Saints Suffer Second Defeat Of The Season Against Haverfordwest County

Match Report

Goals: Hudson (52)
Yellow cards: Robles (25)
Substitutions: Mullan for Smith (46), Ebbe for Draper (69), Clark for Spender (82)

Match report by Sam Wood
Lead image: Matthew Kelly – RawPhotography

The New Saints suffered their second league loss of the season at the Bridge Meadow Stadium this evening, as Haverfordwest County condemned them to a 2-1 defeat.

Behind at the break, caretaker manager, Chris Seargeant, watched his side hit back almost instantly after the restart with a Blaine Hudson header, but the hosts restored their advantage 17 minutes from the end.

The result leaves The Saints three points off top spot, with three matches of the season’s first phase to play.

There was a spell of good possession for the visitors in the opening minutes of the match, and Haverfordwest’s Ricky Watts was called into action after just two minutes to block a goal-bound Leo Smith strike.

10 minutes later, TNS were causing problems once more, and Ryan Astles put home goalkeeper, Matthew Turner, under pressure from a corner. The Bluebirds’ number 21 did well to punch the ball clear though, and relieved the pressure on his side. 

But it was down the other end where the first save of the game was made, when Paul Harrison superbly tipped a Corey Shephard strike around the post with 13 on the clock.

Five minutes later though, the hosts were celebrating, and it was that man Shephard who got himself on the scoresheet.

Receiving the ball just outside the penalty area, his resulting strike evaded everyone inside the box, before nestling into the bottom corner of the net, and despite Saints offside protests, gave his side a 1-0 lead.

It wasn’t long before Harrison was called into action again, making two further saves from Ben Fawcett and Daniel Williams, before the latter had a golden chance to double the advantage from close range, but failed to hit the target.

Louis Robles almost equalised for his side in first-half stoppage time, but Turner pulled off a great stop to claw away the former Bala man’s close-range header.

Seargeant’s side responded perfectly following the restart and found the equaliser with just six minutes played. A left-sided corner, whipped in by Adrian Cieslewicz, was met by Blaine Hudson on the edge of the six-yard box, and the number 12’s powerful header struck the crossbar and bounced over the line to haul The Saints back on terms.

Buoyed by their equaliser, the visitors started to take more of a grip on the game and won a free-kick on the edge of their host’s box thanks to some good Jamie Mullan footwork.

They were unable to make anything of it on that occasion, but Dean Ebbe tested Turner with an edge-of-the-box strike soon after.

However, with 73 minutes played, disaster struck for The Saints, as Wayne Jones’ Bluebirds retook the lead.

Taking advantage of their overcommitted opponents, it was a quick breakaway by the home side, who worked the ball well to Cameron Keetch. The Haverfordwest striker made no mistake, and beat Paul Harrison from close range to restore his side’s lead, and boost their hopes of a top-six finish.

With title rivals, Connah’s Quay Nomads, dropping points earlier in the day, The Saints knew the importance of making up ground at the top, and they had two superb chances to snatch a point in the late stages of the game.

First, Louis Robles was denied a certain goal by some last ditch defending from Watts in the 85th minutes, before Turner made yet another great save to turn behind a Ryan Astles header just a minute later.

As the final whistle went though, the hosts did enough to hold onto their lead, and ensured that all three points remained at Bridge Meadow.

The Saints have the chance to respond on Tuesday night, when they host Cefn Druids at Park Hall.