PENARTH Town 2nds faced St Athans 2nds on Saturday, November 1 with Penarth winning 2-1.

This was a very scrappy game with Penarth not being able to step up a gear or get into any rhythm in the first half. St Athans took advantage of this by scoring the opener 10 minutes before half time from a cross that reached their centre forward who was unmarked in the penalty box to voile the ball home.

The Penarth defence played a big part of the first half with Dave Crum, Ryan Bright, Richard Bracey and Alex Dodds all battling away hard to prevent a poor St Athans Team taken further advantage. In the second half the introduction of Scott Willetts into midfield gave Penarth more pace and energy which encouraged them to step up a gear and put St Athans under pressure.

It didn’t take long for Penarth to start creating chances by picking up the pace in midfield and supplying some good quality ball up to the forwards. Then on the 60 minute mark Richard Bracey crossed in a perfect ball from right hand touch line over the keepers head to find Nathan O’Malia who headed home for Penarth’s equaliser.

The whole team then stepped up a gear creating more chances and worked hard looking for the winning goal. In the 81st min Mark Odgers made a darting run from the right side of midfield passing three players in the process and shooting from just outside box to bury the ball home in the left hand corner of the net.

Penarth worked hard to control the final 10 minutes of the game to secure all three points. Penarth’s defence worked hard all game with Ryan Bright being awarded the man of the match, a great captain’s performance who was solid throughout the whole 90 minutes.

This now makes it five wins in a row for the seconds with great makings of a future team, the seconds have their next game against Cadoxton Imps which will be a must win for Penarth as they are now challenging for fourth spot in the league.