Brave Penarth Town side bow out in Barry Cup quarter finals (From Penarth Times)

Brave Penarth Town side bow out in Barry Cup quarter finals

8:30am Thursday 17th January 2013 in Sport

PENARTH TOWN 2 CARDIFF AIRPORT 3

AFTER beating SP Construction in the last round of the Barry Cup, Penarth Town once again found themselves underdogs going into the quarter-finals of the Barry Cup, against Cardiff Airport, favourites for this competition and the Premier Division title.

The last time these two teams met was at the start of the season when the Town were thumped 4-0.

With Penarth Town in transition and a change of style and personnel this season, the last few games have seen some exciting football and long spells of possession, and with each passing game, a stronger team seems to be developing, which is why this game had all the makings of a great cup tie.

From the kick-off, both teams passed the ball extremely well, but early advantage saw Penarth go close to scoring, with great midfield play from Tom Farr setting up a chance for Grant Beedal who sent his effort just wide. It wasn’t long before Town threatened once more and a strike from Ryan Williams gave them an early lead.

The next 15 minutes saw Airport show why they are top of the Premier Division and have only lost just one game all season. However, despite good possession for the visitors, the Penarth defence held strong. With Airport unable to break through a very well organised defence, a quick ball to the strikers nearly saw Penarth go two up, the player being denied by a narrow offside decision.

Halfway through the first half, Airport managed to get a corner, and a knock down to the far post saw them equalise.

The new-look Penarth side didn’t waste any time after the restart, with wave after wave of attacks being rewarded with a corner. A good ball in saw Keiron Harding rise highest to score with a header and put Penarth back in front.

Penarth dominated for the next five minutes, with the midfield men and attackers working well together and, when Ryan Williams unselfishly put the ball back inside to Tyrone Phillips, he just needed to play the ball into an open net but shot over the bar. This was a very lucky escape for Airport and, at 3-1 to the Town, it could have been a very different story.

The second half saw Airport come into the game with more good possession in the first 20 minutes. They were rewarded with a corner and, once again from the set piece, they scored a well deserved equaliser. They went close again just after with an acrobatic overhead kick which went wide.

The Town lost the impressive Harding, who limped off with an injury, and Airport took full advantage and got a clinching third goal 12 minutes from time. Town quickly changed formation and threw everything at the Airport, but just couldn’t get through the 10 men the visitors were getting behind the ball.

For 10 minutes, Airport didn’t seem to touch the ball, but had done enough to reach the cup semi-finals.

A lot of credit must go to this new Penarth Town side who, although having only three points from six games so far in the league, are quickly turning into an exciting side and look destined for better things if they keep progressing at this rate.