Penybont 1-0 Cardiff Met: Harling the Hero as Bont see off Met

Penybont secured another three points as Lewis Harling’s strike proved enough to sink the Archers at the SDM Glass Stadium.

Harling, who made his 200th Cymru Premier appearance, gave Rhys Griffiths’ side the victory to overtake Barry Town United in the top four.

Penybont’s only defeats this season have come against European sides Bala Town, Connah’s Quay and The New Saints and they were deserving of victory after another dominant display, which was just lacking more goals.

For Christian Edwards and his side, it’s another defeat on the road, following their 4-1 defeat to Bala Town on the weekend. The away side are in the middle of a run of six straight away matches and will hope to arrest a slide in form as they travel to Connah’s Quay Nomads on Saturday.

The match started at a frenetic pace, with both sides eager to get the ball down and play on the floor. There were many exchanges with neat football on display as Penybont edged the early running.

The opening exchanges saw both sides have chances, but neither were able to get an effort on target. Nathan Wood had a header that went high and wide for the home side and Liam Warman and Eliot Evans both had tame efforts go well wide.

The first big chance of the match came the way of the home side after some great play on the counter. Wood charged down the left hand side and easily beat his man as he cut inside to square the ball to Lewis Harling on the penalty spot though he could only fire his effort over the bar.

The home side took control of the match from midway through the first half and were comfortably the side that looked most likely to break the deadlock, and they did just before the half hour mark. Harling picked up his third goal in two matches sending Alex Lang the wrong way with a low effort from the penalty spot after great work by Ben Ahmun down the right wing.

There was controversy just before the break after a recycled corner saw Brad Woolridge spring the offside trap and challenge home goalkeeper, Ashley Morris, for the ball. There were two big decisions for the referee to make. He judged the foul as outside the area, but only showed the goalkeeper a yellow card, when Met were pleading for a red.

Cardiff Met came out for the second half and started very brightly. Their performance was much improved from their stale first half performance. Eliot Evans came close with an effort from distance after some great work by substitute Harry Owen on the left hand side.

Bont should have doubled their advantage on the hour mark, however, and Ben Ahmun will be disappointed not to have gotten his name on the scoresheet. The striker was played through on goal by a flicked header in the midfield and was one-on-one with Lang, but his effort only found the side netting.

There were a number of superb play by Liam Warman who often danced through a number of Bont defenders, on numerous mazy runs, but the tricky winger was unable to find the final ball required. The second half failed to deliver many clear cut chances as the battle remained in the midfield and a number of promising moves were thwarted at the key moment.

Penybont came closest to scoring the crucial second goal of the match, though substitute striker Sam Snaith didn’t know too much about it. A cross from the right side was flicked on by Liam Black, and the deflected rebounded off of Snaith’s forehead and narrowly missed Lang’s far post.

The home side were able to see the match out despite a few long range efforts for the visitors that never threatened an equaliser, and secured a second defeat in a row, though this one less emphatic than their 6-0 win against Caernarfon Town last time out.

Penybont: Ashley Morris, Kane Owen (C), Ashley Evans, Dan Jefferies, Mael Davies, Kostya Georgievsky (Ian Traylor 71′), Lewis Harling (Oliver Dalton 83′), Ben Ahmun (Sam Snaith 75′), Nathan Wood, Matthew Harris, Ismail Yakubu.

Yellow Cards: Ashley Morris 44′, Mael Davies 52′, Matthew Harris 55′, Nathan Wood 82′

Goals: Lewis Harling 30′

Cardiff Met: Alex Lang, Bradley Woolridge (C) (Craig Davies 86′), Emlyn Lewis, Eliot Evans, Charlie Corsby, Joe Evans (Matt Chubb 77′), Rhydian Morgan, Liam Warman, Liam Black, Tom Price (Harry Owen 53′), Matthew Jones

Yellow Cards: Bradley Woolridge 4′, Anthony Williams (first team assistant manager) 25′, Charlie Corsby 53′

Recap how Penybont defeated Cardiff Met here:

(Featured Image: John Smith/FAW)