthy (Matt Chubb, 65), Brad Woolridge, Eliot Evans, Chris Baker, Harry Warwick, Charlie Corsby, Ollie Hulbert, Rhydian Morgan, Liam Warman.
Yellow Cards: Ollie Hulbert 65′
Haverfordwest County: Steve Hall, Ricky Watts, Cameron Keetch, Sean Pemberton, Alaric Jones, Scott Tancock, Kieran Lewis, Kurtis Rees, Danny Williams (Jack Britton 87), Ben Fawcett (Corey Shepard 63), Marcus Griffiths (Jack Wilson 63)
(Featured Image: Mike James)
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