Scoreline masks true Goytre grit (From Free Press Series)

Scoreline masks true Goytre grit

Goytre's dream of lifting the Shamrock Welsh League Cup was ended on Saturday when they lost their semi-final match 4-1 to Pontedawe.

The result means the Plough Road side not only miss out on a final appearance but also on the chance to create a cup peculiarity, as they would have met their namesakes, Port Talbot based Goytre United in the final.

Despite the score-line Goytre exit the competition with their heads held high after putting on an impressive showing against recently crowned champions of Welsh League Division Two.

Goytre by contrast have been flirting with relegation from Division Three for most of this campaign but there was little to separate the sides for in terms of perfomance for long periods of the match.

Pontadawe dominated the early exchanges and took the lead after 25 minutes when Jamie Bowen netted with a tap-in.

The Division Two title winners were unable to add to their lead before the break though and were lucky not to have been on level terms at the beginning of the second half when a Mike Vaines effort was disallowed for shirt pulling.

That scare reinvigorated Pontadawe and they doubled their lead on 55 minutes when a far post Aled Rees header looped over Richie Minor in the Goytre goal.

But Goytre responded well to this set back and halved the deficit minutes later when a Kevin Wallace free kick found the bottom corner of the Pontadawe net.

There was to be no comeback though as further goals from Jamie Bowen and Paul Davey confirmed Pontadawe's place in the showpiece.

Goytre chairman Paul Greenhalgh was pleased with his side's performance despite the result.

"We played well. The score-line didn't reflect the game and to be honest it flattered them a bit," he said.

"They created six chances and scored four of them whereas we created four chances and scored one of them.

"They won the second division and fair play to them we hope they go on and win the cup.

"The other Goytre got to the final and it would have been nice to have joined them and made a bit of history but it wasn't to be.

"The score did flatter them a bit but we competed against them and it's nice just to compete against these teams," added Greenhalgh.