Saturday 31st August 2024, Kick-off 14.30
Welsh Blood Service League Cup Round One
Celtic Park, Cwmbrân
Admission: £5.00
Programme: £1.00 (and online)
Attendance: 75
Celtic started this game brightly but were stopped in their tracks after 15 minutes when young goalkeeper, Jamie Pring, who was making his 1st team debut, was sent off for bringing a player down just outside the box. It seemed a very harsh decision and it looked like a yellow card should have sufficed. Iwan Hooper was then brought on to play in goal with the unlucky Cole Doolan making way.
The price was paid in the 29th minute when Taffs’ Finley Haymen found himself unmarked in the centre of goal and easily side-footed home. Celtic’s 10 men were not going to lie down, however, and two minutes later Alex Bonthron scored a similar goal at the other end, converting a cross from Isaac Powell. They continued to have more of the game than their opponents and deservedly took the lead just before the break when Alex played in Tom Meechan, who held off a defender and placed his low shot in the far corner of the net.
HALF TIME: Celtic 2 Taffs Well 1
Taffs came out in the second half and started to play the ball around more with the obvious intent of making Celtic’s 10 men work harder to stay in the game. The tactic paid off Drew Caple equalised for the visitors in the 53rd minute.
In spite of working hard to stay in the game the one man deficit was starting to tell on Celtic and was no real surprise when Caple popped up again just after the hour mark to put Taffs in the lead.
Celtic continued to strive to somehow find an equaliser but understandably, they were beginning to tire and were finding it difficult to manufacture any real goal-scoring opportunities.
To compound their situation when Alex Bonthron was sent off in added time for a second yellow card. Again, it looked a very harsh decision as Alex had quite clearly been dragged to the ground by a defender. The referee decided not to penalise this and when Alex complained to him, he immediately brandished a yellow card, followed quickly by a red one.
This defeat was hard to take as the lads had battled well with 10 men to try to get a result.
FULL TIME: Celtic 2 Taffs Well 3
MOM: Mario van Dieren
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