Afan Lido picked up their first win under new manager Garry Taylor as they triumphed 4-1 over Cwmbran Celtic in a key clash at the bottom of the JD Cymru South on Friday night.
Liam McCreesh’s first goal since February gave Lido the lead after just 14 minutes before Tom Meechan equalised for Celtic five minutes into the second half, but McCreesh set up Ben Keen just six minutes later to restore the hosts’ advantage.
Liam Thomas soon made it 3-1 when he rounded Iwan Hooper and slotted into an empty net, but Lido found themselves down to 10 men in the 70th minute when Cory Woods was sent off for a second bookable offence.
Yet the man advantage could not inspire Celtic and Lido scored a fourth goal in stoppage time as Damon Thomas headed home from Babucar Sauane’s corner. Taylor’s team remain bottom of the table but are now just three points adrift from safety.
15th-place Taffs Well also earned a crucial victory as they triumphed 3-0 over Llantwit Major at Rhiw Dda’r in Josh Anderson’s second game in charge on Friday night.
Drew Caple put the Wellmen ahead with a stunning free-kick inside just 12 minutes, before the forward doubled his side’s lead on the half hour mark with another clinical strike.
Things got even better for the hosts on 57 minutes as Sam Johnson capitalised on a defensive mistake and rounded goalkeeper Jack Lansdown to finish into an empty net. Victory ended an eight-match winless run in the league for Taffs Well.
League leaders Trethomas Bluebirds maintained their three-point lead at the top of the table as Gareth Tedstone’s goal proved decisive in a 1-0 win at Cambrian United on Saturday afternoon.
Tedstone’s goal arrived with 28 minutes on the clock as he latched onto Ethan Edwards’ cute back-heel and fired a superb curling effort beyond Morgan Davies for his seventh league goal of the campaign.
Second-place Pontypridd United were also narrow winners on Saturday as Liam Eason’s strike was enough to earn a 1-0 victory away to Carmarthen Town in Gavin Allen’s final game as manager.
Jamie Veale set up Eason in the 20th minute as the Ponty forward scored for the fourth consecutive league game. The Dragons saw out the remainder of the match to seal a fifth clean sheet in six league matches.
Llanelli Town made it four league wins in a row as they cruised to a 3-0 victory over Penrhiwceiber Rangers at Stebonheath on Friday night.
The Reds made the perfect start to both halves, as Joe Lloyd scored after just four minutes before Ethan Cann doubled the advantage two minutes after the break. The third goal came in the 72nd minute when Taylor Jones’ corner was flicked on by Sean Cronin to captain Joe Hopkins, who nodded home from close range.
Baglan Dragons conceded a stoppage-time goal for the second consecutive weekend as Ethan Wynne’s late equaliser rescued a point for Newport City in a 2-2 draw at Evans Bevans on Saturday.
Tom Davies’ ninth league goal of the season gave the Dragons an early lead, but Owen Bancroft’s sweetly struck volley brought Newport shortly before half-time.
The Dragons restored their lead just before the hour mark as captain Lewis Holmes scored for the third time in three games and his goal appeared to have earned all three points before Wynne finished off a well-worked counter-attack in the second minute of stoppage-time. The two sides remain level on points in seventh and ninth place respectively.
Caerau Ely claimed back-to-back wins for the first time this season as goals from Ollie Redhead and Liam Bishop gave the Young Guns a 2-0 victory away to Ammanford on Friday.
Redhead opened the scoring just before the hour mark with a close-range finish, before Bishop came off the bench to clinch the three points with six minutes remaining. It was Ammanford’s first home defeat since August.
Trefelin stretched their unbeaten run in all competitions to eight matches as Lee Trundle’s late brace secured a 3-1 win at Goytre United on Friday night.
Roan Piper scored his seventh league goal of the season to put Tref ahead early on, but a composed one-on-one finish from Keane Watts in first half stoppage time saw the two sides head into the break level.
Tref defender Declan Evans was sent off for a second bookable offence midway through the second half, but that did not deter the visitors as Trundle netted twice in the space of nine minutes to secure his side’s first league away win since August.
Weekend results in full:
Afan Lido 4-1 Cwmbran Celtic
Ammanford 0-2 Caerau Ely
Goytre United 1-3 Trefelin
Llanelli Town 3-0 Penrhiwceiber Rangers
Taffs Well 3-0 Llantwit Major
Baglan Dragons 2-2 Newport City
Carmarthen Town 0-1 Pontypridd United
Cambrian United 0-1 Trethomas Bluebirds
