Ten-man Caldicot Town held on to beat Brecon Corries 3-2 in their Ardal South East opener.
Caldicot raced into a three-goal lead inside 28 minutes thanks to a brace after Joseph Slack opened the scoring and then Jackson Dean followed it up with a five-minute brace.
The Corries pulled two goals back inside the last 15 minutes after Dale Evans struck a brace but despite George Holland’s second yellow card in stoppage time, the hosts could not find a third goal.
Caldicot had the dream first half getting the first goal after 15 minutes when their attacking midfielder Jackson Dean delivered a cross from the left-hand side after a bit of trickery to beat his defender. the cross fell to the feet of winger Lyes Mihoubi who laid the ball to the edge of the area for young midfielder Joseph Slack to smash home past the goalkeeper.
Things got even better for Caldicot as powerful winger Laurent Ngunjoh, worked the ball down the left side of the box before delivering a perfect cross onto the head of Dean, who slotted past the keeper for his first of the game.
The game looked all but over just four minutes later, as a mixup at the back for Brecon after another Ngunjoh cross fell to the feet of Dean to smash the ball high into the roof of the net and get his second of the afternoon. Caldicot were in full control as both teams headed in for the break.
The second half started and five minutes into it the first card of the match was shown, after George Holland’s late challenge. Caldicot picked up their second yellow just before the hour mark as defender Mathew James was penalised for a lunging challenge on the edge of the area.
Brecon manager Damien Daniels was visibly unhappy with his teams performance making changes with midfielder Nathan Williams and defender Nathan Tebbitt being replaced by Gethin Philips and Corey Evans. Caldicot also made changes with Simon Crook replacing full back Samuel Watkins.
With 20 minutes to play Caldicot full back Gethin Foster picked up a yellow card for kicking the ball away after a foul, just before some more changes for Caldicot. Goalscorer Slack and Ngunjoh were replaced by Richard Sharratt and Kazeem Kareem.
Another change for Brecon with 15 minutes to go seen winger Jack Bain replaced by Jordan Cooper. And just three minutes later started the fightback from Corries.Giant defender Dale Evans rose highest from a corner to head home their first goal of the afternoon. Caldicot striker Ben Smith was replaced by Ben Donoghue as they looked to run down the clock.
But with fiive minutes to go another corner for Brecon saw them earn a penalty, after defender Ben Burns clumsy pull of a shirt seen Craig Evans hit the deck.
Dale Evans scorer of the first Brecon goal stepped up and slotted the penalty in to the top right corner to pull them within one goal. Caldicot sub Sharratt picked up a yellow card for dissent after disagreeing with the officials penalty decision.
Shortly after followed the bust-up, a foul by Mihoubi led to Caldicot manager Mark Williams picking up the ball before being knocked off his feet. This led to both sets of players and benches getting involved in a scrummage in the technical area that surprisingly seen nobody booked.
It was a nervous last few minutes for Caldicot as they looked to soak up the pressure, and things were made even more difficult when George Holland picked up his second yellow of the game for a late lunge on the edge of the area. The resulting free kick was headed clear by a Caldicot defender in the wall before going out for a corner for one last throw of the dice.
The in-swinging corner was headed down and landed at the feet of Craig Evans whose acrobatic effort dropped just over the crossbar. That was the final action of the game and the relived Caldicot players celebrated all three points.
Brecon Corries: Declan Gaydon (GK), Jordan Baker, Dale Evans, Adam Tebbitt (Corey Evans 62), Jack Bain (Jordan Cooper 74) Nyle Slade, Joel Evans, Craig Evans, Mitchell Davies, Paul Keddle, Nathan Williams (Gethin Philips 62)
Goals: Dale Evans 77’84
Yellow Cards:
Caldicot Town – Matthew Sandiford (GK), Gethin Foster, Samuel Watkins (Simon Crook 62), Joseph Slack (Richard Sharratt 73), Mathew James, Ben Burns, Lyes Mihoubi, George Holland, Benjamin Smith (Ben Donoghue 82), Jackson Dean, Laurent Ngunjoh (Kazeem Kareem 73)
Goals: Josh Slack 15′ Jackson Dean 23’28
Yellow Cards: Mathew James 59′ George Holland 49′ Gethin Foster 71′ Richard Sharratt 85′
Red Cards: George Holland 90′
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