Alex Giardelli bagged a hat-trick as Sean Cronin scored a stoppage time equaliser as Afan Lido held Novira Cymru South leaders Pure Swansea to an astonishing 5-5 draw at The Kit Arena on Friday.
Giardelli began the scoring fun in the 12th minute as he met Brandon Roberts’ low cross and finished well past Kane Draper before he tucked away the rebound from Cameron Keetch’s strike which crashed off the crossbar to double the lead.
Bradley Gribbings scored with a low driven shot from Jordan Hughes’ cutback to half the deficit for the Swans, but Roberts’ acrobatic volley restored Lido’s two-goal cushion before Giardelli completed his first half hat-trick by rounding Draper and finishing into an empty net.
The league leaders impressively kept themselves in the game in the closing stages of a frantic first half though, thanks to Dan Ingram’s close range strike and Kyle Copp’s penalty, which ensured the Swans only went into the break trailing by one goal.
Casey Coughlin then weaved through the Lido defence and made it 4-4 moments after the restart with his seventh league goal of the season. Another calmly converted penalty from Copp put the Swans in front for the first time in the match, and just when it seemed his second spot kick was going to be enough for all three points, up popped veteran defender Cronin in the dying seconds to squeeze his effort home at the back post from Dan Lewis’ flick-on and level the contest once more.
In the aftermath of Cronin’s goal, Swans attacker Jack Price was shown a straight red card in the away dugout as one of the wildest matches in Novira Cymru South history came to an end.
Joseff Haig scored a hat-trick as in-form Ynyshir Albions stormed an emphatic 6-2 victory over bottom-of-the-table Llanelli Town at the Ynyshir Oval on Saturday.
Haig’s first goal of the afternoon was followed by strikes from Cory Morgan and 16-year-old Theo Vale as the Buns opened up a healthy three-goal cushion at the interval.
Vale set up Dion Facey seven minutes after the restart and Haig quickly added a fifth goal before completing his hat-trick with a calmly converted penalty with 15 minutes remaining.
Llanelli substitute Keane Whitmore gave the Reds something to cheer about with his two late goals, one of which was a penalty of his own, but the damage was already done as Ynyshir extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to seven matches.
Llanelli have lost their last six league games and already find themselves seven points adrift of safety.
Caerphilly Athletic moved out of the relegation zone with an entertaining 3-2 win over Newport City at the CCB Centre on Friday.
Fin Skiverton’s fifth goal in four games put Caerphilly ahead inside just 13 minutes before Elliott Humphries doubled the lead in style as he brought down Alex Harris’ clearance and sent a sweetly-struck half volley into an empty net from distance.
Jac Norris and Sam Johnson brought Newport back on level terms heading into the final 20 minutes, but Caerphilly immediately restored their advantage through substitute Jordan Thomas, whose winning goal saw Ian Butterworth’s side climb three places.
Fourth-place Caerau Ely claimed their fifth consecutive league win as George Sheppard struck the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Aberystwyth Town at Park Avenue on Saturday.
The decisive moment came in the 66th minute as Sheppard curled his corner directly beyond Luke Evans, who along with Jack Rimmer, was unable to prevent the ball from crossing the line. Only two points now separate the top four teams in the Novira Cymru South as Caerau closed the gap on leaders Pure Swansea.
Sam Cawley scored a late equaliser as Cardiff Draconians climbed out of the bottom three following an action-packed 2-2 draw against Carmarthen Town at the Orange Llama Stadium on Saturday.
It was a frantic opening 17 minutes in the capital as Carmarthen’s Liam Thomas was shown a straight red card for his foul on Harry Johnson, only for the Dracs to also be reduced to 10 players moments later as their defender Dylan Amin was dismissed for a dangerous challenge on Lee Idzi.
Johnson did extremely well to deny Carmarthen forward Reed from the penalty spot, but the rebound fell kindly back out to Reed, who tucked away the rebound to open the scoring. 17-year-old Hari Jones then bagged his third goal of the season from close range to double the away side’s lead in first half stoppage time.
Substitute Cameron Egan got the Dracs on the comeback trail just seven minutes after his introduction midway through the second half as he controlled Myles Corson’s cross with his chest and fired past Idzi.
Cawley completed the comeback with four minutes of normal time remaining in what was almost a carbon copy of Egan’s equaliser as Corson played the ball into Cawley, who controlled and scored with a powerful low drive to rescue a point. Nana Baah’s side are unbeaten in five out of their last six games in all competitions, while Carmarthen remain unbeaten away from home this season.
Norton Ferreira continued his sublime form in front of goal as his brace inspired Trethomas Bluebirds to a 3-1 win over Treowen Stars at the CCB Centre on Saturday.
The opening 30 minutes were evenly contested, but Ferreira popped up with two quickfire goals to move joint-top of the Novira Cymru South scoring charts and put the Bluebirds in firm control at half time.
Lloyd Oliver gave the Stars a lifeline with his goal seven minutes into the second half, but substitute Gavin Meacham was shown a straight red card to dent Treowen’s comeback hopes. The Bluebirds took full advantage of Meacham’s dismissal as Levi Rees scored his first goal since returning to the club to ensure Paul Evans’ side moved up into the top half.
Novira Cymru South
Pontypridd United missed the chance to go top of the table after they were held to a 1-1 draw at Evans Bevans Playing Fields on Saturday.
Pontypridd edged in front early in the second half as Ed King’s long ball travelled all the way through to Josh Stephens, who finished clinically past his former teammate Cameron Clarke. However, Stephens’ strike was not enough for all three points as September’s Novira Cymru South Player of the Month Jones netted his sixth goal of the season to rescue a point.
Jesse Meacock cancelled out Tom Stokes’ opener as Llantwit Major and Pontardawe Town played out a 1-1 draw at the UWL Stadium on Saturday.
Stokes headed Major ahead from Jack Jones’ cross on the half-hour mark, but Pontardawe immediately found an equaliser as Meacock cut inside and sent a clincial finish beyond Aaron Jones at the near post. Both teams are now unbeaten in four out of their last five matches in all competitions.
Weekend results in full:
Caerphilly Athletic 3-2 Newport City
Afan Lido 5-5 Pure Swansea
Aberystwyth Town 0-1 Caerau Ely
Llantwit Major 1-1 Pontardawe Town
Ynyshir Albions 6-2 Llanelli Town
Baglan Dragons 1-1 Pontypridd United
Cardiff Draconians 2-2 Carmarthen Town
Treowen Stars 1-3 Trethomas Bluebirds
