Pre Season Friendly
By Robert Nisbet

A dominating first half performance saw the Bluebirds sweep to a convincing interval lead against a side which featured well last season in the Second Division.

Emlyn came out of the blocks quickly and the first quarter of an hour was quite hectic for the home defence, but once the West Wales Properties-sponsored Bluebirds had hit their stride with the first goal in the 17th minute, the rest of the half saw them beating a continuous march to the Emlyn goal.

With three strikers unavailable, Mike Ellis had chosen to play with Anton Owens and Jay Brockway up front and the pairing repaid him with three first half goals. The first came when Matthew Ellis swung a lovely cross over from near the right corner flag and the lanky Brockway got in amongst a hesitant Emlyn defence and got the deflection.

Five minutes later Chris O’Sullivan powered home a low 20-yard drive, but seconds after the referee had already blown for a free kick. The kick itself went just wide. An Owens cross just evaded Brockway, Gary Taylor tested the keeper with a 30-yarder and the Blues were right in the driving seat.

The second goal came on 32 minutes after Richard Lewis had moved out to the right and swung over a deep cross which Owens drove in expertly. Owens then produced another equally good finish for the third goal just three minutes later.

Emlyn’s Liam Samuels did force the ball past Craig Morris in the 37th minute but his effort was offside.

The second half, with eight subs on, was a less conclusive affair, but the many reserve players appearing did quite enough to show that this season’s side will have plenty of depth and cover.

County: Craig Morris; Simon Gilderdale, Dave Evans, Matthew Ellis, Gareth Elliott, Kristian Griffiths, Chris O’Sullivan, Gary Taylor, Anton Owens, Jay Brockway, Richard Lewis.
Subs: Martin Langdon, Ricky Watts, Phil Cattlin, Craig George, Rob Morgans, Gethin Roberts, Nathan Evans, Dai Rees.